Jitpal wrote:NoLayupRule wrote:and it costs Mini nothing too since Curry is paid up to 3 mil remaining and we can add 3mil to the trade
its not sexy in a press conference but its good money management in a small market
I think Kosmo posted in one of the Melo threads that it was actually accurate. So, Curry got paid upfront but if he has been paid for more games than have been played the T-Wolves have to give that money back to the Knicks or it counts as cash considerations. Basically the CBA doesn't allow a team to pre-pay for a player to be traded. So it would cost Minny some dollars, which is why they get Randolph + cash. -Jitpal
Two things.
1. As I recall from Kosmo's post, Curry's total cost was $5 mil with the trade kicker, with a certain percentage being recovered from the Wolves (Knicks can't pay a player to play for the Wolves). Now, someone with a machette (or the return of the RealGM search engine), can go verify that, but that's what I got from the post.
2. Even if the total cost for Curry was $3 mil, and NYK included $3 mil in cash, MIN is out the opportunity cost of using it elsewhere, with no downside (doing nothing means they have the same savings).
Zero savings (or -$2 mil) is not "smart money management" for any size market, especially with a team like MIN privately run by a milti-billionaire.
Finally, many recent NYK trades have MIN simply tossing in this exception for nothing (while Randolph is acquired for the UTA 1st). When the returns are so great for DEN ($20+ mil in savings) and NYK (I don't think you get Carmelo without the cap space), it doesn't seem realistic MIN is just going to toss it in for nothing.