The $270 million dollar question

[Ugly0598]

I think they need to do anything they can to get rid of Anthony first, Roberson 2nd.

[clyde21]

Westbrick at $35 million. The supermax is a franchise killer. It should have been that the difference between max and super didn't count against the cap. It's crippling.

Teams don't have to offer it.

In Westbrook's case you have to, but John Wall's for example...no thanks.

[rpa]

LOL. If your melo, why the Fu** would you do a 5/50 year contract when you can easily do a 1/27+ one... No one in their right mind is gonna pay him 20+/ year now lol. There are only a few NBA teams with ample capspace in 2018. I'm guessing your an OKC fan but be realistic dude !!

Because there's a significant chance that he doesn't earn that much over the rest of his career even if he opts in. He'll be 35 heading into free agency in the summer of 2019. He's currently putting up a whopping 14.9 PER (and I'd expect that to drop more next year with another year of age) and ranked 27th in RPM among PFs--which I'd also expect to drop.

Is anyone giving that player a longterm deal? Hell no. Is anyone giving that player significant money? Hell no.'

Taking a 50-65mil contract over 5 years where the Thunder start him at somewhere between $9mil and $12mil will almost certainly net him more money than him taking that $27mil and riding out the rest of his career ring chasing for scraps.

Oh, and I'm not an OKC fan.

[bb22]

Taking a 50-65mil contract over 5 years where the Thunder start him at somewhere between $9mil and $12mil will almost certainly net him more money than him taking that $27mil and riding out the rest of his career ring chasing for scraps.

Very true.
Then the question is, what is more important to him in the twilight of his career? A ring? Or making an extra 10-15 mil? I think he will choose winning. This doesn't mean that he won't be in an excellent position to win a ring with OKC, though (if they manage to keep everyone together). Then again, I could see him riding out the 27 mil next season and then just signing with whatever contender Lebron put together.

[dYYYh.k²]

This is the $270 million dollar question. Please help me understand how the Thunder can pull this off.

Westbrook 35.4 mil
George 30.3 mil (5 year - 175.7mil)
Melo 27.9 mil
Adams 24.2 mil
Roberson 10 mil
Total for 5 players 127.8 mil

Thunder luxury tax payment history
17-18 season luxury tax of 24.5 mil
16-17 season no lux tax! Thanks KD
15-16 season luxury tax of 14.5 mil
14-15 season luxury tax of 2.8

The Thunder have paid the luxury tax in 3
of the 4 previous seasons, which means the Thunder now have to pay dreaded repeater tax offender penalties

This means the Thunder’s luxury tax bill is going to sky rocket. By how much? The Thunder will have to pay a dollar for dollar repeat offender tax in addition to the punitive, progressive tax. After the Thunder pay for the rest of the roster the bill will reach between $250 to $270 million dollars.

QUESTION 1) How can the teams owners afford it?

The Thunder don’t have a 2018 or 2020
1st round draft pick. League rules prevent the Thunder from trading the 2019 and 2021 draft picks.

QUESTION 2). So how will OKC shed salary?

Melo won’t get any offers close to 27.9 mil at age 34. He should opt in. The only options I see is either the Thunder somehow get Melo (27.9 mil) to opts out of his player option (no soup for you) and/or find a team to take Adams (24.2 mil) and his massive contract.

Good lord thats a lot of money to be the 5th seed team in the West behind the dominate Warriors, the sizzling Rockets, the young rookie contract built Wolves and Kawhi-less Spurs.



QUESTION 3) How does OKC have more money to burn than every other team in the league?

How will the GM get ownership to approve this? This is the same ownership that decided to trade current MVP front runner James Harden for Kevin Martin to save 3.7 mil per season.

OPTIONAL QUESTIONS 4) Does anyone else have stories similar to NBA players similar to Brook Lopez cleaning your grade school crushes apartments. Because, why not

Happy Friday before trade deadline.

Could've saved you a lot of trouble friend:

WOJ: 1 year run for Thunder, won't pay to keep roster together

The Oklahoma City Thunder are unlikely to continue with their current trajectory of an expensive roster and the luxury tax ramifications. The Thunder will have a luxury tax bill of approximately $25 million this season and it would be even higher in 18-19.

The Thunder signed Russell Westbrook to a $233 million extension in training camp while Paul George can sign a new deal this offseason.

"If we're being honest with ourselves, this is a one-year run with this team," said Wojnarowski on his podcast. "They have one chance with this team because they cannot bring back this team together next year. Even if Paul George re-signs and says 'I want to stay.' Financially, it is impossible for this team, I don't want to say remotely look the same, but the idea of Carmelo, Westbrook and George on the same roster withe Melo opting into his salary next year.

