Andre Drummond - LeBron's Robin

[2 For The Brew]

Drummond is a net negative for the Lakers. Why they even bothered shows their pathetic desperation in a area of nonneed. With the injuries, the Clips are clearly the team to beat.

They need him now because of injuries. When AD and LeBron get back it will be interesting to see what happens to his minutes.

 

[kidduck]

Board to Death? Welcome to an NBA Where Rebounders Have Little Value​

The Cavaliers have not played Andre Drummond in a game since February after announcing they would trade him. So why doesn't any team want the best rebounder in the universe?

Chris Herring, SI
Mar 25, 2021

Just over a year ago, center Tristan Thompson, then with the Cavaliers, spoke with reporters about the team's newest acquisition, Andre Drummond, and how the two-time All-Star was underappreciated.


“Dre’s situation in Detroit, we know what it is—[the Pistons] are going through a situation, and unfortunately no longer wanted his services. But one team’s trash is another team’s treasure,” he said, after the Cavaliers poached Drummond from the Pistons for little more than a 2023 second-round pick.

Now, though, Cleveland has put Drummond out on the curb for pickup, too. The club announced it would hold Drummond out of action until it can find a new landing spot for him. But in scouring the NBA in hopes of getting a second-round pick in return for the 27-year-old big man, the Cavs have found no takers. Short of an 11th-hour trade deadline move, Cleveland will buy out Drummond’s deal in the coming days.

It’s a strange predicament facing Drummond, who is simultaneously the best rebounder in the universe but also seemingly of little value in today’s league—both from a trade standpoint and a depth-chart one, given that two of the NBA’s weakest teams have opted to move on from him in the past year and change.

In a way, Drummond’s dilemma begs a larger question: Does rebounding truly matter in today’s game?

There's no need to beat around the bush when analyzing Drummond’s 2020–21 campaign.

While he’s had a handful of bright spots—a pair of massive steals in an overtime win against Detroit, and a game-sealing assist late versus Memphis—it’s been a rough year for Drummond, all things considered.

He ranks as the NBA’s worst finisher at the rim and is shooting a career-worst 47.4% from the field, a pair of tough realities when you’re a soon-to-be free agent that’s earning almost $29 million for the season.

Yet Drummond’s elite skill—rebounding—hasn’t diminished one bit. He averaged 15 rebounds per game in 2017–18, 2018–19 and 2019–20, giving him as many 15-board-per-game campaigns as the rest of the league combined over the past 20 seasons. And before the Cavaliers sidelined him this year, Drummond’s 26.1% rebound percentage and 37% defensive-rebound percentage were both league-best marks, too.

The center’s odd career limbo comes as the Pelicans and Magic lead the NBA in rebound rate and defensive rebound rate, respectively, yet find themselves in the distant rearview mirror of the league’s playoff picture. So what does it say when literally no one’s willing to give up even a second-round pick for the world’s best rebounder, and the league’s best rebounding teams are ones with poor records?


More than anything, it means priorities have shifted elsewhere throughout the association.

Where offensive players once crashed the offensive glass with reckless abandon, now they merely backpedal as shots go up, hoping to stave off an opponent’s transition opportunity. Where the game was once played with the spacing of a small shoebox, now offenses fire away at will from the arc, leaving them further from the rim and out of ideal rebounding position. “It used to be that the lane was crowded, where there’d be a free-for-all to grab a board,” says Hall of Famer Dave Cowens, one of the best rebounders in league history. “Now, you look up and the only guys you’re contending for a rebound with are your teammates.”

In a way, Drummond’s role as a dominant defensive rebounder is like that of a prolific video-store renter, who’s always managed to nab the hit movie from Blockbuster as soon as it came out. It was an impressive feat before. But now, with Netflix—and hardly anyone else in the store—it’s not as meaningful a skill.

With most teams no longer emphasizing offensive boards, just 22.1% of attempts have been retrieved by the offense during the 2020–21 season—the lowest rate in NBA history, and an unrecognizable figure juxtaposed against the 1980s and ’90s, when one of out every of three misses went back to the offense.

It’s no secret that the proliferation of the three-point shot—which generally creates much longer rebound opportunities—has altered the game more than anything. At .696, the statistical correlation between three-point percentage and winning percentage in the NBA (with 0 showing no correlation, and 1 indicating direct correlation) has never been higher than it is now, according to data from Stats Perform.

