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Hello, I'm hearing Ben Wallace might retire this summer...does it clear his salary off the Cavs' cap, or would he still count as an expiring contract? and as an EC, would he cost less than his actual salary?
Thanks in advance.

Players who are owed jillions of guaranteed dollars just for showing up never seem to truly retire as we understand it. Those "retirements" occur when their team tells them to go away but they'll still pay while he sits in front of his TV eating Cheetos, or whatever it is he might do.

If he truly wants to stop playing and forfeit his pay, then the Cavs would eagerly say "Hell yeah" and they would tear up the final year. In which case he gets nothing and the cap hit is of course 0. But I can never remember that happening to a player with a large guaranteed deal on the backside of his career without some other payday waiting, so you'd be wise not to put too much stock in the idle talk being offered at the moment.

This is more than just "idle talk". Ben stated his desire to retire in a post-game media availability last night after the Cav's loss.

It's likely that Ben and the Cavs will come to some agreement on a buyout number. As opposed to the usual buyout where the team wants to rid itself of the player, this appears to be a situation where the player is just tired of playing basketball any more. The buyout will probably be a good deal less than the $14M he's owed for next year, but enough to make him feel that he didn't leave too much money on the table. Ben's made a lot of money in his career, so I'm sure he has enough left to buy all the Cheetos he could possibly want.

Dunkenstein wrote:This is more than just "idle talk". Ben stated his desire to retire in a post-game media availability last night after the Cav's loss.

I know that, but I don't think "Ben truly said it" and "idle talk" are mutually exclusive concepts. After their season or big contest ends, it's not uncommon for players in all sports to say they've had enough. Right? But then when the dust settles and they have a few weeks off, for whatever reason they recant their words.

List all the players you can recall who "retired" and truly did so where they left a massive guaranteed paycheck on the table. I can't recall any, can you?

FGump,
Thank you for clearing up a misconception of mine. I had always considered reports like "a source close to Ben said" as "idle talk". It's good to know that "Ben truly said it" can also be lumped into the category of "idle talk" in certain situations.

And I agree that Ben would not leave a massive paycheck on the table if and when he retires.

Can his contract still be traded if he retires?

MarkPopeisGod wrote:Can his contract still be traded if he retires?

It can be traded until Cleveland buys him out and waives him.

Here's an interesting thought regarding Big Ben's retirement.

It was obvious watching the Cleveland-Orlando series that the Cavs lacked a big man who could stand up to Dwight Howard.

Meanwhile, the Suns are trying whatever they can to get under the luxury tax threshold. So how about a Wallace for Shaq trade after the moratorium? Throw in Pavlovic who's $4.5M contract next year is only guaranteed for $1.5M and the salary match works.

Cleveland gets a center who can stand up to Howard. Phoenix buys out Ben, waives Pavlovic, and they're much closer to getting under the luxury tax threshold.