Salary Cap Chat With Larry Coon 12/14/2011

Larry Coon the noted author of the CBAFAQ, will answer your Salary Cap and Collective Bargaining Agreement questions. Larry will answers your questions about the Salary Cap, NBA trades and the new CBA at 3:00pm

  1. Clippers fan

    Assuming Clippers can keep Eric Gordon and Blake Griffin…what year will they get their big pay day and how much should I pencil in? (trying to understand their cap situation over the next few years)

    • Larry Coon

      Gordon is eligible for an extension that begins next season; Griffin is eligible for one that begins the season after that. Assuming no big injuries or other setbacks, Griffin is a shoe-in for the max. Assuming Gordon keeps progressing the way everyone thinks he will, you can pencil-in the max for him as well.

  2. Earl

    Lucky the poor strapped owners got a bigger slice of the BRI or they wouldn’t be able to throw money around on these FA’s like it’s growing on trees.

    • Larry Coon

      I disagree. Even if there had been no lockout, teams would STILL be throwing big money at players. They would just be crying about it more.

  3. myron G.

    Can you explain how the amnesty process works with the new CBA?

    • Larry Coon

      I’m not going to get into the details in a chat, but here’s a summary:

      * A team can use amnesty one time and one time only.

      * Amnesty is available before each season. If they used it in a prior season, they can’t use it again.

      * Amnesty can only be used for players who were with the team on 12/9. If they sign a new contract or were traded, they can’t be amnestied.

      * The team waives the player. They still have to pay his salary, but he comes off their cap and tax.

      * The team that waives the player cannot re-sign or re-acquire the player for the length of his contract.

      * Teams under the cap can claim the player before he clears waivers with a partial bid.

      * The team with the highest partial bid gets to keep the player.

      * The winning team has to pay the player’s salary according to their bid.

      * The team that waives the player gets to reduce what they owe the player by the amount of the winning team’s bid.

  4. Amir

    Where do you see Dwight & Paul land if they do get traded before the season?

    • Larry Coon

      If I have to say they both get traded (latest word is that Orlando has pulled Dwight off the table, but I haven’t confirmed that, nor do I know if it’s only temporary), then I’m picking New Jersey for Dwight (a deal seemed to be pretty close), and the Clippers for Paul. I think they’re down to the two LA teams for CP3, and I think the Clippers’ offer was closer to what Stern the Hornets were looking for. Plus there’s the possibility that the league re-engaged the Lakers so that the Clippers would be bidding against someone.

  5. Fred

    If a player who is claimed off of amnesty waivers thereafter agrees to a buyout, does it also affect the salary being paid to him by the team that amnestied him (since a buyout is really just reduced compensation protection followed by a waiver)?

    • Larry Coon

      If a team waives a player they claimed via the amnesty process, any salary reduction is shared in proportion to the amount they were paying.

      Let’s say a $12 million player is amnestied, and picked up by a new team for $2 million (so the original team has to pay the remaining $10 million). If he subsequently gets a buyout where he gives up $1 million, then the old team shaves $800,000 off the money they owe the player, and the new team’s obligation is reduced by the remaining $200,000.

  6. mark mcallister

    Why can’t the Bulls attract quality free agents?Don’t get it!

    • Larry Coon

      Their lack of cap room would be the main limiting factor.

  7. Andy

    Can Jeff Green be traded without his consent? He signed a one-year contract, and he will have full Bird Rights after completing it. However, as a four year veteran who has only changed teams by way of trade, he had Bird rights prior to the contract also.

    • Larry Coon

      He can’t be traded without his consent, for the reason you listed. If he IS traded, then most of his Bird rights don’t get traded with him — he becomes the one-year version of a Bird player, which is called “non-Bird.”

  8. Rick

    If Dwight Howard does not get traded, what teams do you think are in a position to go after him?

    • Larry Coon

      You mean in free agency next year? Dallas seems to be setting themselves up to go after him.

  9. Steve

    Dear Larry,
    Please inform us about minimum bids for amnestied players in the secondary waiver auction.
    Is there an incentive for a team with cap space to bid that minimum amount on a player that it thinks is either valuable for itself or deems to be definitely tradeable to a contender in the summer? If true, then, for instance, if Rip Hamilton had not been bought out but amnestied, a team sure would have swooped in with the minimum bid.
    Thanks for taking my question :)

    • Larry Coon

      I agree with you. In fact, that could be why the Pistons chose to buy-out Rip rather than amnesty him — they wanted to give him the opportunity to choose his next destination.

