Exclusive Ayton is agreeing to buyout

We can't just buy Jerami out. That's just too much dead money on the books. It makes no sense.

I'm sure you know this but the buyout number isn't what stays on your books as far as cap hits, it's the entire contract... you could stretch it but that would be an even more monumental disaster.

It's a trade or Jerami stays.

 

Can they re-sign Walker later for cheaper if no one else offers more?

I posted a couple of days ago, wondering if they were choosing between Walker and Duop. Not exactly the same type of player, but pretty close. About the same size with Duop is about 7 lbs heavier.

Neither can really defend the perimeter, but Walker may be a little bit better at it. While Reath is probably better built for the 3rd string center.

 

I was looking at possible reasons for why they weren't willing to take on salary next year, but I couldn't really come up with anything.

I thought it was because we'd be able to generate cap space, but with the existing rosters + roster holds + Sharpe's 25M cap hold next year + 20M Camara extension, the Blazers would already be over the 152M cap for next year. Maybe if they had a deal that unloaded Grant for expiring contracts then it would make more sense, but I highly doubt that's on the table.

 

Might also be related to team being for sale, don't make any additional large commitments except obvious deals like extending Camara

 

That is a reason why the Ayton and Ant moves confuse me. Wish we would have went all in on trying to get cap space for lopsided deals in this cba world.

 

But the Jrue trade combats that narrative.

 

Except they took on Jrue Holiday.

 

Could easily be they view Jrue as a useful piece to the team and the way they wanna play, and Ayton was only going to bring back bad players with bad money. Seems to make a lot of sense to me.

 

Also bringing in two or more multi year deals for our expirings is different than just one.

 

Any rich billionaire who is looking at buying an NBA franchise is looking at a long-term return on their investment. The current roster is not a big factor.

 

Getting their team salary cleaned up for moving forward is simply what they need to do. As you say -- Camara, Sharpe, et.al. of the keepers (and whoever makes that list) will need their $$$.
Not stretching Ayton's dollars to 2-3 years would be best. They don't need to pursue a free agent with the non-taxpayer MLE; they don't really need to worry about being hard-capped for just a year. Even worse, stretching Grant for 3 years or longer is prohibitively insane.

 

Maybe Sharpe will earn $40+ million? (its not the cap hold - the actual salary and luxury tax level are the most relevant)
Maybe they want to resign Thybulle or Timelord?
Maybe they want an MLE free agent this summer or next summer?
Maybe the contracts offered into next season were junk deals and would tie up that cap space as well as a roster spot?
Maybe they want flexibility to add salary in a Grant or Jrue trade and not be right up against the cap.

There is not a good reason to take on 2026-27 salary unless there is a clear benefit which appears there was not.

 

Maybe Cronin knows we are already going to have to take back bad contracts for Grant. He didn't want to do it for Ayton as well.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/ripcity/s/CCmu2eK08I

Holy shit, apparently Ayton gave up 1/3 of his deal. That’s like 11M

 

If true then it's a no brainer from the Blazers end.

 

I'm a little skeptical, but if he 'knew' he could get a full-MLE from some team he would come out ahead. Give up 11M; sign for 14M

 

Ayton has made quite a bit in his career - so perhaps his camps thinking is he gives up 11 even with the chance he would sign somewhere between 6-14. Might believe he can showcase for his next contract far better on a team like the Lakers with Luka.