Because of that shift, teams are all but forced to put more weight on players, centers or otherwise, who can capably defend the arc. Even a 7-footer like Roy Hibbert, who excelled at using verticality to protect the rim, found himself out of a job at age 30, in part because of his relative immobility. Just like there were no shots for the paint-tethered Hibbert to block if someone shot a triple, there are no rebounds for players like Drummond to grab if a sharpshooter hits a wide-open three.


“If you look back at my era [in the 1980s and ’90s],” Sixers coach Doc Rivers says, “it was the GOAT era of bigs. Someone like Andre Drummond? He would have fit right in with that generation of play.”

This era, however, is showing to be altogether different.

Much like there's been a sudden market correction with NFL running backs, the NBA seems to be scaling all the way back in terms of how it sees the value of the rebounding specialist.

Before Drummond, Thompson got a big five-year, $82 million payday with Cleveland—one that topped out at more than $18 million for last season alone. (This past offseason, on the open market as a 29-year-old, he fetched $9.5 million per year.) Similarly, Trail Blazers rebound machine Enes Kanter made $20 million as recently as three seasons ago, in the midst of a max deal, but now, at 28, he earns $5 million per year.

No one is bold enough to say rebounding doesn’t matter in today’s game. Of course, it does. All it takes is one missed rebound—with Miami’s Chris Bosh storming in to corral a must-have board and then finding Ray Allen in the corner—to show how boards can shift the course of basketball history. But the truth is, modern-day teams that hit countless triples have shown they can get away with not being able to rebound.

The Warriors currently rank 29th—right in between the Timberwolves and the Rockets, who own the worst records in the NBA—in rebound percentage, grabbing just 47.4% of all missed shots. If the season ended today, Golden State, in ninth place out West, would finish as one of the worst rebounding clubs in history to reach the postseason.

Along those same lines, in 2017 and 2018, the last two years LeBron James led the Cavs to the Finals, Cleveland ranked 18th and 24th, respectively, in rebound rate. They excelled from the perimeter instead.

With those sorts of teams having four or even all five players spaced out to the arc at times, they’ll see it as more worthwhile to focus on defense. “Statistically, it shows that if you get back every single time, you’re gonna save more points than you’d score by going to the glass [after offensive boards],” Rivers says.

And even when clubs do vie for offensive rebounds, because of the longer shots they’re taking, the misfires are likelier to bounce toward the perimeter than in previous eras. It means rebounders need more range. “Maybe 10 or 12 years ago, you’d only see a few types of guys going for [offensive boards]. Now, you see perimeter guys with that freedom, says Steve Clifford, who coaches the Magic. “With all the long rebounds now, there’s a larger area defensively you have to track in order to finish possessions.”

Which means quickness matters as much as, if not more than, traditional jockeying strength at times.

Clifford points out that a handful of teams last year—the Suns, Pacers, Grizzlies and Bulls—ranked near the top of the NBA in both putback efficiency and in transition defense, which may be the next type of players teams will seek. Which athletes have enough cat-like quickness and basketball instincts to jump into the fray from the three-point line and come up with the ball while still getting back to help defend?

They probably aren’t ones whose games resemble Drummond’s. In a fast-paced game of musical chairs, with teams shape-shifting their rosters around an unprecedented spike in three-point shooting, the overhaul has at least temporarily left the generation’s best rebounder without a seat.

“It’s just a matter of how people see the game, see Andre and what he can add to their team,” says Stan Van Gundy, who coaches the Pelicans—the NBA leaders in rebounding—and who worked with Drummond in Detroit. “At this stage, there aren’t many centers everybody’s gonna demand. Jokić or Embiid? Certainly. But not many where all 30 teams say, ‘Oh, we want that guy.’ It’s more about fit now."

 

[rastamon87]

Drummond made it very clear he doesnt want to lose a dime, it really doesnt matter to a fan in the long run, none of it effects us or the team. Its just money to Gilbert and he has never ran the team on nickels and dimes like the Indians. One of the bigger problems is it has been his toy now his son's toy so they are too involved.

Is Dan's kid really as involved as his dad? Hopefully he is better in hiring the right people (or luck) to help run the team... I really have no problem with team owners getting too involved, at the end of the day it's their team/business, in theory they should be able to anything that they like as long as it is not anything illegal/outside the rules....

 

[kidduck]

Buyouts Are Warping the NBA's Competitive Landscape​

The rich get richer, as the Lakers add an elite rebounder and the Nets get two vets with 13 combined All-Star appearances—at virtually no cost.