      There are lots of guys for whom a minimum offer is a very low-risk proposition, and I don’t expect any valuable player to clear waivers and become a free agent. In fact, I’m mildly surprised that Gilbert Arenas did so. This is the point of having secondary waivers at all — they didn’t want amnestied players all flocking to LA and Miami. They wanted other teams to have a shot at them, and this process provides that shot.

      The minimum bid computation is a little complex. I won’t explain it fully here, but I’ll summarize. Just keep this in mind — they didn’t want teams to have to pay any more for their amnestied players than they would have had to pay had they waived the player outright through the regular waiver process. Partially-guaranteed and non-guaranteed salary throws a monkey wrench into the process. If a team waives a player, they normally don’t have to pay non-protected salary, but in the amnesty process, the player gets paid all such salary, so the waiving team would be on the hook for some of it.

      They fixed this by making the amnesty bids include at least all non-guaranteed salary in seasons for which at least some salary is guaranteed. So if a player has two years left and the first year is 100% guaranteed for $9 million, and the second year has $6 million of his $10 million salary guaranteed, then the bid has to covert the remaining $4 million.

      For seasons that are completely non-guaranteed, the bid can ignore them, but the winning team has to pay the entire amount.

  10. Jared

    Do you have any additional information about the renegotiate provision? Does it affect the cap figure? Are there any restrictions we haven’t heard about? Would you expect to see a team like the Mavs got to Dirk and ask him to restructure down if they need a few mil to make a big signing?

    • Larry Coon

      I’m still in the middle of reading the CBA, and I haven’t gotten to that part yet. (I don’t want to read ahead….it may spoil the ending).

      At quick glance it looks like teams are able to renegotiate at the same time as they extend, so long as the salary in the first year of the extension may go down by no more than 40%. So this provision may not be what it seems. There’s lots of fine print to get to, so I’m going to reserve judgement on this provision until I read the whole thing.

  11. Ramon Montez

    With all that’s happened, do you think that contraction would help, provide more talent for all teams. What do you think of getting rid of 2 teams from each conference. Toronto, Charlotte, New Orleans, Minnesota?

    • Larry Coon

      I think you can make an argument that the league over-expanded, but I’m not sure it’d be a convincing argument.

      But if the league contracted, then yes, that talent would be dispersed to the remaining teams and the average talent level would increase. So does that mean we should go back to a 23-team league like we had in the 80′s?

  12. Adam

    It’s been reported that the aborted trade of Dwight to NJ involving Portland would have netted (no pun intended) POR 4 first round draft picks. Seems to me, that means that Aldridge was in the deal. Agree?

    • Larry Coon

      I don’t think so. I think they just had the virtue of being in the right place at the right time in order to benefit from other teams’ desperation to get a deal done.

  13. Paul

    What happens if CP3 isn’t traded before Friday at the start of the 1st Exhibition Game with Hornets only having 6-7 players dressed?

    • Larry Coon

      They’ve got enough camp invites to be able to field a team. But if Chris Paul is held out (which is likely) how would you like to be a guy who paid big money for courtside seats to THAT game?

  14. Karl Calaguas

    Hi, Larry

    What are the chances of the Lakers getting CP3? (I am sorry if the question is being asked again).

    • Larry Coon

      Something gives me the feeling that the Lakers are back in it mainly to leverage the Clippers a little more. Just my hunch.

  15. Mike Graff

    In your opinion, do the Hornets end up trading CP3 before the season starts? And to the Lakers or Clippers?

  16. Brandon

    How come no one is criticizing the clippers for the Baron Davis trade now? They could hav gotten rid of him by amnestying him and then some sort of package around Irving probably goes through for Cp3 much easier? Right? Huge mistake in Clipperland?

    • Larry Coon

      The Clippers are perfectly happy with the way it worked out, and it’s easy to look back with the benefit of hindsight and say they should have done something different. I talked to their management about it yesterday, and they’re perfectly content with their decision — and I agree with them.

  17. Adam

    If a team like the Knicks sign Jamal Crawford or Baron Davis or Shawne Williams to the room exception or minimum deals, can they go over the cap next year to re-sign those players?

    • Larry Coon

      At that point they’d be what are called “non-Bird” players, and they can be re-signed with a 20% raise.

