2 year early-bird RFAs, specifically Jordan Clarkson

[Dr Aki]

i'm a little confused over what the max offer to jordan clarkson is

i've read it's 4 years/58 million but how did we get the 58 million number?

the way I read Larry Coon's FAQ is that the maximum offer (if you were a team looking to snatch jordan clarkson away from the lakers) to a 0-6 year player is 25% of the cap with 4.5% raises, providing you had the available cap room

specifically questions 16 and 45:

#16

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Years in NBA      Max Salary      2011-12       2012-13       2013-14       2014-15       2015-16
0 - 6             25% of cap      $12,922,194   $13,668,750   $13,701,250   $14,746,000   $16,407,500
7 - 9             30% of cap      $15,506,632   $16,402,500   $16,441,500   $17,695,200   $19,689,000
10+               35% of cap      $18,091,071   $19,136,250   $19,181,750   $20,644,400   $22,970,500

#45

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If the raise in the third season exceeds the standard raise (4.5% of the salary in the first season of the contract), then an additional restriction exists. In order to determine how large the offer can be, the team doesn't just have to fit the first-year salary under the cap. Instead, they must fit the average salary in the entire contract under the cap. So a team $8 million under the cap is limited to offering a total of $24 million over three years, or $32 million over four years. If the offer sheet does not contain a third-season raise larger than 4.5% of the first-season salary, then they only have to fit the first season salary under the cap.

nowhere, does it say that the max offer CAN'T be the max contract

using the calculation of a 94 million dollar cap, that's a max starting salary (25% of cap) of 23.5 million and over 4 years with 4.5% raises, that's 100.5 million

i understand that as a RFA, the max salary in the first two years for a 2 year vet is the MLE*(1 + 1.045) which is 5.628 + 5.881 = 11.509 million, so why can't a team offer 100.5 mil over 4 years, providing they pay the remaining 89 million over years 3 and 4?

yet why is the max offer 58 mil, not 100.5 mil??

sorry if this is a stupid question

[DBoys]

"i've read it's 4 years/58 million but how did we get the 58 million number?"

Its the total year by year of MLE, MLE plus raise, max, max plus raise. It's under a rule pertaining to certain RFAs called the Arenas rule, and those are the specific limits for such a deal.

[HartfordWhalers]

using the calculation of a 94 million dollar cap, that's a max starting salary (25% of cap) of 23.5 million and over 4 years with 4.5% raises, that's 100.5 million

i understand that as a RFA, the max salary in the first two years for a 2 year vet is the MLE*(1 + 1.045) which is 5.628 + 5.881 = 11.509 million, so why can't a team offer 100.5 mil over 4 years, providing they pay the remaining 89 million over years 3 and 4?

yet why is the max offer 58 mil, not 100.5 mil??

sorry if this is a stupid question

Ignoring the nitpicking of the 23.5m number to exactly what it is, the max salary in year 3 is that number with 2 years of raises.

So, the idea of paying 89m in year 3 and 4 would be way over the maximum for those years.

[Dr Aki]

my reading of the cbafaq.com was that there was no reason a contract can't be a max-level contract for a 2 year vet (cap-space willing), as long as the total paid during years 1 and 2 be the MLE and MLE*1.045, with years 3 and 4 making up the difference, theoretically, it would still allow a team that held the early-bird rights to match

i'm guessing there MUST be a section that stipulates the years 1 and 2 of a gilbert arenas provision contract MUST be incorporated into the final contract numbers, i just couldn't find the relevant question/answer section in the cbafaq.com.

[DBoys]

The faq deals with Arenas rule in Q 45. But the CBA is what matters, not the faq, and regardless of how you think the faq reads, the salary limits in an Arenas deal year over year are MLE, MLE + raise, max (ie yr 1 max plus 2 raises), max + raise.