Howard Beck
Updated:Mar 29, 2021Original:Mar 29, 2021

The NBA’s premier rebounder—a 6' 10" spring-loaded mass of muscle—will soon have a new team. And it won’t cost that team a thing.

To be clear: Andre Drummond will be paid many millions of dollars to haul in 10 to 15 boards a night, as he has for years. It’s just that Drummond’s new employer, the Lakers, won’t be paying most of it. Nor will they sacrifice anything to acquire Drummond’s elite skills for the stretch run.

Confused? Welcome to Buyout Season—a strange, unofficial space on the NBA calendar that was never intended to and probably shouldn’t exist, but just might swing the championship race.

Here’s how it works: Every season, teams try to unload unwanted veterans via trade, before the scheduled trade deadline. When those efforts fail, the team and the player arrange a buyout, in which the player agrees to a (usually minor) pay cut, the team pays out the remainder of his contract, then places him on waivers.

The bought-out player is then free to chase rings, shots or warmer weather—or sometimes, all of the above—usually by signing for the veteran’s minimum salary. His old team saves a few dollars, opens a roster spot and makes room for younger players to get reps. His new team gets a boost for the stretch run at relatively little expense. Everyone is happy!

Except, well, not everyone.

The Buyout Market, like much of the NBA ecosystem, mostly helps the bigger markets, the glamor teams and the contenders, further warping a competitive landscape that many teams believe is already stacked against them. “You’re just helping the rich get richer,” says a general manager with a small-market team.

And the market is booming in the wake of last week’s trade deadline. Former All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge, recently waived by the Spurs, promptly agreed to join the Nets. His decision came just three weeks after former All-Star Blake Griffin (bought out by the Pistons) chose Brooklyn, a big-market superteam built around Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving.

Drummond, the NBA’s leading rebounder over the last six years, reached a buyout deal with the Cavaliers last week. He chose one big-market contender (the Lakers) after seriously weighing an offer from another big-market contender (the Celtics).

The Lakers—in a tight race with the Clippers, Jazz, Nuggets and Suns for Western Conference supremacy—now get the benefit of a 27-year-old center who has averaged 17.5 points, 15.1 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.6 blocks over the last three seasons. The total cost to the Lakers? Less than $800,000 for the rest of this season, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks. This, for a player whose actual salary this season is $28.8 million.

Indeed, the rich are getting richer.

Bought-out players typically sign for a prorated portion of the minimum salary, allowing their new teams to add talent without regard for the salary cap.

“It’s a definite concern,” says another team executive working in a small market. “Without a doubt, players that are entering the buyout market will only be looking at contending teams. And most of the time, historically, their preference has been to go to the teams in the bigger markets. ... And it gives teams an opportunity to sit back and add players on minimum deals that they normally wouldn’t be able to acquire.”

It’s debatable whether Drummond was ever worth his lofty salary (which he earns thanks to the five-year, $127 million deal he signed with the Pistons in 2016). He’s made the All-Star team only twice in nine years, and some experts question whether rebounding is still a valuable commodity in today’s NBA.

Nevertheless, the Lakers just got a player recently valued at close to $30 million for relative pennies, despite being far over the cap and without having to trade a single player or draft pick. “The system is flawed,” says a third small-market GM. “You shouldn’t be adding to your team this deep in a season without giving things up.”

This isn’t merely the gripe of small-market teams, or even a matter of opinion; the Buyout Market directly (and objectively) undermines the NBA’s complex system of salary caps and luxury taxes. The whole point of all these rules is to limit how much elite talent a team can collect—and to force teams to make trade-offs and hard choices.

But the Buyout Market makes a mockery of it all. There is no sacrifice, at least for the glamor teams and the contenders. The Lakers, with LeBron James and Anthony Davis as high-priced franchise stars, would never be able to afford a $29 million rebounding specialist in a normal market (and will probably lose him to free agency this summer).

Aldridge (35) and Griffin (32) are both past their primes, but they are still solid players, and an incredible luxury for a Nets team already stocked with elite scorers. Aldridge’s contract with the Spurs paid $24 million this season (minus a reported $7.25 million buyout). Griffin’s contract was worth $36.8 million this season, and another $38.9 million next season (minus a reported $13.3 million buyout). The Nets just got them both for $2.1 million combined.

“This is creating a competitive advantage for the large, destination markets,” says the first team exec. “And it’s another inequity for the small markets.”


