Can I get clarification of Gooden's contract?

[JES12]

According to Mark Stein, his contract is $4.5 mil guaranteed with "likely incentives" on top of that.

According to initial reports from dallasbasketball.com, his guarantted amount is supposted to be much lower (poss $4.5 with incentives), but then later retracted than and said $4.5 mil was correct.

Now, on Sham sports, it says "Drew Gooden: Signed a one year contract in July 2009. Only $1.5 million is guaranteed, strangely. Contract contains performance bonuses currently listed as "unlikely." Has a 5% trade kicker."

With so many reports, it is hard to know which is correct. Can any 2nd source confirm his contract to match one of the previous reports?

"likely" vs "unlikely"
$1.5 vs $4.5
What are the qualifications to make the contract guaranteed?


Finally, how much of our MLE do we still have available (Gooden was the only player signed via MLE)?

[FGump]

We take it you don't want Sham to reply. What does he know about contracts anyhow?

[JES12]

I would absolutely love Sham to reply if he can a) clarify that there was no typo on his website b) give further details on what the incentives are, c) if those inventive can mount up to $3 mil (I did not think they could if hi cntract is $1.5 mil) or d) if there is a guarantee qualifier on top of incentives, e) how much MLE we have left, f) Anything else he wants to add.

His info is very helpful!!

[MilMinMan]

We take it you don't want Sham to reply. What does he know about contracts anyhow?

What the hell is this about? Sham's a great source, but a) he's had typos before and b) JES12 appears to be trying to confirm Sham's info that conflicts with other reputable sources. Both reasonable reasons to ask about Gooden's contract.

I don't see anything about the question that warrants a smug response like this.

[Dunkenstein]

Funny, but when I read FGump's comment, I didn't take it as smug a all. I read it a lighthearted and joking. That's the trouble with trying to use irony on the internet. The reader puts his own vocal spin on the comment, which may not have been the writer's intention at all.

I myself sometimes try to use what I think is obvious parody. But I've found that some people think I'm being serious.

Humor on these forums has to be very broad or it can oft be misinterpreted.

[Three34]

a) It's $1.9 mil guaranteed, not $1.5. I typoed as per bloody usual.

b) I don't know why it's only partially guaranteed after they used such a chunk of their MLE to do it, but it is.

c) I don't know what the incentives are, but, being the Mavericks, it's probably based on team wins (they do that a lot)

d) The only thing that will guarantee the contract is the passage of time.

Also, not to polish my own balls or anything, but I don't guess this information. I'm definitely reading it from somewhere. So if what I say is wrong, then...well, I'd be alarmed.

[JES12]

Thanks sham for clarifying that info. I really, really appreciate it.

I'm guessing your response to "b" would be a good trade chip between Dec 15th and Jan 10th in case he does not work out.

[MilMinMan]

@Gump: If I misinterpreted your response to JES12, I apologize.

@Dunk: The Internet can be a confusing place in many ways. I have learned this lesson time and time again. So perhaps that means I haven't actually learned it.

@Sham: Thanks for the info. Any insight as to why the reported and actual figures ($4.5m and $1.9m) are so far apart? Also, I thought your balls had a little extra shine to them lately.

[Three34]

Any insight as to why the reported and actual figures ($4.5m and $1.9m) are so far apart?

The $4.5 mil is right. That's what he earn if he stayed on a roster for the whole season. It's just only $1.9 mil guaranteed. It's really rare for 7 figure one year contracts to have guarantees like this, but in practice it's not really any different from a partially guaranteed minimum salary contract.

Also, I thought your balls had a little extra shine to them lately.

You see anything you like down there, let me know.

[MilMinMan]

Duh, sorry I misreread JES's post.

[Dunkenstein]

From http://www.dallasbasketball.com/fullColumn.php?id=1927

*At 11 p.m., DallasBasketball.com cap guru David Lord came screeching into my driveway (in a viral way), all sweaty and breathing heavily to tell me he just heard that my $1.8 million was right.

“There's a story here, Fish,’’ D-Lord hollered. “If this thing is structured like it might be, it looks like the Mavs invented another “Buck Shot’’-like contract that can be used in December if needed. It's actually quite creative on their part.’’

