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at the draft, Chi sends Caruso/JCarter/Port pick to SA
SA sends DGraham/either Wesley or Branham (SA choice) and Chi '25 pick back

before June 30, Chi declines Graham's option and stretches his $2.85 million owed (I think this part is legal, but not sure)


SA gets a top 5 role player (who went to school in Texas). Caruso's impact on D is off the charts, and he's one of the league's most popular players among his peers-SA could REALLY use a winning vet like him (and he's only 30). JCarter is fine for vet guard depth. The Port pick doesn't look great to convert now, but '28 is a long way off and it could easily be a #15-20 pick in 2027 or 2028,

Bulls save a ton of money, get a look at a young guard and get their pick back. They then have no more 1st round pick obligations and this move frees up minutes for Lavine coming back and DTerry (have to give him some run next year to see if he truly sucks or not). I would start Ayo and Lavine, and hope that Zach builds back his value by Jan. We'd save about $14 million here, to free up money to resign PWill, DDR and Drummond. HOPEFULLY, we'd still blow it up by the deadline, and Lavine would have solid positive value


Ayo/CWhite/SA guard/(Ball)
Lavine/CWhite/Terry
DDR/Terry/Javonte Green (bring him back cheap)
PWill/#11 pick/Phillips
Vuc/Drummond/random vet

I'm a big fan of bringing in a role-player who can help elevate the defense, and if the Spurs don't get Toronto's pick this summer, moving a 2025 first makes sense. I'm just not sure if this price (especially without an extension in place for Caruso). Carter seems to be more small guard salary for a team that needs quality over quantity.

As to the legality, the Spurs should have or be able to make the cap room to allow the spirit of this deal to go through with minor changes to the timing. However if the idea is to use Graham as matching salary before waiving his non-guaranteed salary to pocket some savings, that isn't legal and hasn't been for years at this point.

Chinook wrote:I'm a big fan of bringing in a role-player who can help elevate the defense, and if the Spurs don't get Toronto's pick this summer, moving a 2025 first makes sense. I'm just not sure if this price (especially without an extension in place for Caruso). Carter seems to be more small guard salary for a team that needs quality over quantity.

As to the legality, the Spurs should have or be able to make the cap room to allow the spirit of this deal to go through with minor changes to the timing. However if the idea is to use Graham as matching salary before waiving his non-guaranteed salary to pocket some savings, that isn't legal and hasn't been for years at this point.

pipfan wrote:at the draft, Chi sends Caruso/JCarter/Port pick to SA
SA sends DGraham/either Wesley or Branham (SA choice) and Chi '25 pick back

before June 30, Chi declines Graham's option and stretches his $2.85 million owed (I think this part is legal, but not sure)

Graham would count as he lesser of his current years salary or his guaranteed salary in the following year. In this case, that’s $2.85m. Add in Branham, and SA is sending out almost $6m, which means they can take back a total of just under $12m, or 200% of what they send out. Caruso and Carter make $15.65m, so this wouldn’t be legal.

To be legal, if Branham is included, Graham would have to be guaranteed a total of $5.078m to make a deal legal in aggregation like this. If “separated”, Branham could bring Carter back by himself, just barely fitting in the 200% + $100k range, so Graham would have to be guaranteed a total of $4.68m to fit in the same 200% + $100k range for Caruso himself. Seems like at most, Chicago could clear $8.5m in salary for next year, but at the cost of Caruso, and I don’t know the swap of 1sts necessarily helps this deal?