On a smaller scale, the Spurs signed Gorgui Dieng after he was released by the Grizzlies last week, a rare instance of a non-glamor team benefiting from this midseason free-agent bazaar. Still, free agency is supposed to happen in the offseason, when teams have planned for cap room, with a presumably equal chance to recruit talent.

Other contenders had to work a little harder to strengthen their rosters last week. The Nuggets traded players and draft picks to get Aaron Gordon. The Clippers had to give up Lou Williams, the three-time Sixth Man of the Year, to get Rajon Rondo. The Bucks traded players and picks to get P.J. Tucker. The Sixers traded players and picks to get George Hill. The Heat traded players and draft considerations to get Victor Oladipo.

But the Lakers effectively got Drummond for free, just as the Nets did with Griffin and Aldridge. And though all three could conceivably go elsewhere this summer, the Lakers and Nets now get several months to recruit them first.

And that also hurts their former teams, executives say. Rival teams pursuing those players never considered trading for them, because their large contracts made a trade unlikely. Everyone knew which players would be bought out, long before the trade deadline. So they just waited.


The Buyout Market is effectively a second free agency period, except it comes in the middle of the season, involves only a handful of franchises and doesn’t require cap room. And it was never intended to exist. There is no mention of a “buyout market” or a “midseason free agency period” in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. It has evolved on its own, over several years—driven primarily by star players and influential agents.

When a player grows discontented, he pushes for a trade. When no trade materializes, he pushes to get released or bought out. Teams feel pressure to agree, out of fear of alienating agents or being perceived as indifferent to a player’s wishes. Those things can haunt a team, especially a small-market one, when free agency rolls around.

“It’s very, very hard for the small markets or mid markets to say we’re not gonna buy you out,” said one small-market GM, “because you can’t get players there anyway. If you don’t do them favors, an agent will say, ‘I’m not gonna bring my guys to you.’”

But midseason buyouts used to be much rarer. The phrase buyout market was rarely used around the NBA until about 2016, according to a Nexis search, but it spiked two years later and has become a permanent part of the lexicon.


Some team executives have pushed for reform, to no avail. One suggestion is to make buyout players ineligible for the playoffs unless they have been released at some date before the trade deadline—say, in early February—thus incentivizing teams to trade for the players. Another option would be to create a compensation system, in which the team signing the player has to send a draft pick (or possibly multiple picks, depending on the player) to the player’s former team. A third proposal would be to give each team a cap exception specifically for buyout signings—and limit it to one per season, or even one every two years. A fourth option would be to have teams place a blind bid for bought-out players, using whatever cap room or cap exceptions they have available, with the player awarded to the highest bidder.

The small-market execs hope the issue gets addressed in the next CBA, which would begin in 2024, after the current deal expires. But they are not particularly optimistic. As they see it, NBA officials are driven by marketing and money, and having marquee names congregate in glamor markets, or on title contenders, is good for ratings.

“The way you know the NBA doesn’t think it’s a problem is they’re reticent to acknowledge it’s been a problem,” says one of the small-market execs. “The inaction tells you, ‘We’re cool with it.’ ”

 

[Lee]

Is Dan's kid really as involved as his dad? Hopefully he is better in hiring the right people (or luck) to help run the team... I really have no problem with team owners getting too involved, at the end of the day it's their team/business, in theory they should be able to anything that they like as long as it is not anything illegal/outside the rules....

Dan isnt around at all anymore, he has been rehabbing i believe in Florida, who knows how involved he is.

 

[rastamon87]

Dan isnt around at all anymore, he has been rehabbing i believe in Florida, who knows how involved he is.

I don't blame him, he should focus on his health first...

What I meant was as involved (or trending that way) as Dan used to be before the stroke

 

[mrWalrus]

Buyouts Are Warping the NBA's Competitive Landscape​

The rich get richer, as the Lakers add an elite rebounder and the Nets get two vets with 13 combined All-Star appearances—at virtually no cost.

Howard Beck
Updated:Mar 29, 2021Original:Mar 29, 2021

The NBA’s premier rebounder—a 6' 10" spring-loaded mass of muscle—will soon have a new team. And it won’t cost that team a thing.

To be clear: Andre Drummond will be paid many millions of dollars to haul in 10 to 15 boards a night, as he has for years. It’s just that Drummond’s new employer, the Lakers, won’t be paying most of it. Nor will they sacrifice anything to acquire Drummond’s elite skills for the stretch run.

