ANOTHER Monta Ellis Question

ecuhus1981 · Post #1 » by **ecuhus1981** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 5:22 pm

Hey, I'm a T&T board regular but a newbie to this forum, so excuse me if this has been answered 10,000 times before.

My question is this: can Ellis be traded now? And if so, does the team acquiring him have the right to terminate his contract, as GSW does?

I assume that a team can waive his physical and accept a trade; but in doing so, does that team thereby renounce their rights to terminate his contract, if his leg never returns to full health?

Dunkenstein · Post #2 » by **Dunkenstein** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 9:00 pm

Because Ellis signed a new contract this summer, he cannot be traded until Dec 15.

ecuhus1981 · Post #3 » by **ecuhus1981** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 3:58 am

^

Yes, but at that point, even if he is not healthy (he isn't expected to be by then), can a team trade for him and waive the physical, WHILE keeping the right to terminate his contract if he cannot regain his health? I know it's an involved question, but I'm inclined to say that any team, not just the team he was with when he was injured, should have the right to terminate THIS contract.

FGump · Post #4 » by **FGump** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 5:09 am

You can GUESS at whatever answer you wish. But no one (maybe even including team execs) will know for sure whether your guess is right or wrong. The rules about voiding a contract in this sort of situation are very sketchy in the CBA, probably being covered somewhere in the private by-laws and memos if they are addressed at all. And we don't have history to tell us anything either.

But let's be real here. They don't have to figure out the answer, because Ellis isn't going to get traded. The W's could have voided his contract entirely if they didn't want him, and they instead merely slapped him on the wrist by in essence retaining his pay at 95% of the original deal even though he may be less than full speed for the better part of a season or longer.

And reducing the odds further from "virtually none" to "less than zero" is the fact that any trade idea would be slammed even further because he is base year status until July 1, 2009.

ecuhus1981 · Post #5 » by **ecuhus1981** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 2:59 pm

BYC adds a wrinkle to the trading scenario, but definitely does not make it impossible.

I made a thread in the T&T board yesterday regarding this very topic:

ATL-GSW

As you can see in the linked TradeChecker deal, it does work, even with Monta's BYC status. I also think it would be a good opportunity for both to pursue.