"This would be an incredible bill for the New York Knicks, the Lakers or Steve Ballmer to pay, nevermind Clay Bennett in a small market like Oklahoma City."

Wojnarowski, Royce Young and Bobby Marks talked about how their decision to decline the option on Josh Huestis as an example of how they're already making cost conscious moves.

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/248018/Thunder-Unlikely-To-Afford-Current-Roster-Beyond-17-18

this would also explain why they didnt take the blake griffin offer, wouldnt it?

[THE J0KER]

Salaries of most productive TOP4 team's players of 2017-18 season:

OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER:
$28,530,608 Russell Westbrook
$26,243,760 Carmelo Anthony
$22,471,910 Steven Adams
$19,508,958 Paul George___
$96,755,236 OVERALL

DENVER NUGGETS:
$3,355,320 Jamal Murray
$2,550,055 Gary Harris
$2,441,400 Trey Lyles
$1,471,382 Nikola Jokic___
$9,818,157 OVERALL

[NBARocks]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Rookie contracts are the most valuable assets in the NBA right now. Next to picks, that is. Any GM trying to build a team through free agency should lose their job. Free agency should only be considered when your team is missing one or two pieces. Every team should build their team through the draft.

In the coming years, there'll be even more demand for guys who can extract value out of managing the salary cap - they'll be the premium GMs of the league. The rest will be fodder for these guys.

[vxmike]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Rookie contracts are the most valuable assets in the NBA right now. Next to picks, that is. Any GM trying to build a team through free agency should lose their job. Free agency should only be considered when your team is missing one or two pieces. Every team should build their team through the draft.

In the coming years, there'll be even more demand for guys who can extract value out of managing the salary cap - they'll be the premium GMs of the league. The rest will be fodder for these guys.

To be fair when has salary cap management not been important? It's a bigger deal now with repeater tax penalties I guess, but the cap spike in summer of 2016 is causing the most cap problems now.

Rookie contracts are incredibly valuable, but so many picks turn out to be busts. I'd argue that good scouting/drafting is more important than obtaining tons of picks. Look how many bad picks Philly and Orlando have made recently.

Even if you draft a decent starting caliber player who isn't a superstar you then face the prospect of a crappy tanking team throwing a bloated offer in RFA that makes the player a terrible deal in his second contract, but teams don't want to abandon the asset. See Porter, Aaron Gordon, etc.

[Pantsman]

They’ve got plenty of money saved up from not paying the luxury tax every other year.

[Warriorfan]

With the repeater tax if the rest of the team are vet mind and rookies the luxury tax 35 million

Melo is on the books for only 1 year. PG is 50/50 going to stay IMO.

[Da ThRONe]

If this is true they should trade PG13. Get something for him. Westbrook is already locked in now. People will show up just to watch him hunt triple doubles. I would say trade Melo but who would want him and at the same time Melo want them?

[NBAFan93]

LOL. If your melo, why the Fu** would you do a 5/50 year contract when you can easily do a 1/27+ one... No one in their right mind is gonna pay him 20+/ year now lol. There are only a few NBA teams with ample capspace in 2018. I'm guessing your an OKC fan but be realistic dude !!

Because there's a significant chance that he doesn't earn that much over the rest of his career even if he opts in. He'll be 35 heading into free agency in the summer of 2019. He's currently putting up a whopping 14.9 PER (and I'd expect that to drop more next year with another year of age) and ranked 27th in RPM among PFs--which I'd also expect to drop.

Is anyone giving that player a longterm deal? Hell no. Is anyone giving that player significant money? Hell no.'

Taking a 50-65mil contract over 5 years where the Thunder start him at somewhere between $9mil and $12mil will almost certainly net him more money than him taking that $27mil and riding out the rest of his career ring chasing for scraps.

Oh, and I'm not an OKC fan.

I agree that if I were Melo I’d rather have a longer contract for less money a year, than collect that 27mil for one year and be searching for a deal as a FA at 35+ years old. People will offer him nothing but cheap short contacts and that’s no way to end your career for a guy like him...he was a 10 time all star...don’t want to see him jumping around from team to team on one year contracts that are less and less money every year.

