Pels were 3rd team in Pistons-Suns Bledsoe Deal

[AusPel]

We would still have to get rid of a contract even to take him on at a near minimum deal.

What's the status of Josh Smith. Injured player exemption?

[ml wave]

Yep, 15 guaranteed contracts. This used to be how it was in the previous CBA but there were some changes made to it in the new CBA that started this season. I'm sure there is still some cap magic that could be done but the league did make it harder. I'd have to look up the exact changes done to speak more in detail on it, it's been awhile since I read it.

Our main issue is the hard cap, not the tax. You can go over the tax during the year and not have to pay as long as you're under at the end of the season. The hard cap is different, you can't exceed it ever...for us the hard cap is slightly under the tax number iirc, so we can't go over the tax anyway even if we wanted to.

[AusPel]

What I don't understand is can the Pelicans just go over the cap and by the Feb deadline make trades that would take them below?
Wouldn't they then save on the tax?
Or as soon as they are over that counts?

Thanks

We are over the soft cap already through the magic of Bird Rights.

What you can't be is hard capped then get out of it later which is what would happen with us.

[AusPel]

Our main issue is the hard cap, not the tax. You can go over the tax during the year and not have to pay as long as you're under at the end of the season. The hard cap is different, you can't exceed it ever...for us the hard cap is slightly under the tax number iirc, so we can't go over the tax anyway even if we wanted to.

There's a 4 million 'apron' between the luxury tax line and the hard cap line. And even then the hard cap needs to be triggered. I'm not entirely sure what these triggers are though. The whole concept of the apron seems superfluous to me, but I didn't write the CBA.

What I take out of it is that going into luxury tax does not automatically equal being hard capped

We are just under the luxury tax amount, which means we are at least 4mil away from being hard capped

I think Jrue's incentives might be part of what might trigger the hard cap for us. I read that you have to assume they will all be met when calculating remaining cap space. Because you never hear anyone say we have ~4 mil in room, only a couple hundred thousand.

Harder to suss out than woman, the NBA CBA is

[ml wave]

There's a 4 million 'apron' between the luxury tax line and the hard cap line. And even then the hard cap needs to be triggered. I'm not entirely sure what these triggers are though. The whole concept of the apron seems superfluous to me, but I didn't write the CBA.

What I take out of it is that going into luxury tax does not automatically equal being hard capped

We are just under the luxury tax amount, which means we are at least 4mil away from being hard capped

I think Jrue's incentives might be part of what might trigger the hard cap for us. I read that you have to assume they will all be met when calculating remaining cap space. Because you never hear anyone say we have ~4 mil in room, only a couple hundred thousand.

Harder to suss out than woman, the NBA CBA is

The incentives count for hard cap purposes but don't count for luxury tax unless they're actually paid, that's what makes our effective hard cap (for lack of a better term) lower than the luxury tax.

[HoustonPelicans]

The hard cap is pretty stupid and unfair. Cleveland and Golden State both spent almost $15M more than us yet we're the ones hard capped.

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

The hard cap is pretty stupid and unfair. Cleveland and Golden State both spent almost $15M more than us yet we're the ones hard capped.

They have signed their own players to go over.
The Pelicans could only do this with Jrue last season.
We can do this again next season with Cousins.