With the return of Brandon Jennings on a 10-day contract, the Milwaukee Bucks have made an even more significant roster decision in waiving veteran forward Mirza Teletovic.
There weren’t going to be many Milwaukee Bucks stories capable of trumping the news of Brandon Jennings’ return to the team, but it seems as if the corresponding roster move to that addition certainly fits the bill.
Needing to clear a roster spot to make room for the addition of Jennings, the logical candidates to be cut would have been low-end salary players like Jason Terry, Tyler Zeller or the recently acquired Shabazz Muhammad, but instead the Bucks have been forced into making a much more significant decision.
According to an official release from the team on Saturday evening, the Bucks have requested waivers on veteran forward Mirza Teletovic.
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Teletovic has been sidelined since November, originally due to a knee problem that led to surgery, and then subsequently due to pulmonary emboli. This marked the second time with which Teletovic had suffered from the potentially life-threatening condition.
As recently as 10 days ago, Teletovic had refuted reports that he was set to be forced into retirement. In fact, the Bosnian native even went so far as to say his recovery was going “great”.
Remarking about the reasoning behind the decision to cut ties with Teletovic, general manager Jon Horst explained in the Bucks’ statement:
"“The health of our players is our primary concern. The Bucks and Mirza Teletovic, in consultation with team doctors and other physicians, have been working together since December to evaluate and manage Mirza’s situation. As a result of the overall evaluation that we’ve gone through, at this time we are both moving on.”"
While waiving many other players on the roster would have made for a simple situation in terms of assessing short and long-term implications, Teletovic’s case certainly stands as an exception.
Teletovic is owed the remainder of his deal for the current season, along with $10.5 million for next year. Generally under these circumstances, a team would pay out the remainder of this year upon waiving the player, before choosing to either take the full hit of the final year without the player on the roster, or choosing to stretch that final year over a three-year period.
Under different circumstances, the Bucks have recently used the stretch provision on both Larry Sanders and Spencer Hawes.
If either of those options were to come into play for the Bucks, there would be little logic in choosing to cut ties with Teletovic now purely to create a roster spot and live with the dead money.
Instead, as our own Ti Windisch highlighted on Twitter, there is one other option that could come into play for the Bucks. As explained by Larry Coon in his CBA FAQ, if a player is forced into retirement with a career-ending illness or injury, there is something of an out for the team.
"“Any money paid to a player is included in team salary, even if the player is no longer playing or has retired.There is one exception whereby a player can continue to receive his salary, but the salary is excluded from team salary. This is when a player suffers a career-ending injury or illness. The team must waive the player, and can apply for this salary exclusion following a waiting period. Only the player’s team at the time the injury or illness was discovered (or reasonably should have been discovered) can apply for this salary exclusion.”"
In other words, there is a route where the Bucks could pay Teletovic the remainder of his salary, but not have it count against the cap. While in theory that sounds like an easy avenue out of a tricky spot for the Bucks and a scenario that will also help to create cap space for the summer, Milwaukee would be unable to apply for such relief until November 2018.
As Coon’s CBA FAQ also notes:
"“The team can apply to have the player’s salary excluded starting on the first anniversary of the player’s last regular season or playoff game, and not before the one-year anniversary of the first regular season game for which the player was on the team’s roster under his current contract. If the player played in fewer than 10 games in the last season in which he played, the team can apply on the one-year anniversary of the player’s last regular season or playoff game, or 60 days after his last game in the current season, whichever is later.”"
This almost provided an immediate source of relief for the Bucks, but rather than playing fewer than 10 games in the current season, Teletovic managed to hit that exact number, making him apparently ineligible in terms of salary cap relief until one full year has passed.
That mean the Bucks will essentially be operating as if they’re over the tax throughout the upcoming summer, but will be doing so in the knowledge that Teletovic’s contract will likely be off the books before the luxury tax payments for next season are finalized.
Such a scenario could certainly help the Bucks with some extra flexibility heading into free agency negotiations with Jabari Parker, but again that would all be contingent on Teletovic retiring. In a recent example, Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat struggled to work through a similar situation very smoothly, as the player remained determined to return to the NBA.
As Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel pointed out, that decision could be taken out of Teletovic’s hands, though:
"“According to the league’s collective bargaining agreement, the decision whether an injury or illness is career-ending is made by a doctor jointly selected by the league and the NBA Players Association. That determination can also be made by a Fitness to Play panel. The final decision weighs whether a given player’s situation will prevent him from playing the rest of his career or constitutes a medically unacceptable risk.”"
While the Bucks have likely discussed the situation with Teletovic before coming to any decisions, there’s still cause for uncertainty due to the lengthy period of time that will have to pass before the situation can play out, and the need for rulings to begin with.
Either way, Saturday’s announcement marked the end of Teletovic’s time with the Bucks.
Having signed as a free agent in the summer of 2016, Teletovic played a total of 80 regular season games with the Bucks. During that time, the 32-year-old averaged 6.5 points and 2.3 rebounds per game on 38.1 percent shooting from the field and 35.7 percent from deep.
Next: Milwaukee Bucks reportedly signing Brandon Jennings to 10-day contract
As many other complicated implications from this transaction will only play out over time, the most important and most immediate factor remains Teletovic’s health. On behalf of all of us at Behind the Buck Pass, I’d like to wish Teletovic a full recovery and a long and healthy future with his family.