if he hasn't been traded by then, Portland would have no intention of trading him anyway. Wouldn't be an issue 2025-26 is the year all the new media deal money comes in. Even with smoothing I've seen projections of a salary cap of 175-180M that year. Dame's 58M salary would be 32% of the cap. Blazers could have as much as 120M margin between Dame's salary and the salary-cap; a 160M margin between Dame's salary and the tax line. And a 175-180M margin between Dame's salary and the 2nd apron one max/super-max salary won't be a problem generically. Two max/super-max salaries would be. Whether or no 35 year old Dame would be a good investment with a super-max at that point is another argument. Sharpe will be due for his rookie extension in 2026-27, the last year of Dame's contract. Scoot will be RFA the same time Dame would be UFA I have never seen the reasons for urgency or panic about Dame's extension that so many have expressed I've always been more concerned with Ant's contract than Dame's
Funny post... but Ant is actually paid $6 million more than Powell so it won't save the Clippers anything.
Agree with the two supermax salaries aspect. Thats why Grant on a $150 million contract or Draymond making $40 million per season have a lot of risk. Or the idea of acquiring Paul George but having to pay him a $60 million per year on an extension.
I think you could make one last push with Dame for 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 and then you'd have to dump everything. So Draymond at 40 million per year for two years is fine, but you better get out of the repeater before the 2025-2026 season.
Ok yeah those are just the tax dollar amounts - none of those are restrictions of actions which begin next summer in 2024. In summer of 2025 the cost of dipping into the tax for only 3 or seasons will actually be much less than today on that first ~$40 million teams go into the tax. I say 3 years because thats the max before hitting repeater tax criteria. I hadn't thought of this aspect before, but I wonder if now we'll hear another Cronin/Vulcan/Jody excuse that the Blazer need to duck the tax the next two years so the rate is lower when they PROMISE to finally pay it later on... that worries me much more than the increase in repeater rates or going 200+% over the tax, I doubt the Blazers ever consider pushing that high into the tax (they never did those previously either)
If the Blazers add Draymond they are hardcapped so probably aim to duck the tax next season too. Its actually the 4th year that triggers the reaper, so Draymond is really not an issue there. Giving Grant a 5 year deal or giving Paul George a big extension would be an issue however. Especially if the team still has Dame and now has to give Sharpe a max contract or something. If anything looking at all these CBA rules makes me less confident in the win with Dame path being the best choice even if the Blazers can somehow get a starting forward he wants.
Actually I only was credentialed from 2003-2006. I was there for PatterNash and KP. I really enjoyed talking to KP. Super nice guy. I did go to a game with Sly when we first paired up with the team back in... what.... 2014? The culture had shifted drastically. Their media relations department was much less friendly and much more protective. Back under PatterNash they had no issue giving out credentials, but that was before the massive rise in pseudo journalists on the internet. We were kind of an oddity. People looked down on us but there weren't many people doing what we were doing. Now everyone has a blog or a podcast or a youtube channel. The market is completely saturated with basement journalists now. I was just part of the first wave, writing in my parents basement when I was 18.
Joe Cronin is a scared little rookie GM, and Blazer fans need to quit picking on him. blame Neil Olshey, then blame the fans. Go Blazers !!!
Well my goodwill towards Cronin lasted until the beginning of free agency, at least, before evaporating instantly.
Yes it is baby! Trader Joe has completely flipped this team in less than 2 years and it feels so good!