Confused? Welcome to Buyout Season—a strange, unofficial space on the NBA calendar that was never intended to and probably shouldn’t exist, but just might swing the championship race.

Here’s how it works: Every season, teams try to unload unwanted veterans via trade, before the scheduled trade deadline. When those efforts fail, the team and the player arrange a buyout, in which the player agrees to a (usually minor) pay cut, the team pays out the remainder of his contract, then places him on waivers.

The bought-out player is then free to chase rings, shots or warmer weather—or sometimes, all of the above—usually by signing for the veteran’s minimum salary. His old team saves a few dollars, opens a roster spot and makes room for younger players to get reps. His new team gets a boost for the stretch run at relatively little expense. Everyone is happy!

Except, well, not everyone.

The Buyout Market, like much of the NBA ecosystem, mostly helps the bigger markets, the glamor teams and the contenders, further warping a competitive landscape that many teams believe is already stacked against them. “You’re just helping the rich get richer,” says a general manager with a small-market team.

And the market is booming in the wake of last week’s trade deadline. Former All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge, recently waived by the Spurs, promptly agreed to join the Nets. His decision came just three weeks after former All-Star Blake Griffin (bought out by the Pistons) chose Brooklyn, a big-market superteam built around Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving.

Drummond, the NBA’s leading rebounder over the last six years, reached a buyout deal with the Cavaliers last week. He chose one big-market contender (the Lakers) after seriously weighing an offer from another big-market contender (the Celtics).

The Lakers—in a tight race with the Clippers, Jazz, Nuggets and Suns for Western Conference supremacy—now get the benefit of a 27-year-old center who has averaged 17.5 points, 15.1 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.6 blocks over the last three seasons. The total cost to the Lakers? Less than $800,000 for the rest of this season, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks. This, for a player whose actual salary this season is $28.8 million.

Indeed, the rich are getting richer.

Bought-out players typically sign for a prorated portion of the minimum salary, allowing their new teams to add talent without regard for the salary cap.

“It’s a definite concern,” says another team executive working in a small market. “Without a doubt, players that are entering the buyout market will only be looking at contending teams. And most of the time, historically, their preference has been to go to the teams in the bigger markets. ... And it gives teams an opportunity to sit back and add players on minimum deals that they normally wouldn’t be able to acquire.”

It’s debatable whether Drummond was ever worth his lofty salary (which he earns thanks to the five-year, $127 million deal he signed with the Pistons in 2016). He’s made the All-Star team only twice in nine years, and some experts question whether rebounding is still a valuable commodity in today’s NBA.

Nevertheless, the Lakers just got a player recently valued at close to $30 million for relative pennies, despite being far over the cap and without having to trade a single player or draft pick. “The system is flawed,” says a third small-market GM. “You shouldn’t be adding to your team this deep in a season without giving things up.”

This isn’t merely the gripe of small-market teams, or even a matter of opinion; the Buyout Market directly (and objectively) undermines the NBA’s complex system of salary caps and luxury taxes. The whole point of all these rules is to limit how much elite talent a team can collect—and to force teams to make trade-offs and hard choices.

But the Buyout Market makes a mockery of it all. There is no sacrifice, at least for the glamor teams and the contenders. The Lakers, with LeBron James and Anthony Davis as high-priced franchise stars, would never be able to afford a $29 million rebounding specialist in a normal market (and will probably lose him to free agency this summer).

Aldridge (35) and Griffin (32) are both past their primes, but they are still solid players, and an incredible luxury for a Nets team already stocked with elite scorers. Aldridge’s contract with the Spurs paid $24 million this season (minus a reported $7.25 million buyout). Griffin’s contract was worth $36.8 million this season, and another $38.9 million next season (minus a reported $13.3 million buyout). The Nets just got them both for $2.1 million combined.

“This is creating a competitive advantage for the large, destination markets,” says the first team exec. “And it’s another inequity for the small markets.”


On a smaller scale, the Spurs signed Gorgui Dieng after he was released by the Grizzlies last week, a rare instance of a non-glamor team benefiting from this midseason free-agent bazaar. Still, free agency is supposed to happen in the offseason, when teams have planned for cap room, with a presumably equal chance to recruit talent.

Other contenders had to work a little harder to strengthen their rosters last week. The Nuggets traded players and draft picks to get Aaron Gordon. The Clippers had to give up Lou Williams, the three-time Sixth Man of the Year, to get Rajon Rondo. The Bucks traded players and picks to get P.J. Tucker. The Sixers traded players and picks to get George Hill. The Heat traded players and draft considerations to get Victor Oladipo.

