That's why I don't necessarily get the supermax for Harden and CP3 needs to take a pay cut. Melo has earned enough, should re-sign for very little if he comes.
It's all in this year with the depth-- the biggest question is the new ownership... To Pay or Not to Pay? That is the question.
Melo has a player option for $28M in 2018-19, which he will almost certainly pick up. After 2019, he will likely sign for far cheaper no matter where he goes just because the market won't be there to pay him this much, but he is highly unlikely going to give up the money that he's already guaranteed to make (nor should he, really). And remember his "no trade" right that's boxing in the Knicks? He'll still have the same right as a Rocket, so he'll be extremely hard to trade if he doesn't work out or if the Rockets want to use his money in a deal.
banana boat ASIDE.......Melo will opt into 27mill - hardens super max and in all likelihood Paul's super max. Is almost all of the cap. + Gordon +tucker. OUCH The success this year will be a huge factor to the attempt to keep the team together
All that $$$$ from our 3rd championship merch will help pay the tax bill! Besides whoever ends up paying $2.5B for Rox will likely be happy to sign that check with their hand that sports a new championship ring
Next year's cap goes way beyond Bima's original post. At this point, it's all about Lebron. Assuming you have Carmelo, you now have half of the banana boat (+ Harden!) and have just skyrocketed as the frontrunner to land Lebron next offseason. To make it work, you would have to have BOTH Paul and Melo take 1+1 deals at low salary, sign Lebron with cap space, then resign Paul / Melo to big deals the following year using bird rights. I hope our new owner is rich as ****, because the tax and repeater would be unlike anything the league has ever seen.
This is precisely why I believe an outright signing if LeBron makes the most sense in 2018. You get Paul and Melo to take a haircut for one year to for Lebron into the core while the cap is around 104. Then the next year (2020), Paul and Melo get their deals hopefully with a step increase in the cap. They sacrifice turnovers play together just like KD sacrificed to keep the dubs together. They all know that. And its up to them whether they want to do it. You trade away Gordon, Tucker, and CC in this scenario, re-sign Ariza for one year at the room mle. Then fill out minimum salaries. This is the most likely scenario to LeBron. Unless new owner big bucks is willing to forage ahead with the repeater tax by trading for LeBron opted in, and staying above the cap with no hard cap next summer. That will all be decided before 7/1/2018.
None. And frankly, I hope that drags out until next summer. It would be nice to get everybody under contract and committed before a new owner is bright on board. And I would think the luxury tax and repeater luxury tax directly affects the price a prospective owner is willing to pay for the franchise.
