Shaq trade

lakerfan10770 · Post #1 » by **lakerfan10770** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 5:36 pm

I didn't see a thread about the Shaq trade so I decide to start one. Perhaps nobody cares to talk about it, but anyways here's a couple of my observations. First the mechanics of the deal as I see it:

From Miami's perspective it is straight forward, Shaq for Marion & Banks.

From Phoenix's perspective it would be two deals. The first is Marion for Shaq. The second would be Banks for essentially nothing, thus generating a trade exception worth $3,966,207.

Second, a lot has been made about how this trade seems to go against Suns recent trend of saving money. On the face that would seem true, but the fact is that the Suns actually save money with this deal in the first two years. This season they will save a prorated amount of $400K in salary plus $400K in luxury tax. Next season they will save more than $2M in salary and $2M in luxury tax. So by my calculations they should save somewhere in the ballpark of $4.6M over the next two seasons. The third season is a different story, it will cost them about $15M more in salaries. Luxury tax could be quite large as well, but there are too many variable to know exactly how much.

Macedonianbull · Post #2 » by **Macedonianbull** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 7:45 pm

I was calculatin whether Memphis got an exception for Pau. On paper, it tuned the answer to be yes. However, the trade left Memphis' payroll below the salary cap right now, so maybe the real answer is no?

bgwizarfan · Post #3 » by **bgwizarfan** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 12:26 am

^that depends on the size of the exception generated in this trade. I think the grizz were under the cap this past summer to start so they have no exceptions added to their team salary to begin with...i'll look at it later for exact calculations, but if they are still below the cap with any TPE's in this deal, then yeah, they wouldn't have it

grizzfan1204 · Post #4 » by **grizzfan1204** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 9:57 pm

How would Phoenix have created a TE? I thought that, because Banks + Marion for Shaq falls within 125% + $100,000 of each other, the deal works straight up, and no TE is generated? Please explain, thanks.

lakerfan10770 · Post #5 » by **lakerfan10770** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 10:29 pm

grizzfan1204 wrote:How would Phoenix have created a TE? I thought that, because Banks + Marion for Shaq falls within 125% + $100,000 of each other, the deal works straight up, and no TE is generated? Please explain, thanks.

Keep in mind that deals are looked at from the perspective of each team individually. In this case, it is a straight up deal for Miami: Shaq for Marion & Banks.

Although from Phoenix's perspecitve it could be considered one deal, it would be more adventageous to split it into two. So the first part would be Marion for Shaq which falls within the 125% + 100K rule. The second part is Banks for essentially nothing. The second trade generates a TPE in the amount of Banks' salary of $3,966,207.

This all may be a moot point anyway because the likelihood of Phoenix actually using the TPE is pretty low. Nonetheless, it costs them nothing to arrange this trade to create this TPE. I wonder though, does the team have to request for the deal to be arranged a certain way to get a TPE or does the league do it automatically?

Modern_epic · Post #6 » by **Modern_epic** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 11:38 pm

The league does it automatically, I recall from a previous discussion.

LarryCoon · Post #7 » by **LarryCoon** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:41 pm

The league will allow teams to work trades in whichever way is to their best advantage. Some teams will consult with the league to work out the best way, but that's not automatic.

I've talked to people who consult with NBA front offices, and have noticed trade exceptions that were not generated, but could have been generated had the trade been worked differently. The teams have called the league office and revised the trade from their standpoint so the trade exception is generated.

FGump · Post #8 » by **FGump** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:48 pm

Larry, I thought you had said in the past that the league (not the team) determines how to best configure the trade, and does it separately for each team, once the deal reaches league offices Are you now saying that it is dependent on each team to figure it out for themself?

LarryCoon · Post #9 » by **LarryCoon** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 1:38 am

No, if I remember right, you once said that to me (via email) and I gave you the same reply (with some examples) back then. (My apologies if I'm not remembering right.)

FGump · Post #10 » by **FGump** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:19 am

"The teams have called the league office and revised the trade from their standpoint so the trade exception is generated."

That makes it sound like the NBA - who per my understanding originally configured the trade in the first place - gets told by the team to do it differently after the fact, because at times Stern and his minions are incompetent and didn't ascertain the best configuration. If so, that's a bit unsettling.

I guess that's the sort of incompetence you get when your commissioner is often an arbitrary egomaniac.