But the Lakers effectively got Drummond for free, just as the Nets did with Griffin and Aldridge. And though all three could conceivably go elsewhere this summer, the Lakers and Nets now get several months to recruit them first.

And that also hurts their former teams, executives say. Rival teams pursuing those players never considered trading for them, because their large contracts made a trade unlikely. Everyone knew which players would be bought out, long before the trade deadline. So they just waited.


The Buyout Market is effectively a second free agency period, except it comes in the middle of the season, involves only a handful of franchises and doesn’t require cap room. And it was never intended to exist. There is no mention of a “buyout market” or a “midseason free agency period” in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. It has evolved on its own, over several years—driven primarily by star players and influential agents.

When a player grows discontented, he pushes for a trade. When no trade materializes, he pushes to get released or bought out. Teams feel pressure to agree, out of fear of alienating agents or being perceived as indifferent to a player’s wishes. Those things can haunt a team, especially a small-market one, when free agency rolls around.

“It’s very, very hard for the small markets or mid markets to say we’re not gonna buy you out,” said one small-market GM, “because you can’t get players there anyway. If you don’t do them favors, an agent will say, ‘I’m not gonna bring my guys to you.’”

But midseason buyouts used to be much rarer. The phrase buyout market was rarely used around the NBA until about 2016, according to a Nexis search, but it spiked two years later and has become a permanent part of the lexicon.


Some team executives have pushed for reform, to no avail. One suggestion is to make buyout players ineligible for the playoffs unless they have been released at some date before the trade deadline—say, in early February—thus incentivizing teams to trade for the players. Another option would be to create a compensation system, in which the team signing the player has to send a draft pick (or possibly multiple picks, depending on the player) to the player’s former team. A third proposal would be to give each team a cap exception specifically for buyout signings—and limit it to one per season, or even one every two years. A fourth option would be to have teams place a blind bid for bought-out players, using whatever cap room or cap exceptions they have available, with the player awarded to the highest bidder.

The small-market execs hope the issue gets addressed in the next CBA, which would begin in 2024, after the current deal expires. But they are not particularly optimistic. As they see it, NBA officials are driven by marketing and money, and having marquee names congregate in glamor markets, or on title contenders, is good for ratings.

“The way you know the NBA doesn’t think it’s a problem is they’re reticent to acknowledge it’s been a problem,” says one of the small-market execs. “The inaction tells you, ‘We’re cool with it.’ ”

Have any players signed a significant contract after being bought out?

If you're bought out as an NBA player, and picked up, that team is only hoping to get that last gallon of gas out of the car while driving it over the cliff for one last thrill. Blake and 'Dre will never be starters in this league again. They'd be better off going to play in China after this. While I hate the buy outs on theory, who cares, those players were worthless to any team hoping to build something.

 

[2 For The Brew]

Have any players signed a significant contract after being bought out?

If you're bought out as an NBA player, and picked up, that team is only hoping to get that last gallon of gas out of the car while driving it over the cliff for one last thrill. Blake and 'Dre will never be starters in this league again. They'd be better off going to play in China after this. While I hate the buy outs on theory, who cares, those players were worthless to any team hoping to build something.

Bought out at age 27.

 

[Scholar]

I think the title of this thread is silly. Lebron already has a Robin. Drummond is more like Bat Mite.

 

[BigZ94]

Buyouts Are Warping the NBA's Competitive Landscape​

The rich get richer, as the Lakers add an elite rebounder and the Nets get two vets with 13 combined All-Star appearances—at virtually no cost.

Howard Beck
Updated:Mar 29, 2021Original:Mar 29, 2021

The NBA’s premier rebounder—a 6' 10" spring-loaded mass of muscle—will soon have a new team. And it won’t cost that team a thing.

To be clear: Andre Drummond will be paid many millions of dollars to haul in 10 to 15 boards a night, as he has for years. It’s just that Drummond’s new employer, the Lakers, won’t be paying most of it. Nor will they sacrifice anything to acquire Drummond’s elite skills for the stretch run.

Confused? Welcome to Buyout Season—a strange, unofficial space on the NBA calendar that was never intended to and probably shouldn’t exist, but just might swing the championship race.

