RealGM

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Please reply there.

If Ben retires yes. I would.

I thought even if Wallace retires, his salary still counts against the cap. Am I wrong about this?

Retired players still count against the cap. But Wallace has talked about doing a buyout. Depending on how small of a buyout he would be willing to do it might make sense.

I think we could get better for AK, but if this came along I wouldn't oppose.

My understanding is if they negotiate a buyout, they only pay the amount of the buyout. HOWEVER, the salary cap hit stays the same. So you don't get any salary cap relief by moving AK in this arrangement--only a financial relief of not having to pay so much. This deal would end up being strictly financial and not help in keeping the Jazz under the luxury tax level.

Only the amount of the buyout is used against the CAP. The luxury tax is computed by looking the salaries on the last day of the bb year. Any reductions are savings against the CAP and the luxury tax.

This is taken from the salary CAP FAQ: Any money paid to a player is included in team salary, even if the player has retired. For example, James Worthy retired in 1994, two years before his contract ended. He continued to receive his salary for the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons, so his salary was included in the Lakers' team salary in those seasons. It is at the team's discretion (or as the result of an agreement between the team and player) whether to continue to pay the player after he has retired.

The agreed-upon buy-out amount (see question number 59) is included in the team salary instead of the salary called for in the contract. If the player had more than one season left on his contract, then the buy-out money is distributed among those seasons in proportion to the original salary. For example, say a player had three seasons remaining on his contract, with salaries of $10 million, $11 million and $12 million. The player and team agree to a buyout of $15 million. The $15 million is therefore charged to the team salary over the three seasons. Since the original contract had $33 million left to be paid, and $10 million is 30.3% of $33 million, 30.3% of the $15 million buyout, or $4.545 million, is included in the team salary in the first season following the buyout. Likewise, 33.33% of $15 million, or $5 million, is included in the team salary in the second season, and 36.36% of $15 million, or $5.455 million, is included in the team salary in the third season.

The distribution of the buy-out money is a matter of individual negotiation. Changing the number of years in which the money is paid does not change the number of years in which the team's team salary is charged. In the above example in which the player's contract is bought out with three seasons remaining, the buyout amount is always charged to the team salary over three seasons. It does not matter if the player is actually paid in a lump sum or over 20 years (a spread provision).