Trading a percentage of retained salary: New Idea for CBA

[Bentley1225]

In light of yet another deal in the NHL whereby the BlackHawks trade Mikko Rantanen and retain 50% of his salary to complete a 4 team deal.

It got me thinking I wonder if the NBA would allow a similar type of flexiblity to be allowed whereby:
-This only applies to players on expiring contracts with no pending team or player option
-A team can deal up to 30 % of a players cap hit into another teams straight cap space or exemptions
-A trade like this can only be done between 2 teams, no multi team trades

Example.
Lets say The Bucks wanted to trade 30% of Brook Lopez $23 million salary to a team with cap space or into a teams MLE.

ie. Hypothetically the Bucks trade $6.9 million in dead money to Pistons, along with 2 2nds round picks so that Lopez tradebale cap hit becomes $16.1 instead of $23 million. That way it gives Bucks more flexibility for the type of player they can target in a trade.

Would this be a good idea?. Would it have a detrimental effect on league competition?.

[babyjax13]

I don't think the player's association would agree to it. Presumably a team like Detroit that is under the cap is more likely to fill out the roster with a player than reserved salary, trading portions of contracts that count against st the cap just reduces the number of players under contract. I think a regular amnesty clause, say you get it every 3 years, makes more sense. The players still get paid, but it comes off the cap when they are released from the roster. It also allows those released players to search for a context that works for them. E.g. Utah could let go of Clarkson who could be a nice addition off the bench as an 8th or 9th man for a playoff team.

[winforlose]

In light of yet another deal in the NHL whereby the BlackHawks trade Mikko Rantanen and retain 50% of his salary to complete a 4 team deal.

It got me thinking I wonder if the NBA would allow a similar type of flexiblity to be allowed whereby:
-This only applies to players on expiring contracts with no pending team or player option
-A team can deal up to 30 % of a players cap hit into another teams straight cap space or exemptions
-A trade like this can only be done between 2 teams, no multi team trades

Example.
Lets say The Bucks wanted to trade 30% of Brook Lopez $23 million salary to a team with cap space or into a teams MLE.

ie. Hypothetically the Bucks trade $6.9 million in dead money to Pistons, along with 2 2nds round picks so that Lopez tradebale cap hit becomes $16.1 instead of $23 million. That way it gives Bucks more flexibility for the type of player they can target in a trade.

Would this be a good idea?. Would it have a detrimental effect on league competition?.

The unintended consequences are bad teams trading cap and not paying the mid tier players as much. The big earners get the most hype, but the NBAPA works for all of them. This would depress mid level salaries and therefore is unlikely.

I think the better solution is to apply penalties differently. For example all new salary above point X gets taxed starting at 3 or 4 dollars instead of 1, but bird rights are exempt if you drafted the player. Max contracts should count more harshly for teams acquiring them to discourage talent poaching, but discounts for teams to retain their home grown talent. This is a rough idea and needs serious work. But I look at what happened to the Pels when AD demanded out, or the threat of what happens to the Mavs or Nuggets if their top talent is poached, and I think that there need to be structures in place to prevent it. I also think the Butler situation is a great example of where contracts need to be better enforced. Jimmy is betting that his antics will get paid off either by a better extension or a NBAPA appeal, but neither should be true. When a player refuses to play or meet their contract obligations their option should be cancelled and they should be suspended from the league indefinitely. When the suspension ends that player should be hard capped at a percentage of their prior salary with no raises possible for a period of years. This way no one can pay Butler to reward him or any other player who tries to destroy the team that signed them.

[cgf]

I still can’t believe we traded Mikko…even having been a fan of Necas’s coming out because of mutual acquaintances

[gambitx777]

The cba is more likely to raise the sap on cash allowed to be included in a trade right now I think it's 5 million total preseason form a team. Id say make it flexible. That's amount should be = to the MLE then a team can effectively pay for a piece of the players salary by paying it to the team they are traded too.

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[TheNetsFan]

I don't think any league allows you to trade salary and keep a player. In the NHL scenario you laid out, they traded the player while retaining a portion of the salary. In that scenario, trade valuations could become more commensurate with actual talent than contracts.

For example, LaVine has been seen as a negative contract for a while, but if the Bulls were willing to east $10-15mil per remaining year, then maybe he'd have a lot more value.

[nykballa2k4]

I don't think any league allows you to trade salary and keep a player. In the NHL scenario you laid out, they traded the player while retaining a portion of the salary. In that scenario, trade valuations could become more commensurate with actual talent than contracts.

For example, LaVine has been seen as a negative contract for a while, but if the Bulls were willing to east $10-15mil per remaining year, then maybe he'd have a lot more value.

I think to sort of "dip the toe" on this one, NBA should do as you are saying, like MLB does and allow teams to KEEP some salary to facilitate a trade. The trial balloon could be like it only applies to expiring contracts.

I don't think the NBA wants to open up a potential where a team goes less successful Marlins and just trades away every player on a real contract, keeping like half the salary, and taking back FRP left and right.

[OxAndFox]

This happens in Australian football. A player gets traded and a % of his salary stays with the team that is trading the player out.
It definitely has merit as the OP put it only on expiring contracts.
It should be able to go through multi year contracts too IMO but I get people not wanting it.
How this would be implemented and who uses it would be fascinating.

[OGSactownballer]

I don’t see either side ever agreeing to something like this.

The reasons for the players are outlined clearly above.

The other side has finally agreed acted apron tax and punitive situations that are beginning to make the playing field be balanced between large market and small market franchises. Why and in what world would they turn right around and completely undermine the parity they are building.

[jbk1234]

Everyone thought that the players would fight harder to keep the amnesty provision. They didn't. That money still counted towards the 50/50 BRI split even if it didn't count against the individual team's cap. Individually, it's in the players interest to get as much as they can, but collectively, it's in their interest for teams to be as discerning as possible when handing out contracts. Otherwise, you have undeserving players making money at the expense of more deserving players.

[Scoot McGroot]

Realistically, I think budget conscious ownerships would fight hard against this, as they see it likely that they'd be asked to retain a lot of salary in order to make trades possible with bigger budgeted teams who are trying hard to fit under the aprons. And owners HATE paying players not to play for their team.

[ChettheJet]

I don't study the CBA so

I wonder about setting a salary value on on draft picks. So when team A trades their 2025 FRP, to Team B, if it's 1-5 it counts as $12M as part of matching salaries in a trade. Picks 6-10 are $11M, 11-5 $10M and so on, through the 2nd round. Values set at the time of the trade. If the pick slips from #5 down to #9 the receiving team owes sending team $1M.

or work it out some way

[wegotthabeet]

I don't think any league allows you to trade salary and keep a player. In the NHL scenario you laid out, they traded the player while retaining a portion of the salary. In that scenario, trade valuations could become more commensurate with actual talent than contracts.

For example, LaVine has been seen as a negative contract for a while, but if the Bulls were willing to east $10-15mil per remaining year, then maybe he'd have a lot more value.

This is correct. You can’t just trade a % of someone’s salary, but you can retain a %. Makes unmovable contracts moveable.