Here’s how it works: Every season, teams try to unload unwanted veterans via trade, before the scheduled trade deadline. When those efforts fail, the team and the player arrange a buyout, in which the player agrees to a (usually minor) pay cut, the team pays out the remainder of his contract, then places him on waivers.

The bought-out player is then free to chase rings, shots or warmer weather—or sometimes, all of the above—usually by signing for the veteran’s minimum salary. His old team saves a few dollars, opens a roster spot and makes room for younger players to get reps. His new team gets a boost for the stretch run at relatively little expense. Everyone is happy!

Except, well, not everyone.

The Buyout Market, like much of the NBA ecosystem, mostly helps the bigger markets, the glamor teams and the contenders, further warping a competitive landscape that many teams believe is already stacked against them. “You’re just helping the rich get richer,” says a general manager with a small-market team.

And the market is booming in the wake of last week’s trade deadline. Former All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge, recently waived by the Spurs, promptly agreed to join the Nets. His decision came just three weeks after former All-Star Blake Griffin (bought out by the Pistons) chose Brooklyn, a big-market superteam built around Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving.

Drummond, the NBA’s leading rebounder over the last six years, reached a buyout deal with the Cavaliers last week. He chose one big-market contender (the Lakers) after seriously weighing an offer from another big-market contender (the Celtics).

The Lakers—in a tight race with the Clippers, Jazz, Nuggets and Suns for Western Conference supremacy—now get the benefit of a 27-year-old center who has averaged 17.5 points, 15.1 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.6 blocks over the last three seasons. The total cost to the Lakers? Less than $800,000 for the rest of this season, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks. This, for a player whose actual salary this season is $28.8 million.

Indeed, the rich are getting richer.

Bought-out players typically sign for a prorated portion of the minimum salary, allowing their new teams to add talent without regard for the salary cap.

“It’s a definite concern,” says another team executive working in a small market. “Without a doubt, players that are entering the buyout market will only be looking at contending teams. And most of the time, historically, their preference has been to go to the teams in the bigger markets. ... And it gives teams an opportunity to sit back and add players on minimum deals that they normally wouldn’t be able to acquire.”

It’s debatable whether Drummond was ever worth his lofty salary (which he earns thanks to the five-year, $127 million deal he signed with the Pistons in 2016). He’s made the All-Star team only twice in nine years, and some experts question whether rebounding is still a valuable commodity in today’s NBA.

Nevertheless, the Lakers just got a player recently valued at close to $30 million for relative pennies, despite being far over the cap and without having to trade a single player or draft pick. “The system is flawed,” says a third small-market GM. “You shouldn’t be adding to your team this deep in a season without giving things up.”

This isn’t merely the gripe of small-market teams, or even a matter of opinion; the Buyout Market directly (and objectively) undermines the NBA’s complex system of salary caps and luxury taxes. The whole point of all these rules is to limit how much elite talent a team can collect—and to force teams to make trade-offs and hard choices.

But the Buyout Market makes a mockery of it all. There is no sacrifice, at least for the glamor teams and the contenders. The Lakers, with LeBron James and Anthony Davis as high-priced franchise stars, would never be able to afford a $29 million rebounding specialist in a normal market (and will probably lose him to free agency this summer).

Aldridge (35) and Griffin (32) are both past their primes, but they are still solid players, and an incredible luxury for a Nets team already stocked with elite scorers. Aldridge’s contract with the Spurs paid $24 million this season (minus a reported $7.25 million buyout). Griffin’s contract was worth $36.8 million this season, and another $38.9 million next season (minus a reported $13.3 million buyout). The Nets just got them both for $2.1 million combined.

“This is creating a competitive advantage for the large, destination markets,” says the first team exec. “And it’s another inequity for the small markets.”


On a smaller scale, the Spurs signed Gorgui Dieng after he was released by the Grizzlies last week, a rare instance of a non-glamor team benefiting from this midseason free-agent bazaar. Still, free agency is supposed to happen in the offseason, when teams have planned for cap room, with a presumably equal chance to recruit talent.

Other contenders had to work a little harder to strengthen their rosters last week. The Nuggets traded players and draft picks to get Aaron Gordon. The Clippers had to give up Lou Williams, the three-time Sixth Man of the Year, to get Rajon Rondo. The Bucks traded players and picks to get P.J. Tucker. The Sixers traded players and picks to get George Hill. The Heat traded players and draft considerations to get Victor Oladipo.

