Larry Sanders contract

[neno]

I believe alonzo mourning straight refused to go to toronto in the vince carter trade

[HurricaneKid]

I would think that this very situation with Sanders is going to lead to a major confrontation between the NBA and the Players' Union when the next CBA is negotiated. Call it the Sanders provision. The NBA has shown that it can bring the union to it's knees during the last CBA Negotiations, and this almost unprecedented situation needs to have an air tight resolution that teams can fall back on if need be. Unless the NBA goes to wall to fully NG all contracts, much like the NFL, I think there is a need to find a middle ground. I would do something like this:

Make every new contract (existing contracts to be honored) a team option every July 1. If the team wanted to terminate the contract of a player for any reason what so ever, the value of the buy out, depending on the remaining years, would be something like:

4 years remaining: 80% Year 1, 60% Year 2, 40% Year 3 and 20% Year 4.
3 years remaining: 75% Year 1, 50% Year 2 and 25% Year 3.
2 years remaining: 67% Year 1 and 33% Year 2.
1 year remaining: 50% Year 1

This means that a team can buy out a player for half of the remaining contract value each and every July 1. A player is free to sign with another team but could not be paid more than the value of the original contract for the duration of the original contract. The new team would might also face some kind of (minor) salary cap or draft penalty (Cash, Pick swap option or 2'nd rounder to former team) to sign such a player. If the player is signed by another team, any value of the new contract up to and including the yearly values listed above would be first paid directly to the original team, and those values would be deducted from the original team's cap number.

As an example, a player with two years remaining at $6 Million per year could be terminated by Team A on July 1. The player would still be paid $4 Million for the first season and $2 Million the second. Team B signs the player for two years (new contract can not exceed length of old contract) for $3 Million Per year. Team A is assessed 1 Million against the cap and Team B is assessed $3 Million in year one. Player is paid $4 Million for the first year, $1 Million from Team A and $3 Million from Team B. The second year, Team A has no cap hit and pays nothing the player. Team B pays the entire $3 Million and has a cap hit of $3 Million. An arbitrator decides if Team A is owed any compensation by Team B.

This is just a first swipe at it, but maybe idea outlined above could be used as a basis. Play with the percentages all you like, but the rough idea might work.

One thing for sure IMHO, the Sanders situation needs to be resolved in the next CBA, and it could get ugly.

I was playing with something like that in my head and the numbers were eerily similar. The problem is injury. I don't want guys who put it all on the line and their bodies fall apart to lose out financially because of it. But if you say you can't void an injured player everyone would always be injured. I think the NFL injury buyouts are criminal and if I were an NFL player I would just decertify and make each team compete. I think their CBA is that bad. But in the NBA the players wield a lot of power. They are increasingly losing their share of money but they control the game which means a lot.

And one of these days an owner is going to void a deal on a player who doesn't put in the energy or effort. The contracts appear to give ownership significantly more power than they have wielded to this point. Having a guy say he wants a full buy out before the ink is dry on a 4 year deal is shameful and there simply has to be a way to address it.

[ranger001]

So Sanders apparently is going to leave 27million on the table and take only 13m of the 44 owed him.
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/23 ... -On-Buyout

That is weird, why would he leave that much money on the table?

[stjf]

So Sanders apparently is going to leave 27million on the table and take only 13m of the 44 owed him.
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/23 ... -On-Buyout

That is weird, why would he leave that much money on the table?

How much should he have held out for? Maybe the agent moved now, because he had to give a playoff team assurances to not make a trade and keep a roster spot for Sanders?

If he can get in the playoffs and be a productive 15 minute bench reserve, I'd bet that someone will have a starting job for him next year on a 1-year deal, possibly around or north of the MLE in value. That sets up to cash in again on a multi-year deal in the first offseason of the new TV money.

Perception that he took less today might influence these subsequent events, and open up opportunities he might not have had of he held out for another week or two. If he gets his life together on terms acceptable to these clubs, I'd be shocked if he doesn't make out with more guaranteed money over the next three years than what he left in Milwaukee.

[giberish]

So Sanders apparently is going to leave 27million on the table and take only 13m of the 44 owed him.
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/23 ... -On-Buyout

That is weird, why would he leave that much money on the table?

