Pretty sure this is Nene's response to the early May rumor that's he's retiring And here is Woj on June 29th You don't think Morey somehow convinced him to give up his $3.8m Player Option in order to try this trick. Nene has agents/lawyers, right? He obviously got bad advice. Please don't shoot the messenger. I'm just stating fact, and was not sure you knew that Larry Coon has explained that all Executives know very clearly that the CBA is not a list of things you can't do, and loopholes can be fixed in real time, when attempts to circumvent the rules (especially Team Salary rules) occur. It is VERY clear to any reasonable person that Nene is not worth $10m. Therefore, it is reasonable to consider Morey is attempting to circumvent salary cap rules by manipulating the most used salary cap exception in existence -- The Traded Player Exception -- by artificially pumping up bonuses that he has no intention to pay, but is useful in trade to another team that likewise would have zero intention to pay. Nene opted out of a guaranteed $3.8m Player Option. Is Nene's agent BJ Armstrong?
Hmm, like you said, the CBA tells you what you can do. And the CBA says you can give a player a contract with incentives. I fail to see how the NBA would have grounds to void this. They would have to state their case on something that Morey might do at some point in the future. Hell Rockets / Nene could argue Nene retires next offseason in which nets him 2 years of minimums which is more than what he opted out of. If the NBA starts voiding contracts because they are overpaid or just happen to be good trade pieces, where does it stop. A lawyer would tear this apart, not to mention the players union.
Sorry, I fail to see why you think this has ever been done in the past, like overpaying players is. This is clearly different. They wouldn't be voiding it because he's being overpaid. Rockets have no intention to pay him $10m. Nor would the team he gets traded to. If they void this for Salary Cap Circumvention, it would be the reverse of overpaying. It is artificially inflating his value for use in a salary cap exception, when no one has any intention of honoring that number (neither the trading nor receiving team).
That isn't clear though because the NBA is unpredictable. Suppose Looney goes down and GSW decide they want another big and trade for Nene. He gets his 10. Again you cant void a contract on something that Morey MIGHT do, 3 months down the line.
So, you agree the scenario everyone is talking about would be circumventure of a salary-cap exception. I can hear Morey: "We didn't sign this contract to help us make a trade with Memphis. We just really value Nene, atm." That's what you sound like. Stopping that *MIGHT* is exactly what they'd be doing. They would be voiding the contract based upon the very real possibility that Morey *might* intentionally use fake bonuses to circumvent a salary-cap exception. The league knows they have an exposed loophole, and they don't have to wait for the next CBA to close it. And they don't have to allow the first attempt, then ban the rest. And lulz at the idea Warriors are winning 52 games, especially if Looney goes down.
No, not necessarily. This rule was primarily to prevent someone to take a low salary, and then get paid a large amount via external sources. That is really what is meant by circumventing the cap. There has never really been a crackdown on someone creatively using exceptions. We have seen things like this before, specifically with the use of nan guaranteed deals as trade assets, in which they simply closed the loop holes. [/QUOTE] More like, "we mutually agreed to this contract as it provides Nene a little more guaranteed salary and some insurance / upside in scenarios where we need him to take on more minutes if circumstances change for our team. It also can function as a valuable trade asset, should we choose to go that route. " I highly doubt it. Suppose they do void it, Nene retires, then Capela and Chandler both suffer injuries and a logical scenario appears whereby a trade is not made and Nene very well could have earned his 10 million. The NBA opens itself up to lawsuit from Nene. The CBA is filled with loopholes. Some they close, some they don't. This is more of an unintended consequence from the BYC rules. Curry, Russell, Draymond Its not a terrible team. 538 has them at 51 wins.
