scrabbarista wrote:The NBA blocked this because they felt it made them look stupid, IMHO. "Circumventing the cap" is a meaningless phrase.
The NBA blocked it because the deal was exploitative and did not have legitimate intent. I applaud the Rockets for their creativity, but I also applaud the NBA for saying, no this is a loop hole, and we're not going to let you use it, we're going to close it immediately rather than let you use it.
What actually happened is that the team used the rules to gain an advantage, which is no different than what all 30 teams are trying to do with every contract they sign. Are NBA refs going to start saying, "Well, to be honest, you didn't break any rule, but we feel like you violated the spirit of the rules, so we're going to have to just take the ball away from you. We don't have a specific call, so just make one up yourself. The point is... you know... the... spirit?"
If the NBA has the right to disallow contracts then that is also part of the rules isn't it. In which case, no rule was broken by the NBA. They have a final right to void contracts that they don't think are within the spirit of the rules, and you know darn well this one wasn't. There was no intent to pay Nene this money.
EDIT: Now that I think about it, that's kind of what happened to James Harden in the 2018 WCF. Eh. Maybe that's just life in the NBA. Fairness and equal competition be damned. I'm not going to die on this hill.
I have no idea what you're talking about here.