  18. Albert

    Is the new CBA available to the public? Where can we grab a copy?

    • Larry Coon

      As far as I know, it’s not publicly available yet. The players association put the last one on their web site. I imagine they’ll put the new one there too, when they’re ready.

  19. Rich

    Any news on when they start to cut D-League players? When will we see final rosters?

    • Larry Coon

      We’ll probably start to see cuts as exhibition games get underway, and may not see final rosters until the 24th.

  20. Anthony

    Hey Larry – can a team amnesty a player they just traded for? (one example would be Lakers getting Glu and then amnesty’ing him)…

    • Larry Coon

      No, teams can’t amnesty players they trade for.

  21. rodney

    After analyzing the context of the demands of what Dwight has been asking for I have noticed a trend that i think not many people have looked at.

    first he wanted Chris Paul and i was like ok all star point guard i can take that

    then he didnt want Arenas to be amnestied and i was like waoh ok? (scratch my head) then i was like ok well maybe they became close friends and didnt want him to leave

    then when Dwight requested that the magic go after Billips it struck me

    has Dwight had enough of his little big brother Nelson? is what he feels is a major factor to the magic losing that Nelson is not the fit point guard he feels should be on the team?

    altho it is speculation it does bare some major coincidences and makes you wonder? Does Dwight Demand a new point guard to get rid of Nelson?

    • Larry Coon

      I think Dwight wants to compete, and wants the Magic to do whatever they can to put the right pieces around him. I don’t think it has anything to do with Nelson personally.

  22. Mike

    Can Teams go over the cap to sign their own bird players?

    • Larry Coon

      Yes. That’s the point of the Bird exception.

  23. Jared

    What happens if you use the mini-MLE while you’re over the tax line, and then you make moves to fall below the tax line? Do you get the MLE back as long as you’re willing to stay below the apron level? Or do you forfeit the MLE and BAE exceptions once you cash in the mini-MLE?

    • Larry Coon

      A team can use the full mid-level if they’re below the apron both currently and “at all times thereafter.”

  24. Mike

    Is it me, or are the Magic completely in denial about the fact that Dwight Howard wants to leave.

    • Larry Coon

      I don’t know what he’s telling them behind closed doors. It makes sense that he might be equivocating now, since trade demands don’t help teams get a deal done, and Dwight doesn’t want to be perceived as a bad guy. I do know that Orlando is talking seriously to teams, so they seem to be perfectly aware of the consequences.

  25. Marc

    If Dwight and/or CP3 aren’t traded this season and their contracts expire how much $ will it cost them to sign elsewhere versus what their current teams will be able to offer?

    • Larry Coon

      The starting salary will be the same. The raises will be bigger (7.5% vs. 4.5%) if they re-sign, and they could lock in an extra year (5 vs. 4) by staying.

  26. Eric

    If NJ does not get DH, will Deron want out of NJ and if so is there a chance a deal w/ the Lakers can take place?

    • Larry Coon

      Yeah, I think there’s a chance, but I think the Nets will also have a lot of flexibility next summer to add pieces (even Howard) to convince Deron to stay.

  27. geneticray

    I guess rockets stuck with signin dalembart and could they trade for kaman since he wants out of la

    • Larry Coon

      Right, it looks like the Rockets are running out of center options.

      I don’t know that Kaman wants out, but with the Clippers keeping DeAndre Jordan, Kaman becomes a trade candidate — he & Jordan would be competing for playing time, and combined they’re paying their two centers a lot of money. He would be a candidate, if the Rockets could find a reasonable package.

      However, Kaman is also the principal salary ballast in any deal for Chris Paul, so the Rockets won’t have a shot at him until that’s resolved.

  28. tim

    The Lakers cleared cap room with Odom this year, and if they Amnesty Metta this year, does that mean they have enough cap room to sign CP3 in July 2012? Or do the Lakers need to be under the $58 million salary cap to do so?

    • Larry Coon

      They have to be not just under, but way under the cap to sign a player like that. Even if they amnesty MWP, they’ll still be about $15 million over the cap — and that’s just counting the players who are signed right now. If they sign or acquire anyone else whose contract is longer than a year, they’ll be even farther over the cap.

      However at this point the Clippers look like they may be able to have a chunk of cap room next July. This goes along with what they’ve been saying — even without a CP3 trade, they like the team they have.