The CP3 Thread 18-19 Part 1

[ardee]

If he was somehow bought out I think it's a 99% lock he lands up on the Lakers.

[TroubleS0me]

If he was somehow bought out I think it's a 99% lock he lands up on the Lakers.

With Rondo in the locker room? LOL

[ardee]

If he was somehow bought out I think it's a 99% lock he lands up on the Lakers.

With Rondo in the locker room? LOL

I'm fairly certain we'd buy out Rondo if it was an impediment to assembling CP3/LeBron/AD.

[Lakers LeBron]

It's not greed. It's envy. Paul sees all those other guys getting $40 mm/year contracts and feels he deserves it as well.

Paul as head of the players Union negotiated for the 35% max with 10 years of experience. He is the reason the Supermax exists.

Yep. Paul as head of the union took care of himself. He made sure that a player in his exact career position could get massively overpaid.

You say that like Chris Paul pulled a fast one on the rest of the players when he negotiated those contracts which isn't true at all. When LeBron and Chris Paul agreed to over the players union after the disaster that was Derek Fisher, they made it very clear that one of their conditions for running the union was that they were going to increase the size of max contracts

I'm not sure if people understand that Chris Paul runs the players union because the rest of the players begged him and LeBron to do something about the state of the players union following the lockout. It wasn't something they had to campaign for.

[Basileus777]

If he was somehow bought out I think it's a 99% lock he lands up on the Lakers.

But he can't be bought out. Like why do people think Chris Paul is going to give up 100+ million to play with LeBron? Players on a 3 year, 124 million deal can't get bought out. No team is going to offer a buyout number anywhere close enough to make it feasible.

[ardee]

If he was somehow bought out I think it's a 99% lock he lands up on the Lakers.

But he can't be bought out. Like why do people think Chris Paul is going to give up 100+ million to play with LeBron? Players on a 3 year, 124 million deal can't get bought out. No team is going to offer a buyout number anywhere close enough to make it feasible.

I think he's going to take a long hard look at his career so far and what he has left. His options are making that 124 million, spending the end of his career on a rebuilding team after being exposed as a troublemaker in Houston, or taking less money, winning the elusive title and redeeming his image.

This isn't about playing with LeBron. This is about his legacy and how he's viewed for the next 50 years. If this is how he goes out, people will generally think of him negatively when it comes to the last thing they saw of him. He has already shown that he is willing to turn down more money to have a chance at winning when he turned down the 200 million supermax from the Clippers.

Good chance he realizes he's already made $225 million or so for his career, negotiates a buyout at a reduced rate and makes it to LA. SAS thinks the Thunder would absolutely be willing to do that.

Watch on YouTube

[Sark]

He's not turning down $100+m.

[Basileus777]

We're not talking about giving up an extra year and the difference between 30% and 35% max deals. This is way way more money than that. I doubt Chris Paul views his legacy like we do, and even if he did, I don't think any player in their right mind is going to give up a $100+ million for any reason.

[Colbinii]

You need to be absolutely disconnected from reality if you think Chris Paul is going to walk away from 100 Million Dollars for a perceived "Basketball Legacy".

Jesus Christ.

[Colbinii]

This isn't about playing with LeBron. This is about his legacy and how he's viewed for the next 50 years. If this is how he goes out, people will generally think of him negatively when it comes to the last thing they saw of him. He has already shown that he is willing to turn down more money to have a chance at winning when he turned down the 200 million supermax from the Clippers.

Why would Chris Paul care what you, me or ESPN think of him?

[ardee]

You need to be absolutely disconnected from reality if you think Chris Paul is going to walk away from 100 Million Dollars for a perceived "Basketball Legacy".

Jesus Christ.

1. It's not perceived, it's factual. If this is how his relevant career ends it will not be good for how's regarded in the long run.

2. Who said he's going to walk away from $100 million? Stephen A seemed to have a source on this, and he said that Presti would be willing to do it at a minor discount just to have him away from the team. He could get 100 out of the 124 million.

[ShotCreator]

Yeah there is a scenario where he only loses in the 20 million range and OKC ownership saves 31 million.

Either it will get done or CP3will have to play well enough to make a fringe-contender bite at the deadline.

[NinjaSheppard]

If you assume he signs with the Lakers for the minimum with the agreement that he will get the mid level exception next year (2 years 20 million) He will make up around 22.5 million of the buyout.

