Trading cap hits but not players

[KnickelandDime]

I'm a Knicks fan and the recent Melo trade revealed to me a new problem in the CBA that I think needs to be addressed: core players, even franchise players and icons, are traded for no other reason than their contract.

The Felton for Chauncey swap made no sense for pretty much any party involved from a basketball perspective. Chaucney wanted to retire a Nugget, Felton was thriving in New York, the Knicks could probably rather have a Felton type PG for their run and gun system and Billups was the PG Denver wanted.

The swap only occurred to make the salaries match and to put Denver under the cap without forcing the Knicks to take on a long term contract (Andersen or Harrington.)

As a solution, I think there should be some kind of mechanism that allowed cap hits to be traded but not players. For instance, in the aformentioned swap, the Knicks could take on the difference between Chauncey and Felton's contract without actually giving up Felton and taking Chauncey. That way, the salaries could match and the PG's could stay on the teams they fit. I think such a mechanism would require some kind of arbitration or each team could do such a cap hit swap for an amount that only adds up to say 25% of the cap.