Bonuses that do not count against salary cap-Knicks

[clydewally]

Could the Knicks save 15% on each of three max contracts if they added through free agency or trade three players and gave them a bonus for 50 wins, or playoffs, or other target Knicks have missed regularly recently. FAQ 74 suggests that would work.

[meekrab]

If the Knicks sign Durant and Kyrie with 15% incentives for winning 50 games they would both be classified as likely to be achieved since the Warriors and Celtics are both going to win 50 games this season.

[clydewally]

The FAQ language below suggests that you measure it against the team he is traded to (the Knicks-who won't come close), but some other language in the FAQ makes me believe that this can only be used for one player at most (at least in the year they are acquired)

All performance incentives are re-evaluated at the start of each season to determine whether they should be classified as likely or not likely to be achieved. Performance incentives are recomputed when a player is traded, but only if they are team-related and based on the previous-season performance of the team. For example, suppose Team A won 25 games last season, and Team B (with the league MVP) won 55. Also suppose the MVP has a performance incentive that is based on his team winning 30 games. Going into the season this incentive would be classified as likely to be achieved, since his team (Team B) won 55 games the previous season. Now suppose this player is traded to Team A in exchange for draft picks. The incentive would be recomputed upon the trade, and in this case would be reclassified from likely to unlikely to be achieved, since the player's new team won fewer than 30 games the previous season (even though adding the MVP could easily push Team A's win total above 30).3

[meekrab]

You could also argue it should be recalculated based on the idea they just signed 3 max free agents. I don't think the situation has ever come up, it'd be up to the league lawyers.

[clydewally]

I think that situation is dealt with below. Seems to me that if they signed three players and, even after taking into account the unlikely bonuses, were within the cap at the time of signing, they would be ok, but I am having trouble interpreting the first sentence of the below as it relates to players other than the ones with unlikely bonuses that they might try to sign.

In the first season of a contract the base salary, likely bonuses and unlikely bonuses must all fit within the salary cap or exception. When determining whether the team can sign a contract or extension that includes an unlikely bonus, its room (cap room or remainder of an exception) is reduced by the sum of the unlikely bonuses for all players who signed that season. This prevents a team from signing multiple players to lower salaries but with lots of unlikely bonuses that collectively exceed the cap room it has to offer. For example, suppose a team has $10 million in cap room and signs a player to a contract with $5 million in base salary and $750,000 in unlikely bonuses. The team then has $5 million in remaining cap room1, and can sign another player for $5 million with no unlikely bonuses. But if the team also wants to include an unlikely bonus for this player, the player's full salary (including the unlikely bonus) cannot exceed $4.25 million (the team's remaining cap room minus the $750,000 unlikely bonus given to the other player).

[DBoys]

It's complicated. Some notes:
1 All bonuses are categorized as "likely" to happen, or "not likely." There is a formula that uses "what happened in the past" but there are also exceptions to the formula, especially initially, so teams submit the proposed contract with proposed bonus and let NBA tell them how it will be categorized. (If they don't like the answer, they can try using a different bonus.)
2 The OP idea wouldn't work. When SIGNED, a contract that has any unlikely bonuses must fit into cap room based on Team Salary that includes the cost of all bonuses (likely or not likely) for every contract on the roster at that point. This rule specifically prevents what was proposed in OP.
3 But a contract without unlikely bonuses must fit into cap room based on Team Salary that includes only salaries plus likely bonuses.