2019 NBA Awards Season

The 2018-19 Tim Duncan All Stars

Not every player can be paid like a superstar. Who were the 13 best bargain players across the NBA this season?

For many, Tim Duncan took a below-market contract for the San Antonio Spurs despite putting up mirror image per-36 numbers every year for two decades. He made only $5 million in his final season and $10 million the three years prior, a steal for a guy still among the very best in the league when he stepped on the court. That cheap contract allowed the Spurs to add LaMarcus Aldridge and keep the rest of their core together year after year.

Duncan isn’t the only veteran sacrificing money to help his team. I almost renamed this year’s piece in honor of the recently-retired Dirk Nowitzki, who repeatedly took below-market contracts the last few years to help the Mavs. Nowitzki made $5 million this season, just like Duncan in his final year. We could also name it the Manu Ginobili All-Stars. Would you rather pay for an entire Hall of Fame career or four years of Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng? You still have $12 million left if you picked Manu.

And thus was born the Tim Duncan All-Stars. In a salary cap league, every dollar matters. Superstars will always be king, but any successful NBA team will have to hit on cheap veteran deals to reach the highest heights. There are two simple qualifications to be a Tim Duncan All-Star:

1. You must make $5 million or less this season.
2. No rookie deals. Any good young player on his first contract is especially valuable, but we already know Luka Doncic and Pascal Siakam are good.

Many players below will be free agents this summer and should get a big raise on their next contract. That was the case for some of last year’s Tim Duncan All Stars, like Tyreke Evans, Will Barton, and Fred VanVleet. One season’s bargain is the next year’s overpriced veteran. Conversely, this year’s TD MVP made more money last season than the entire TD All-Star team. He was literally the overpriced example I gave in last year’s intro.

This year’s Tim Duncan All-Star starters make under $14 million combined. They probably would have made the Eastern playoffs, but they made less money than the Knicks and Lakers each paid Joakim Noah and Luol Deng to go away. The first 10 guys on the roster made under $23 million combined. You can have the entire 10-man squad for the small price of just 294 minutes of Carmelo Anthony or 2543 minutes of Andrew Wiggins — you can decide which is worse — and by the way, you’ve got a couple million dollars leftover.

Without further ado, your 2018–19 Tim Duncan All Stars…

STARTING LINEUP

G Patrick Beverley, Los Angeles Clippers — $5m

It feels like Patrick Beverley has a coming out party every couple years in the playoffs. You despise if he’s your enemy and would take a bullet for if he’s on your team. Beverley ain’t afraid of no one. He’s all energy all the time and works hard for everything he’s ever done. Beverley is a pesky, maddening defender. He picks people up full court just because he can, and he’s gotten all sorts of under Kevin Durant’s skin these playoffs despite giving up a foot. This year Beverley added a career-best free-throw rate and a 40% three. Beverley, Lou Williams, and Montrezl Harrell all came over in the Chris Paul deal, so L.A. more than got their money’s worth. And technically, Beverley is just barely over the $5 million TD All-Stars limit, but he’s worth the extra $27k.

On ESPN’s The Jump, Rachel Nichols has NBA players record themselves saying “It’s a make or miss league” for an eponymous segment. When Nichols asked Patrick Beverley to repeat the words, he paused a few seconds, looked into the camera, and said, “I don’t believe that.” That’s Patrick Beverley in a nutshell. He makes his own luck. He fights for everything.

G Spencer Dinwiddie, Brooklyn — $1.7m

Dinwiddie made the TD All-Stars last year, but this will be his final time on the team. That’s because he’s been so outstanding on this dirt-cheap contract that he earned a nice fat extension, three years for $34 million. That doesn’t kick in until July, though. For now, Dinwiddie is still wrapping up the back end of a three-year contract that paid him under $4 million combined.

Dinwiddie comes off the bench in Brooklyn but might be their best player, depending on how you feel about D’Angelo Russell. He put up 17 points and 4-and-a-half assists a game, and those numbers were even better before a midseason injury cost him 14 games and hurt his numbers the second half. Dinwiddie is finally showing his stuff on the national stage in the playoffs. He’s devastating in the pick-and-roll and the yin to D-Lo’s yang. Russell beats you with jumpers. Dinwiddie exploits one-on-one matchups and beats you to the rim. He might be a top 20 point guard in the entire NBA.

