How will the Rose Rule impact Damian Lillard’s contract going forward?
Damian Lillard was selected to the All-NBA Second Team this week. While it comes as solid recognition for the talented guard, it does carry salary cap implications for the Trail Blazers. Initial reports of Lillard’s 20 million dollar raise weren’t entirely accurate, but he is still due a healthy raise on his new contract. Bobby Marks of The Vertical broke down the salary cap numbers more thoroughly, which shows that the former Weber State guard is due to make about 13 million dollars more over the duration of his contract extension.
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This raise in pay is put in place by the “Rose Rule”, which rewards players who perform at a high level during their rookie contract. Derrick Rose is the player behind the name, as he set a precedence for elite play early on in a NBA career. Rose won NBA Rookie of the Year, was a three time All-Star, and won the MVP award all while under his first contract. His accomplishments allowed for him to receive a bigger extension from the Bulls once his rookie contract expired.
Much like Rose, Lillard has performed at an elite level since coming into the league. He has made the All-NBA Team on two occasions, won Rookie of the Year, and he has been selected as an All-Star twice. Lillard’s contract extension doesn’t kick in until next year, which means he accomplished all of that while on his rookie deal.
Last offseason, Neil Olshey locked Lillard into a max contract. Max contracts in the NBA are divided up into tiers. Those tiers are based on the number of years a player has spent in the league. Tier one is for players who have under six years in the NBA, which is the category Lillard was originally in. A tier one contract accounts for 25% of the salary cap, which is why Lillard’s original cap number for next year sat at roughly 21 million dollars.
The second tier is normally reserved for players who have seven to nine years in the league. A tier two contract accounts for 30% of the salary cap. Since Lillard qualifies for the Rose Rule, he is able to jump to the second tier pay scale. A second tier contract is worth 25.3 million dollars this coming season, but Lillard is only set to make 23.7 million in 2016-17. Marks also mentions in his article (full article here), that the Blazers were able to negotiate (and reduce) the percentage increase inside of Lillard’s extension. Instead of Lillard’s salary jumping to 30% of the cap (full tier two), it sits at a slightly lower percentage.
With the slight increase, Lillard’s contract has gone from a 123.7 million dollar value to a 136.4 million dollar value. While it only seems like a modest increase over five years, it will have an impact on the salary cap. The Trail Blazers only have roughly five million dollars in cap space this summer when you factor in their salary cap holds along with Lillard’s raise.
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Don’t panic! The Trail Blazers can clear up a healthy amount of cap space in a hurry. If they renounce the rights to Chris Kaman (6.5 million dollar cap hold) and Gerald Henderson (9 million dollar cap hold) they will be able to clear enough space to sign a player who is eligible for a tier one max contract (Hassan Whiteside possibly). Going after a player worthy of a tier two or three contract will take a little more salary cap massaging.