[Dr Aki]

OKC are going to do 3 things:
1. ask melo to opt out for a smaller per year contract - melo probably says no
2. ask george to opt in to his player option - george says no
3. be forced to trade away melo, roberson or abrines/singler, giving up longer term draft picks to do so

option 3 seems most likely to me, and that should signal to george that OKC aren't interested in keeping the gang together or improving the roster for a tilt at the title

george leaving means OKC gets to try to make it work between westbrook and melo

worst case scenario, OKC makes the WCFs, then gets crushed by GSW, Bennett and co. face their biggest nightmare, fans want to contend and there's public pressure being forced to bleed through the nose for a 2nd tier contender that's only getting older and less athletic, with no real assets to move the needle

[Hedda Gambler]

Westbrick at $35 million. The supermax is a franchise killer. It should have been that the difference between max and super didn't count against the cap. It's crippling.

That right there is why the Kings traded Cousins more than anything else. People seem to forget that when they trash the Kings for the return they got.



As for the question at hand: if I was the Thunder I'd try to get Melo to opt out and give him a longterm deal starting at a much lower salary--something like $10-12 mil--and make it for 5 years. If Melo opts in he'd get that fat check, but he'd also be 35 next summer when he's a free agent. I've got a hard time seeing any team giving him a longterm deal. The Thunder could guarantee him that money, but spread it out over more years.

The problem for Melo is that when he signs with any team that is not Denver or the Knicks, he can't get a no trade-clause. Signing a long term cheap deal will put him at risk of being sent around the league. It is much better for him to play out his contract and then decide where he wants to play.

[NBAFan93]

OKC are going to do 3 things:
1. ask melo to opt out for a smaller per year contract - melo probably says no
2. ask george to opt in to his player option - george says no
3. be forced to trade away melo, roberson or abrines/singler, giving up longer term draft picks to do so

option 3 seems most likely to me, and that should signal to george that OKC aren't interested in keeping the gang together or improving the roster for a tilt at the title

george leaving means OKC gets to try to make it work between westbrook and melo

worst case scenario, OKC makes the WCFs, then gets crushed by GSW, Bennett and co. face their biggest nightmare, fans want to contend and there's public pressure being forced to bleed through the nose for a 2nd tier contender that's only getting older and less athletic, with no real assets to move the needle

But wouldn’t PG signing a new contract as a FA help them w/ the cap cause of bird rights? Cheaper to pay him more money w/ a new contract than to pay taxes and penalties on his old one...

[bryanwithawhy]

If the Sixers whiff on free agents they should trade for Melo and get a ton of future assets from the Thunder. Although it looks like the Thunder can't trade future 1st round picks.

[Hindenburg]

They've got to find a way to flip Melo for some picks or expiring contracts which is easier said than done.

There is just no way he should be getting paid 26 mil for the production he's giving them. They shouldn't have traded for him in the first place.

[LightTheBeam]

The easy answer is offloading Melo. Hell maybe he opts out. Ya hes going to make 27 next year. But he would be smart to opt out and try to get between 4/60-80 hes certainly no spring chicken. Or maybe he opts out because he Lebron, Wade, and CP3 have a pact to go play together for a year.

[LightTheBeam]

Whats hilarious to me is the Lakers fans always have the most pessimistic view of how this is going to go down.

Lakers fans a month ago- - George is definitely coming to LA

Lakers fans after George says his decision got easier -- oh shiiii hes becoming friends with Westbrook this is bad, OKC is on a roll.

Lakers fans now - No way they can afford to sign him. They will have to give a 100 billion picks to move Melo and others.

Also Lakers fans -- who wants to take Clarkson, Deng for just Randle.

Lol. Im sorry and I don't mean to generalize, but when I come to a thread about Paul George theres about a 99% chance its by a Lakers fan.

[AirP.]

OKC are going to do 3 things:
1. ask melo to opt out for a smaller per year contract - melo probably says no
2. ask george to opt in to his player option - george says no
3. be forced to trade away melo, roberson or abrines/singler, giving up longer term draft picks to do so

option 3 seems most likely to me, and that should signal to george that OKC aren't interested in keeping the gang together or improving the roster for a tilt at the title

george leaving means OKC gets to try to make it work between westbrook and melo

worst case scenario, OKC makes the WCFs, then gets crushed by GSW, Bennett and co. face their biggest nightmare, fans want to contend and there's public pressure being forced to bleed through the nose for a 2nd tier contender that's only getting older and less athletic, with no real assets to move the needle

Melo is currently 33, the smartest thing he can do is prearrange with OKC(if George is staying) to opt out and resign for around 50-60 mil for 3 years. If he doesn't opt out he'll make 28 million at age 34 and then who's going to give him big money at age 35 and/or 36?

The other option is to buy him out next year at around 20-22 million(saving 6-8 million in salaries which would be huge with that tax bill they'll have) and let him sign for decent money somewhere else.