I don't believe it's 3.5m to get under the tax. I think it's actually a little less than 3. The teams that are close to the line aren't teams that have assets we'd realistically be interested in anyway.
It is over 3. But you are closer. According to @42N8Bounce it is $3,002,579 we have to cut. I believe it is going to be harder this year because I think there are going to be many more teams who are trying to be "sellers" than "buyers". I would love to be wrong on that though.
According to basketballinsiders it's $2,931,921. According to the ESPN Trade Machine it's $2,849,921. Not sure why there's a $82K difference. BNM
As the trade deadline nears, it's probably good to know where the Blazers are at with the CAP/TAX situation. Here are my estimates: TAX Line: $119,266,000 CAP line: $99,093,000 Guaranteed Salaries: Damian Lillard , $26,153,057 C.J. McCollum , $23,962,573 Evan Turner , $17,131,148 Maurice Harkless, $10,162,922 Meyers Leonard, $9,904,494 Al-Farouq Aminu, $7,319,035 Zach Collilns, $3,057,240 Caleb Swanigan, $1,465,920 Ed Davis, $6,352,531 Noah Vonleh, $3,505,233 Jusuf Nurkic, $2,947,305 Shabazz Napier , $2,361,360 Pat Connaughton , $1,471,382 Jake Layman, $1,312,611 Anderson Varejao (stretched), $1,984,005 Festus Ezeli (stretched), $333,333 Andrew Nichols (stretched) , $2,844,430 Total Guaranteed Salaries: $122,268,579 Total over the TAX line: $3,002, 579 This results in a tax bill of approximately $4,503,868. The problem isn't necessarily the financial tax bill this year. I'm sure Paul Allen can afford that. The challenge is when we look ahead at the next 3 to 4 years. With Dame at a max contract, CJ at a near max contract, Turner, Harkless and Leonard all locked in for the next 2 years at over $10M/yr, plus a potentially large contract for Nurk, the repeater tax could come into play very quickly. The repeater tax kicks in when the team was a tax payer in at least three of the four previous seasons. Then, instead of a 1.5x multiplier for the tax, it becomes a 2.5x multiplier.
They wouldn’t. Napier and Hood are probably of equal value but because of the need for SF in the league it would probably need to be Napier and a pick or taking back an unwanted contract of theirs while sending them a young player like Swanigan.
What if we took on Rubio as well? I think they’d be interested in Vonleh. Would Vonleh and Napier be enough for Hood?
My proposed trade for about a week and a half now has been Napier, Harkless, Swanigan and a 2nd rd pick for Hood and Rubio. But they could have their pick of Vonleh or Swanigan. Salaries are almost identical.
UTA is also looking to move Favors, and supposedly CLE wants him. There are rumors of a potential 3-team trade between CLE, UTA and CHI. Anyway we can get in on this? Something like: Favors to CLE Mirotic and Napier to UTA Crowder and Hood to POR Osman, Zizic, Vonleh and Connaughton to CHI Throw in/swap picks as necessary. CLE gets the 2-way big man they desire. UTA dumps two players they are looking to move, gets Mirotic, who they want and Napier, who they need. We upgrade our SF position immensely, without giving up any core pieces and CHI gets a lot of young, cheap players. BNM
Cleveland could get more than Favors for Crowder and Chicago could get more than some no names for Mirotic, especially if they’re dead set on getting a first rd pick for him.
Which is why I said include picks as necessary. And no, CLE can't get more than Favors for Crowder. Favors is the better player and a much better fit for them than Crowder. BNM
Very quirky idea here: If we gave CLE Napier and Davis, and took on big contracts that helped them get under the tax, then could we manage a swap for the BKN pick? What would the swap have to be protected... Top 5? For example: CLE Gets: Napier, Davis POR Gets: Crowder, Zizic, Calderon, Rose + (TPE) Shumpert, Osman CLE saves $15.5M in salary (and apx. $50M total including the tax bill) and gets better and more balanced. This is a better lineup: Thomas / Napier Smith / Wade / Korver LeBron / Green Love / Frye Thompson / Davis That has to be worth a lot in return value. We would be over the tax but we would have our starting SF for the next 3 years in Crowder at a cheap contract (3 years, $18M), and could trade away Harkless/Leonard/Aminu to get closer (or if possible), under the tax line.