hmmm.... Spoiler: NBA Crackdowns on Abusing Exceptions They cracked down on signing retired players to contracts, who had no intention of playing again, merely to match salaries using the Traded Player Exception. The Kidd TPE doesn't happen without signing Van Horn -- retired for 2 years prior. The Pau Gasol TPE does not happen without signing Aaron McKie -- who was an asst coach. The crack down was to limit SnTs, restricting them to players who were on the active roster at end of previous season. Another result of the Kidd trade was the league (in real time) said Stackhouse could be part of the trade, but couldn't go back to Dallas afterward. This was a crackdown on Trade, Cut by new team, Return to Original Team rule. They crached down on the NG loophole to get around the Traded Player Exception, with no intention to pay that player. This was largely due to Luke Ridnour's NG contract being traded 4 times in a span of 6 days, for salary matching. BYC rules were a crackdown on misusing Larry Bird Exceptions in SnTs, by overpaying to match salaries. You could say the new rules on SnT eliminating the Bird Exception raises and 5th yr was a crack down. Granted, in most of these cases (except the Stackhouse example) the league waited to close the loophole in the next CBA, and might choose to wait with Nene, too. All those cases were crackdowns on circumventing salary-cap exceptions. Yes, I know I'm being liberal with the word "circumventing," using the more general meaning of getting around the intent of a rule using rather false pretenses. Like Luke Ridnour's NG contract getting traded 4 times in 6 days, allowing these huge Nene Likely Bonuses to stick, we could see a rash of contracts signed before the season begins for scrub players to get huge Likely Team Performance Bonuses just to get around the NG Loophole that was just closed. Nah, this just seems like trying to get around the NG rules that were closed....like Wack-a-Mole. It's a consequence of the league not thinking players would put 75% of their contract into a Team Performance Bonus that could easily be wiped out in a trade, much less combined with a Player Performance Bonus that could be manipulated by the owner...with no fan outcry...indeed, the fans would root for it. Admit it: if Capela and Chandler went down, you'd root for cutting Nene and bringing up Harty and signing another journeyman, vs paying Nene $10m. I suspect based upon the NBA usually waiting to close loopholes in next CBA, that they will do so again, and allow the contract. But not because they fear a lawsuit. Interesting news. Thanks for chatting about it. Gave me an excuse to recall some fun NBA loophole tricks closed in the past.
"Crack down" by eventually closing the loop hole, yes. "Crack down" by voiding the transaction, not so much.
rockets might have signed nene banking on golden state falling off with loses Thompson, cousins, Durant, and iguodola. Only positive with nene is possible mentorship for Isiah Hartenstein in my opinion. Nene can train Hartenstein.
Man, before I didn't bring up the '90s, because that was like a Wild West of little regulations, with the Union pushing the league's buttons trying to get stronger, with circumventure attempts running rampant. Spoiler: Some Transactions in History voided for Circumventing CBA Stern voided a series of contracts in a crackdown to try to stop abuse of the 1yr Opt Out Clause -- Dudley, Kukoc, Grant, to name a few. They all went to court, and the NBA was more than happy to grand-stand the cause (since losing merely meant reinstatement of the contract), as prelude what I consider the first real CBA. Juwan's contract was voided because League thought Riley was manipulating thingies Van Horn's contract was blocked until further investigation requiring him to convince league he was making a real attempt to play again. As mentioned above, Stackhouse was blocked from signing a contract with Dallas (as planned in the Kidd trade). Of course, DMo I don't really include CP3 here, because I didn't consider that circumventure ... I thought it was voided for ineptness from the team not having a true owner/GM and Stern protecting the value of their assets, by not letting the Lakers fleece them. I still agree with you, the league will grandstand, but ultimately let it stand, for another CBA. I really think lawsuit fear is not an issue, based on precedence of what Stern did to those wildly circumventing 1Yr Opt Out contracts. I'd guess, Nene would be expected to file the lawsuit fairly quickly to get it reinstated, and NBA really has nothing to lose. Should Nene wait for months, wait for outcomes, then sue ... you'd think he'd have to explain why he remained unemployed all that time -- which plays into NBA's defense that he was being valued artificially. And further, why he opted-out of $3.8m to begin with. I don't think waiting would then allow any recoup of full potential lost wages, if that's what you we getting at. By waiting, Cuttino later lost his attempt to sue for money pretty soundly.
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