But the Lakers effectively got Drummond for free, just as the Nets did with Griffin and Aldridge. And though all three could conceivably go elsewhere this summer, the Lakers and Nets now get several months to recruit them first.

And that also hurts their former teams, executives say. Rival teams pursuing those players never considered trading for them, because their large contracts made a trade unlikely. Everyone knew which players would be bought out, long before the trade deadline. So they just waited.


The Buyout Market is effectively a second free agency period, except it comes in the middle of the season, involves only a handful of franchises and doesn’t require cap room. And it was never intended to exist. There is no mention of a “buyout market” or a “midseason free agency period” in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. It has evolved on its own, over several years—driven primarily by star players and influential agents.

When a player grows discontented, he pushes for a trade. When no trade materializes, he pushes to get released or bought out. Teams feel pressure to agree, out of fear of alienating agents or being perceived as indifferent to a player’s wishes. Those things can haunt a team, especially a small-market one, when free agency rolls around.

“It’s very, very hard for the small markets or mid markets to say we’re not gonna buy you out,” said one small-market GM, “because you can’t get players there anyway. If you don’t do them favors, an agent will say, ‘I’m not gonna bring my guys to you.’”

But midseason buyouts used to be much rarer. The phrase buyout market was rarely used around the NBA until about 2016, according to a Nexis search, but it spiked two years later and has become a permanent part of the lexicon.


Some team executives have pushed for reform, to no avail. One suggestion is to make buyout players ineligible for the playoffs unless they have been released at some date before the trade deadline—say, in early February—thus incentivizing teams to trade for the players. Another option would be to create a compensation system, in which the team signing the player has to send a draft pick (or possibly multiple picks, depending on the player) to the player’s former team. A third proposal would be to give each team a cap exception specifically for buyout signings—and limit it to one per season, or even one every two years. A fourth option would be to have teams place a blind bid for bought-out players, using whatever cap room or cap exceptions they have available, with the player awarded to the highest bidder.

The small-market execs hope the issue gets addressed in the next CBA, which would begin in 2024, after the current deal expires. But they are not particularly optimistic. As they see it, NBA officials are driven by marketing and money, and having marquee names congregate in glamor markets, or on title contenders, is good for ratings.

“The way you know the NBA doesn’t think it’s a problem is they’re reticent to acknowledge it’s been a problem,” says one of the small-market execs. “The inaction tells you, ‘We’re cool with it.’ ”

I always thought it’s weird that for example we have to pay most of set players salary so a contender can pay him vet min. They should at least change the rule so that if a team wants a player off the buyout market they should be responsible for paying the remainder of the salary, maybe it shouldnt count towards cap hit but they should at least have the financial burden

 

[CavsFan07]

I’m not blaming Drummond at all for taking nearly the full amount since he had all the leverage.

Drummond was perfectly content wearing a Cavs jersey the rest of the season and triggering most of us on this forum.

Why would that trigger us? He's making the same amount of money to

a.) sit on the bench and have no effect on our team

or

b.) go help LeBron and the Lakers

Why would B be the best option?

 

[Dr. Claw]

Have any players signed a significant contract after being bought out?

If you're bought out as an NBA player, and picked up, that team is only hoping to get that last gallon of gas out of the car while driving it over the cliff for one last thrill. Blake and 'Dre will never be starters in this league again. They'd be better off going to play in China after this. While I hate the buy outs on theory, who cares, those players were worthless to any team hoping to build something.

Where I'm at with it, more or less.

On paper, it seems like a huge cheat. In practice, the players that get bought out generally are the ones with albatross contracts that other teams don't bite on before the trade deadline. All the buyout does is accelerate the inevitable if trades never happen: the player leaves as a free agent when the contract expires.

 

[Pierre Pan]

Why would that trigger us? He's making the same amount of money to

a.) sit on the bench and have no effect on our team

or

b.) go help LeBron and the Lakers

Why would B be the best option?

I said the same thing a few days ago. It makes even less sense when I just read that all Drummond gave back to the Cavs was the $700,000 + that he’s making with the Lakers. It’s not like Drummond had been with the Cavs for 7 years and had established some goodwill that the Cavs felt obligated to reciprocate. It shows the ineptitude of our front office.

 

[Derek]

I can at least understand why people would be upset with him going to the Lakers (personally, I'm not), but why anybody cares how much this cost Dan Gilbert is beyond me.

 

[ChicagoCavFan]

The buyout amount may have been agreed to back when all parties agreed for Dre to sit. His good behavior likely earned him that payday.