sco wrote:MikeDC wrote:Good thought, but there are two really big and obvious reasons this won't happen.
1.
Using the DPE still adds to team salary. It would put the Bulls over the luxury tax. They aren't going to do that. They knew full well that Ball wasn't progressing in the summer and they didn't do anything because doing anything... even signing another minimum salary guy like Dennis Schroder, would put them over the tax. They signed Dragic, that was their move.
2. If the Bulls apply for a DPE,
they cannot later apply to have Lonzo's salary removed from the salary cap if (when
) he retires.
CBA FAQ wrote:There is one exception whereby a player can continue to receive his salary, but the salary is excluded from team salary. This is when a player suffers a career-ending injury or illness. The team must waive the player, and can apply for this salary exclusion following a waiting period. Only the player's team at the time the injury or illness was discovered (or reasonably should have been discovered) can apply for this salary exclusion.
The team can apply to have the player's salary excluded starting on the first anniversary of the player's last regular season or playoff game, and not before the one-year anniversary of the first regular season game for which the player was on the team's roster under his current contract. If the player played in fewer than 10 games in the last season in which he played, the team can apply on the one-year anniversary of the player's last regular season or playoff game, or 60 days after his last game in the current season, whichever is later.
The determination as to whether an injury or illness is career ending is made by a physician jointly selected by the league and players association, or by a Fitness to Play panel (see question number 62). The determination is based on whether the injury or illness will prevent the player from playing for the remainder of his career, or if it is severe enough that continuing to play constitutes a medically unacceptable risk.
If the injury exclusion is granted, the player's salary is removed from the team salary immediately.
If the player later "proves the doctors wrong" and resumes his career, then his salary is returned to the team salary when he plays in his 25th game1 in any one season, for any team. This allows a player to attempt to resume his career without affecting his previous team unless his comeback is ultimately successful.2 If the 25th game was a playoff game, then the player's salary is returned to the cap effective on the date of the team's last regular season game (i.e., the returned salary counts toward the luxury tax).
There are a few additional nuances to the salary exclusion:
- If the player resumes his career and his salary is returned to the team salary, the team can re-apply for the salary exclusion under the same rules (including the rules for the waiting period).
- If a player retires, even for medical reasons, his team does not receive a salary cap exception to acquire a replacement player.
- A team can only apply for salary exclusion during the original term of a contract. If the player was waived and his salary stretched (see question number 64), the team must apply for the salary exclusion before the contract's original end date.
- A team cannot apply for this salary exclusion if they have applied for a Disabled Player exception (see question number 25) that season, whether the exception was granted or not.
- If this salary exclusion is granted, the team cannot re-sign or re-acquire the player at any time.
- This salary exclusion can be used when a player dies while under contract.
In short, the DPE is a non-starter for these two reasons. It will put them over the luxury tax and it will kill the ability to get Ball's contract off the salary cap in the (unfortunately likely) event he can't play anymore.
Really good points.
So can someone clarify a situation for me. IIRC, if Ball doesn't play this AND next season, can he still exercise the player option for the following year? Is there a reason he doesn't do that if he can't play instead of retiring?
Yes and no.
Yes, he can still exercise his PO.
No, the money is guaranteed as long as he takes up the option. So unless he just decides to leave $21.4M on the table out of some sense of honor, he will get the money. There are a couple really important distinctions to make here between what Lonzo is going to be paid and how he counts on the salary cap. The key points are:
1. Lonzo is going to be paid the money his contract guarantees no matter what. The NBA has guaranteed contracts for just this situation.
2. The Career Ending Injury provision of the CBA doesn't change what Lonzo gets paid, it's just a provision to remove Lonzo's salary from the Bulls team salary computation. He would no longer count against the cap, but he will still be paid.
3. The Bulls are probably only paying 20% of his salary at this point.
The standard NBA insurance contract probably applies. After missing 40 games (which Lonzo is long past), 80% of the salary he gets for missed times is covered by the insurance policy. That is, of his ~$20M salary this year, the Bulls will pay about $4M if he cannot play the whole year, while insurance will pay the other $16M. His full salary counts against the salary cap however, even though he's mostly being paid by the insurance policy.