*Very early this morning, 75-Member Staffer “JES12’’ (quite a capologist in his own right) got a message board reply from ShamSports, another expert on NBA contracts. Sham had recently written on his site of Gooden’s deal:

Drew Gooden: Signed a one year contract in July 2009. Only $1.9 million is guaranteed, strangely. Contract contains performance bonuses currently listed as "unlikely."

[ranger001]

Also, not to polish my own balls or anything, but I don't guess this information. I'm definitely reading it from somewhere. So if what I say is wrong, then...well, I'd be alarmed.

Where do you get this stuff from anyway or are you not allowed to say?

[Malinhion]

*Between Dec. 15 (the earliest Gooden can be traded) and Jan. 10 (when his fully-guaranteed contract becomes fully-guaranteed) the Mavs have themselves yet another valuable trade chip from the same family as The Stack Chip, The DUST Chip and The Buck Shot. Even after Jan. 10, Gooden’s contract can be traded as a regular expiring … . But it's grandest value is this: Dallas can trade him for up to $5.725 mil of value, and the other team can immediatley waive him, take the cap relief and not pay a penny of salary.

How is this possible? Is it that he's basically on a two-part contract? I know that NBAers can opt to get two paychecks a season versus bi-weekly. Is the idea that they can opt out before the deadline, and only have $1.9m on the books, which has already been paid by the Mavs? If so, how do they trade him at full value?

And can someone explain what the special meaning behind the Stack Chip, DUST Chip, and Buck Shot?

[lakerfan10770]

*Between Dec. 15 (the earliest Gooden can be traded) and Jan. 10 (when his fully-guaranteed contract becomes fully-guaranteed) the Mavs have themselves yet another valuable trade chip from the same family as The Stack Chip, The DUST Chip and The Buck Shot. Even after Jan. 10, Gooden’s contract can be traded as a regular expiring … . But it's grandest value is this: Dallas can trade him for up to $5.725 mil of value, and the other team can immediatley waive him, take the cap relief and not pay a penny of salary.

How is this possible? Is it that he's basically on a two-part contract? I know that NBAers can opt to get two paychecks a season versus bi-weekly. Is the idea that they can opt out before the deadline, and only have $1.9m on the books, which has already been paid by the Mavs? If so, how do they trade him at full value?

And can someone explain what the special meaning behind the Stack Chip, DUST Chip, and Buck Shot?

It seems that Gooden's contract is written in a way that he is guaranteed $1.9M, even if he is waived. There is no option per se, but the Mavericks or any other team that acquires him in a trade can waive him prior to Jan 10th and he will only be owed his $1.9M guarantee, which in all likelihood he will have already been paid. January 10th is significant because all NBA contracts become fully guaranteed at that time. December 15th is also significant because that is the date that players that signed free agent contracts over the summer are eligible to be traded. Also, if Gooden manages to not get waived prior to the Jan 10th guarantee deadline then he will get his full $4.5M salary.

The Stack chip was in reference to Jerry Stackhouse's $7.2M contract that was only partially guaranteed for $2M. The thought was that it would be a valuable trading chip since the Mavericks could acquire players worth up to $9M or so and the acquiring team could waive him at a cost of only $2M. This was in fact done in that huge 4-team trade, and Memphis subsequently waived Stack.

The Buck shot is basically the same as Stackhouse, except that it is in regards to Greg Buckner's ~$4.08M contract that is only guaranteed for about $1M.

The Dust Chip is in reference to Erick Dampier's contract. His 2010-2011 salary is fully unguaranteed, which means that a team can trade for him next summer and then waive him which essentially cuts all the salary they just traded off of their books instantly. Considering Dampier's salary is slightly more than $13M, the Mavericks will be able to acquire a player making as much as $16M in a trade. Even better, they could theoretically do a S&T to acquire one of the many high end free agents next summer and not have to add any unwanted salary to the other team. Problem is they will have to get the other team to agree, which will be easier said than done.

[Malinhion]

Thanks for the explanation.

Cool stuff happening in the Mavs' FO. Props to them.

[JES12]

I don't know the pay schedule, but the Mavs schedule falls like this:

Dec 15th, 32 games played (39.0%)
Jan 10th, 44 games played (53.7%)

$1.9 mil / $4.5 mil = $42.2%

If you try and align the salary to the games, $1.9 mil will be reached by game 35 on December 20th. I would suspect that if he is on our team past Dec 20th, he will get more than $1.9 mil. But once again, I do not know how they distribute the funds.