F Royce O’Neale, Utah — $1.4m

O’Neale was on the TD All-Stars last year too, one of three names in a row here to make a repeat appearance. Royce O’Neale was undrafted as a senior out of Baylor in 2015. He fought for a role in NBA Summer League but began his professional career in Germany and then Spain before the Jazz signed him last October.

He’s turned out to be quite a find. The numbers certainly don’t wow you: 5 points and 3-and-a-half boards a game. But O’Neale is a quality, versatile wing defender with a 39% three and 59% true shooting across 1671 minutes, the sort of plug-and-play wing every single NBA team can use. He has better +/- numbers than Jae Crowder this season and has been even cheaper. And as you’ll see, while there are plenty of cheap guards and big men to go around, replacement-level wings don’t exactly grow on trees.

F Jeff Green, Washington — $2.4m

Jeff Green is the only TD All-Star starter whose team is not in the playoffs. And for once, it’s definitely not his fault. Green quietly had one of the best seasons of his career, in part because he simply made a lot of shots. Green hit 59% of his twos and finished at 61% true shooting, both career bests by a decent margin.

That helped Jeff Green finish with a 115 offensive rating, and along with his versatility as a combo forward, it improbably made Green the second best Wizard this season behind Bradley Beal. That may be damning with faint praise, but Green had a really nice season and is worth recognizing.

C Brook Lopez, Milwaukee — $3.4m

Giannis Antetokounmpo wasn’t the only unicorn in Milwaukee this season. Brook Lopez became the league’s first 3-and-D center, providing outstanding rim protection on one end and hitting a flurry of threes on the other. Lopez made 187 threes and had 179 blocks, both career highs. Lopez is the first player to make that many threes and blocks in the same season. In fact, he’s the first to have more than 130 of each!

Lopez might be the second most indispensable player on the league’s only 60-win team. Milwaukee’s scheme is predicated on both Antetokounmpo and Lopez. They funnel everything toward Lopez on defense, using their length to stretch the perimeter. On offense, they plant him 35 feet from the hoop and let him bomb threes from well behind the arc, clearing up the paint for Giannis to do pretty much anything he wants.

Milwaukee was +11 per 100 possessions with Lopez on the court this season. He finished the year a smidge under 60% true shooting. That’s not unusual for a big man, but guys like Rudy Gobert and DeAndre Jordan take all their shots two feet from the rim. Lopez’s average shot this season was 19.2 (!!) feet from the rim, and he’s still that effective. And all that gravity just leaves more space for everyone else, plus it pulls the opposing center that far away from protecting the rim and grabbing rebounds.

It’s crazy to think the Los Angeles Lakers had Brook Lopez, Ivica Zubac, and Thomas Bryant all on the roster last year and jettisoned every one of them, under $6 million combined for three dependable 2019 starters. Lopez was by far the best of the bunch. He’s the MVP of the 2019 Tim Duncan All-Stars, and you can rest assured he’ll price himself well out of the team this summer.

THE BENCH

G Monte Morris, Denver — $1.5m

This is apparently a Monte Morris fan account now, given that Monte’s already made my All-Sophomore team and my 31st Team All-NBA bench mob. Add another to the list. Morris was essentially a rookie but ran the point with ease. He had only 52 turnovers in almost 2000 minutes, an outlandish 5.7 A-TO ratio to go with 41% from downtown and 58% true shooting. Morris just does his job and doesn’t make mistakes, and he’s under contract for under $2 million each of the next two seasons as well. What a find for Denver!

G Derrick Rose, Minnesota — $2.2m

Rose is the latest veteran to completely reinvent his game. There were times this year where the old Rose flashed, with that hesitation dribble and finishing around the rim. But 2019 DRose can shoot, too. He hit a career-best 37% threes and finished over 50% on twos for the first time ever. Even with a greatly reduced free throw rate, that gave Rose a career-best 56% true shooting: a new efficient Rose, for the first time ever. He’s not the creator he once was, for himself or others, and his defense is poor. He’s still just a bench scorer. But after the last few years when it looked like he might be done completely as an NBA player, that’s still quite a win for Derrick Rose.

F Torrey Craig, Denver — $2m

Torrey Craig just missed out on a starting spot, and it’s starting to look like he maybe ought to be starting for the real Nuggets as well. Craig does not offer a ton on offense, making only 32% of his threes and scoring 5-and-a-half points in 20 minutes a game. But Craig is a strong wing defender, the only one on Denver’s roster. He’s versatile and fits a number of lineups, and he doesn’t need much usage on a team with plenty of shooting and scoring already. Craig is simply a winning player, and cheap effective wings are hard to come by.