Then you have to see how much more he would be willing to give back to get bought out. I do think there is a threshold at which OKC would buy him out. The past few years have clearly demonstrated that the value of renting capspace is rather high (Harkless went for a first on a one year dump, Crabbe got 2 firsts, Iggy went for a very lightly protected first and he might get moved for more) and OKC being able to clear capspace while rebuilding is definitely valuable to them.

This is of course all moot if they can find a trade for him.

[primopastalove2]

It really depends on OKC and how much CP3 is willing to stomach losing money. I think he's more likely to get stretched and waived then get straight up bought out, after September 1st his 2020 salary won't count towards the salary getting stretched which is 85.6 million.

He can earn 22.6 million in the next 3 years outside of OKC via vet the minimum and MLE, so without taking any pay cut that's the amount OKC would save, and the remaining 63 million would be stretched for 5 years (since he would have 2 years reaming on
his contract) with a dead space cap hit of 12.6 million. I don't doubt OKC does this since it's a lot of dead cap that will be on the books until 2025 but maybe they get enticed if CP gives up more.

There is a historical president of this happening, funny enough it was with D-will, where the final two years of his max contract was stretched out for 5 years. He gave up more than 15 million in the negotiations but got it back when he signed with the Mavs.

If I had to guess what happens to him, I'd put my money on him spending a year in OKC than getting stretched for 3 years on a much more manageable cap hit.

[Basileus777]

Yeah there is a scenario where he only loses in the 20 million range and OKC ownership saves 31 million.

Either it will get done or CP3will have to play well enough to make a fringe-contender bite at the deadline.

OKC isn't paying him 100 million to not play for them. That scenario is a complete and utter fantasy. Why would anyone believe that the OKC ownership would do this? A gigantic buyout wouldn't even save them from the luxury tax, they'd sooner package picks with Paul to ship him out than do this. Or wait a year or two until his contract becomes tradeable or more easily stretched.

[Dr Spaceman]

KCP, Bradley, Rondo, Caruso, Cook, Cousins, McGee, and Kuzma for Paul works under the salary matching rules after Dec 15. Just sayin

[ShotCreator]

Yeah there is a scenario where he only loses in the 20 million range and OKC ownership saves 31 million.

Either it will get done or CP3will have to play well enough to make a fringe-contender bite at the deadline.

OKC isn't paying him 100 million to not play for them. That scenario is a complete and utter fantasy. Why would anyone believe that the OKC ownership would do this? A gigantic buyout wouldn't even save them from the luxury tax, they'd sooner package picks with Paul to ship him out than do this. Or wait a year or two until his contract becomes tradeable or more easily stretched.

This post goes over what Stephen A. Smith talked about.

https://old.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/cc5yk2/oc_how_much_money_does_okc_need_to_pay_cp3_to_buy/

According to him OKC is more than willing to do it. But Paul wants a trade, and predictably all his money.

I suspect it will happen.

[MisterHibachi]

KCP, Bradley, Rondo, Caruso, Cook, Cousins, McGee, and Kuzma for Paul works under the salary matching rules after Dec 15. Just sayin

Lakers would have to get rid of Rondo and maybe Cousins if they bring CP on. And AD seems pretty close to those two, especially Cousins, so I'm not sure how willing they would be to do that. Could be the first test of the power balance between LeBron and AD.

CP on the Lakers (via free agency rather than trade) would be a good fit though.

[MisterHibachi]

Can someone clarify whether a buy out salary hits the team's salary cap all in one year or over the same number of years as the contract? For instance, if bought out, would CP's salary remain on OKC's books for 3 years or the full amount included in one year?

[Pillendreher]

Yeah there is a scenario where he only loses in the 20 million range and OKC ownership saves 31 million.

Either it will get done or CP3will have to play well enough to make a fringe-contender bite at the deadline.

OKC isn't paying him 100 million to not play for them. That scenario is a complete and utter fantasy. Why would anyone believe that the OKC ownership would do this? A gigantic buyout wouldn't even save them from the luxury tax, they'd sooner package picks with Paul to ship him out than do this. Or wait a year or two until his contract becomes tradeable or more easily stretched.

This post goes over what Stephen A. Smith talked about.

https://old.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/cc5yk2/oc_how_much_money_does_okc_need_to_pay_cp3_to_buy/

According to him OKC is more than willing to do it. But Paul wants a trade, and predictably all his money.

I suspect it will happen.

I like SAS as an actor/entertainer, but it's more likely for me to have sources within the Thunder than for him to do so. The Thunder are probably going to try to take on bad contracts over the next couple of years while receiving compensation for it. They won't waste 1/3 of the cap for completely dead salary just so Paul can go ringchase somewhere else. I think that's absurd and complete out of the question.