I’m sure we are going to buy out John Wall before the season starts so that he can sign with a contender this year. I saw a reputable rumor back in April and it just makes sense… Anyways, how would a buyout with John Wall work? Would we be giving him a lump sum payment that would be less than his total contract owed? Would this completely clear his contract off books and give us nearly $50M to sign a free agent? Is the original amount of his contract minus the lump sum be left on the books? Wish I was a CBA savant like some of you are…haha
No. His full contract still count against the cap. Buyout usually just mean you pay less than his contract. Player usually only do it if they know they can get the difference in their new contract. At this point I doubt anyone will offer him anything more than the veteran minimum.
The full amount of the contract will count against the Rockets until next summer no matter what the terms of a buyout are. Same if they were to just release him. It really makes no sense to buy him out until after the trade deadline next year. No matter how unlikely a trade is, they need to hold on to him until all possibilities of getting assets back have been exhausted.
I question whether he'll ever play again. What GM is expecting a resurgence from old, injured, dusty, inefficient, selfish, "franchise" mentality John Wall? He hasn't played meaningful minutes since 2017. There's too much talent in the NBA at guard for some fool ass GM to waste a dollar on John Wall being anything close to what he was a decade ago.
I am not so sure we will buy him out. In fact, I would be really surprised if we did buy him out before the season. What exactly is our motive for doing so? It won't benefit us in any way. What is Wall's motive? So he can play elsewhere? Ok, sure, but if teams would only take him for the vet min, then he is not going to give up anywhere near the $45 million or whatever he is owed next year. So then it comes back to the Rockets: how do they benefit from paying him, say, $43 million to go away? I think it's in the interest of both parties to just do the same thing they did last season.
It saves The owner money and it sends a good message to players that the team will work with its disgruntled stars. Why hold on Wall if you don’t have to without repercussions
