winforlose wrote:While that cannot be done, we can do a modified sign and trade for Kyle. We either extend him now or resign him in the off season. With his new deal his bird rights vest in case of trade. So we move him either before or during the season (at or around the deadline,) and we get all of his money as either trade return or as a TPE. Depending on the timing the TPE could be used as an MLE on any waived player, but it’s better value is before the season. We could sign someone for 10 to 11 million as long as we are willing to pay the tax. Or, we could sign two players (Shake and Troy style,) and break Kyle into two contracts to help fill out the team.
(I lost a long post before I was able to post it, so I’ll try to hit those ideas as quickly as I can still remember them!)
While I have generally just assumed Kyle Anderson would be gone after this season, this idea is a possibility for future trade flexibility. We can’t extend Anderson’s two year contract, but we could sign him this summer using his Early Bird rights. He certainly can’t expect a raise of 175% over his last year, so Early Bird limitations wouldn’t hinder us.
I would also note that the price here is just money. Whether we signed Anderson or not, we’re likely going over the second apron, so we would face those second apron restrictions either way. It’s just more money. And some teams have paid out contracts to keep players around as disposable salary-matching pieces for future trades. LAC does this all the time, waiting for superstars (and it worked!) but Ballmer doesn’t care about money. If NYK hadn't been able to find a trade for Fournier, they were likely going to pick up his $19 mil option for future trades, even though they don’t play him.
But it is a LOT of money. It’s hard to gauge what Anderson’s next contract will be, and the bulk of his valuation for a future contract will come down to the rest of this season and the playoffs. But as an example, let me say we signed him for $8 mil, and we were already $25 mil over the $172 projected lux threshold. That boils down to
$5 mil salary
$18.75 lux taxes (3.75 multiplier)
$3 mil additional salary (to get to $8)
$12.75 lux taxes (4.25 multiplier)
—————————————————————-
$39.5 mil dollars to sign an $8 mil player
Now, as we all know, lux taxes aren’t accrued until the end of the season, so if MIN traded Anderson into someone’s cap space, the $39.5 mil hit disappears. But as you can see, using any or all of that money for other players is very expensive, so they need to be critical to winning. I should also note that new rules require teams to get their payroll up to the minimum by the start of the season, so unlike previous seasons, there isn’t a lot of cap space floating around at the deadline as an escape hatch. Still, signing Anderson creates a little GN flexibility that will be lost once the season begins, and we’re stuck at high salaries for 2+ years.