If he really doesn't want to play now (at least for a while) then some money is better than none. There really is a lack of information about what is really going on there - perhaps for the best as having all the details public aren't likely to help whatever issues Sandars is having.

A more technical question is, how does this buyout count against the cap/tax for Mil (not actual payout schedule, I don't care)?

Do they count the full salary this year then the remaining bit split over the next 3 years? Or is the $13M split evenly over the next 3+ seasons?

[Smitty731]

Word is he is being stretched over 7 years. So full amount this year and then the rest over the next 7 years.

[ranger001]

So Sanders apparently is going to leave 27million on the table and take only 13m of the 44 owed him.
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/23 ... -On-Buyout

That is weird, why would he leave that much money on the table?

How much should he have held out for? Maybe the agent moved now, because he had to give a playoff team assurances to not make a trade and keep a roster spot for Sanders?

If he can get in the playoffs and be a productive 15 minute bench reserve, I'd bet that someone will have a starting job for him next year on a 1-year deal, possibly around or north of the MLE in value. That sets up to cash in again on a multi-year deal in the first offseason of the new TV money.

Perception that he took less today might influence these subsequent events, and open up opportunities he might not have had of he held out for another week or two. If he gets his life together on terms acceptable to these clubs, I'd be shocked if he doesn't make out with more guaranteed money over the next three years than what he left in Milwaukee.

All that is just speculation about future earnings. He had 27m guaranteed that he can collect just by showing up. I think the Bucks must have threatened him with suspension for not showing up so he took what he could get. We might never see him play in the NBA again.

[HurricaneKid]

Yeah people that think a contender might pick him up are really missing the boat here. He will probably never play again. He will end up with a smallish house in Colorado and just hang out with his crew with the good stuff. His frustrations are with the league and not the Bucks. No one knows whats going on for sure but I think his playing days are done. At least for a few years.

Assuming he takes a 13M buyout (3.5M more for this year +9.5M) the Bucks options (and it looks like they are going to stretch him) are:

Full cap hit this year, 9.5M divided equally between the remaining years on the contract (3.17M/season the next 3).
Full cap hit this year, 8.5M divided equally between the years left (3) times 2 +1. (1.2M/season for 7 seasons).

Correct?

[HurricaneKid]

So Sanders apparently is going to leave 27million on the table and take only 13m of the 44 owed him.
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/23 ... -On-Buyout

That is weird, why would he leave that much money on the table?

How much should he have held out for? Maybe the agent moved now, because he had to give a playoff team assurances to not make a trade and keep a roster spot for Sanders?

If he can get in the playoffs and be a productive 15 minute bench reserve, I'd bet that someone will have a starting job for him next year on a 1-year deal, possibly around or north of the MLE in value. That sets up to cash in again on a multi-year deal in the first offseason of the new TV money.

Perception that he took less today might influence these subsequent events, and open up opportunities he might not have had of he held out for another week or two. If he gets his life together on terms acceptable to these clubs, I'd be shocked if he doesn't make out with more guaranteed money over the next three years than what he left in Milwaukee.

All that is just speculation about future earnings. He had 27m guaranteed that he can collect just by showing up. I think the Bucks must have threatened him with suspension for not showing up so he took what he could get. We might never see him play in the NBA again.

I think that was kind of the point. He didn't want to have to "show up" for the next 4 years. I also had a friend that played in the NFL. You have to tell them where you are every second of every day and they can drug test you at any time. He actually got tested on his honeymoon. For a guy like Larry who is in the program, getting tested far more frequently and far more invasively, that could be a real issue.

[Dunkenstein]

In Sanders case there seems to be a psychological component behind his not playing. Several reports of "personal issues". Then today (January 7) the newly hired president of the Bucks was quoted as saying the franchise's new owners want to "surround players with the best medical, psychological, emotional and physical support we can possibly have." Sounds to me like some form of depression. Depression is a disease. It's not just a player refusing to play.

Larry Sanders told the Players Tribune that he entered a hospital program for anxiety, depression and mood disorders. Sanders said that "Cannabis came later on in my life. It was, for me, used medically for some of the symptoms I was having due to a lot of stress and pressure I was under."

Last Saturday, Sanders and the Bucks reached an agreement on a buyout that will pay Sanders between $13 million and $15 million (depending upon which report you believe) of the $33 million he is still owed after this season.

I'm sure we all wish him well as he works on overcoming his emotional issues.