Possible stretch loophole

[Andre Roberstan]

Eric Pincus lines out brilliantly in his recent article how the Lakers could mitigate the cap hit from a waive and stretch of Deng's contract by negotiating an extension before the buyout.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2743657-to-make-room-for-2-stars-lakers-should-give-luol-deng-an-extension-seriously

I don't normally post here, but the article's definitely worth sharing. I follow CBA stuff pretty closely and never thought of this.

[Smitty731]

I read that too and talked with some people. It could be argued as "circumvention", which is the NBA's big catchall for "anything that seems fishy". But I thought Nate Duncan and Danny Leroux called it out well, that it could only come up if the other 29 teams started to raise a stink about it.

But technically, from everyone I talked to and what I've read, they wouldn't be doing anything illegal. Everything Eric lays out is within the rules.

Personally, since I root for chaos, I want this to happen. Just to see how it all plays out. The Celtics didn't extend anyone, but they did something that got a couple of teams riled up this summer. They picked up Demetrius Jackson's TO for a fully non-guaranteed final year, then they used that year to stretch his cap hit over 7 years vs 5 years. No one made a big deal over it, but a couple of teams didn't like it.

[Tfence92]

Just read the article and came here to ask about it, happy to see you guys already discussing it.

Are there no rules on the amount the extension has to be in comparison to his current contract? Like there's no rules that prohibit his contract going from $18M/year to $1M/year?

[Smitty731]

Just read the article and came here to ask about it, happy to see you guys already discussing it.

Are there no rules on the amount the extension has to be in comparison to his current contract? Like there's no rules that prohibit his contract going from $18M/year to $1M/year?

There are specific rules on how much a salary can increase/decrease from year to year. It is dependent on situation, so you'd have to look each one up.

What is being talked about here is to extend him in accordance with the rules, but have those years be only partially guaranteed for a small amount ($3M is suggested in the article) and then waive the player.

[Tfence92]

Just read the article and came here to ask about it, happy to see you guys already discussing it.

Are there no rules on the amount the extension has to be in comparison to his current contract? Like there's no rules that prohibit his contract going from $18M/year to $1M/year?

There are specific rules on how much a salary can increase/decrease from year to year. It is dependent on situation, so you'd have to look each one up.

What is being talked about here is to extend him in accordance with the rules, but have those years be only partially guaranteed for a small amount ($3M is suggested in the article) and then waive the player.

Oh duh.

So it would be like a 3 year extension for like $45M, but only $1M a year would be guaranteed and the other $14M would be unguaranteed.

That is pretty genius.

[DaddyCool19]

If Deng really wants out can't he pull a Lawson in a trade? I think he let his last year turn into a non guaranteed Team Option.

So could the Lakers do the same if he agrees to it? Lets say only 5-8M(wasn't there talks about he would leave money on the table on a buyout?) was guaranteed wouldn't that make it easier to swallow for a team?

[Tfence92]

If Deng really wants out can't he pull a Lawson in a trade? I think he let his last year turn into a non guaranteed Team Option.

So could the Lakers do the same if he agrees to it? Lets say only 5-8M(wasn't there talks about he would leave money on the table on a buyout?) was guaranteed wouldn't that make it easier to swallow for a team?

Since they'd have to add money to his deal to strerch him for more years, I can't believe that he would take less than his current contract?