C Kevon Looney, Golden State — $1.6m

Kevon Looney has been so much better than you realize this season, and everyone is about to find out. Looney led the Warriors this season with a 135 offensive rating, second highest in the league, and he had the second best DBPM of any Warriors regular behind Draymond. His on-court and on/off metrics are fourth best on the team, ahead of Klay and just behind Green. Looney was top ten in the league in offensive rebounding percentage. He’s been flat out better than Boogie, and the Warriors are better with him in the lineup. Looney reps teammates Jonas Jerebko and Alfonzo McKinnie on the TD All-Stars. All three Warriors have played over 1000 minutes, and each makes under $2 million. And Kevon Looney just got a lot more valuable.

C Nerlens Noel, Oklahoma City — $1.8m

Noel just had one of the most uniquely dominant defensive seasons we’ve ever seen. Nerlens is only the second player in history with a 2.5% steal and 7.5% block percentage in 1000 minutes played, and the other guy was Andrei Kirilenko. Noel averaged 5.5 stocks per 36 minutes, but he played only 14 minutes a game. His 122–99 off-def rating differential was by far the best of his career. It’s only a small step, but Noel just turned 25 a week ago and might still have an NBA future in him yet.

G Seth Curry, Portland — $2.8m

Turns out Baby Curry is a pretty good shooter, too. In fact, Seth Curry put up better shooting numbers than big bro this season. Seth hit 45% of his threes, third among qualifying players, and that raised his career average to 43.9%, highest of any active player and third all-time. He’s not exactly shooting as many or as difficult of shots as his brother, but a shooter with that dead-eye efficiency is useful on any team. Curry has been a nice bench combo guard for the Blazers, and he can scorch the nets any given night. Curry returns to the TD All-Stars after an injury-plagued year away.

F Mike Scott, Los Angeles Clippers / Philadelphia — $4.3m

Scott is the only player on the 2019 TD All-Stars to switch teams midseason. He’s been effective off the bench for both the Clippers and the 76ers, a useful combo forward that can hit a three (40%) and score when needed. The Threegional Manager has been even more important in Philly, where he’s the only Sixer that can really create his own shot off the bench, and that will only amplify if the 76ers are able to make any kind of a playoff run.

C Ed Davis, Brooklyn — $4.4m

Ed Davis might as well be a permanent member of the TD All-Stars. Every year Davis provides quality defense and high-efficiency, low-usage offense. Every year his teams are good with him on the court. And every year, he gets overlooked and ends up signing another bargain deal on a new team. This year it’s the Nets. Davis averaged 6 points and 9 boards in 18 minutes a game with a career-best 63% true shooting and the best on-court and on/off ratings in Brooklyn. He had a 129–105 off-def rating differential, only just ahead of his career 119–105. Perhaps some team will finally properly value him.

HONORARY 2019 TD ALL-STARS

G Dwyane Wade, Miami — $2.4m F Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas — $5m

HONORABLE MENTIONS

G Pat Connaughton, Milwaukee F Derrick Jones, Miami C Alex Len, Atlanta C JaVale McGee, Los Angeles Lakers C Jahlil Okafor, New Orleans C Khem Birch, Orlando

Notice just how many big men there are on the list. Lopez, Noel, Looney, and Davis made our TD All-Stars. Four more bigs made the honorable mention, and more names could have been added. Great big men are still valuable, but good bigs grow in trees in 2019. Replacement-level point guards and stretch four shooters are fairly easy to find as well.

What you won’t find are a ton of useful wing options on the cheap, and that’s been true each of the last two years, too. NBA teams use wings more than ever, and they’re getting harder and harder to come by. Point guards and big men will only continue to get cheaper, and 3-and-D wings are going to get more and more expensive. It’s simple economics, really — supply and demand.

That’s just one of the lessons to take from the 2018–19 Tim Duncan All-Stars. There’s plenty more to learn… and we’ve got time since these guys are littered across winning rosters all around the league. We’ll be watching the TD All-Stars all playoffs long.

Follow Brandon on Medium or @wheatonbrando for more sports, television, humor, and culture. Visit the rest of Brandon’s writing archives here. Thanks to Basketball Reference as always.