Why did Thunder only get $9M TE from Lewis S&T?

[iverigma]

Pro Basketball Transaction

Thunder (then-Sonics) signed Lewis to a max contract then traded him to Magic for practically nothing. Why did they only get $9M trade exception? His starting salary in 2007-2008 season was around $14.8 M. I thought that is the amount of TE Sonics was supposed to get.

thanks.

[Balkman32]

It was probally the amount of space the magic were under the cap.

[slick_watts]

It's because when Rashard signed his new deal, he triggered Base Year Compensation (BYC) under the following condition:

The team is over the salary cap, used the Larry Bird or Early Bird exception to re-sign the player, and the player received a raise greater than 20% (unless it's the minimum salary).

Lewis' salary in 2006-2007 was $9,350,000 and he signed a contract starting at $14,880,000; obviously more than a 20% raise. BYC rules state:

When trading a base year player, the salary used for comparison is the player's previous salary, or 50% of the first-year salary in his new contract, whichever is greater.

So for the purposes of the trade, Rashard's previous year's salary was used ($9.35 million), so that was the amount of the traded player exception.

[DizzyDai]

I'm glad you explained that. Contract talk make no sense to me half the time.