what are his realistic options after next year is the question. i think melo's facing some MLE or lower offers in 2019 if he opts in this summer. so, calculate it out: 35 million-ish over 4 years after one year of 30 million (or whatever he's making now). what if okc offers him 4/64? cuts the bill in half for next year (which is important), but spreads it out over the back end. melo gets all the cash he could probably hope to make over the next four years, and if things go really poorly and they can stretch-waive him after two years (he gets to vet min ring chase, they get to save some tax money). would okc do this? i don't know. it's a lot to pay to convince someone to opt out. but it's possible. i'm sure management would rather just eat next year and then let him walk for nothing, but what does their ownership want to do. in any case, i don't think it affects the george situation, as they're going to offer full max no matter what melo does. and i don't think george cares what they do with melo one way or the other.
Making it to the conference finals is gonna be pivotal in PG's decision. It gives him a glimmer of hope that they're on track to a championship. Let's hope they face GSW in not the Western Conference Finals. In the 1st round as #7 or #8 or in 2nd round as #3, #4, #5 or #6. That way, their post-season trip is cut short because the longer he plays in the playoffs, the shorter our end of the stick gets. No disrespect to the other western conference teams including the Rockets but come playoffs, there's no stopping OKC until they meet the defending champions.
I think there's a legitimate argument (if you're the Lakers or another team wooing George) that OKC keeping Carmelo greatly inhibits their ability to field a competitive team. He eats up time and resources that would be best spent elsewhere (if you're the Lakers you pull up clips of the young guys playing well). As for OKC? You're 100% right: they're going to offer George the max and figure it out afterwards. I think this means it's likely they jettison useful pieces like Adams or Roberson to try to save some cash based on the previous spending habits of that owner, but what would he care? Once he's got George under contract they can do whatever they want. Ultimately it will come down to someone pointing out the benefits to George and convincing him that LA is a better place to be, play, and compete. We better have LeBron to convince him of that. As for Carmelo opting out and then re-signing an extension? I doubt it strongly. He can keep his 27+ million this next season and then in the summer of 2019 he can go get a 2-3 year MLE offer from a contender to be their bench scorer. That's 45-54ish million compared to 34 million? Not a good move. He'd be a fool to test that. Take the guaranteed money he fought for and get the rest later. It's not his responsibility to help the OKC Thunder figure out their payroll (sentiments that I think Kobe and LeBron have said similar things and both are close with Carmelo).
We'll see. I think he'll offer the most he can and then tell his GM to do what he has to so that the final bill is below a certain mark.
their owner is a billionaire, you think they traded for pg/melo with out knowledge of this tax issue?
C’mon man, put your thinking cap on. Of course OKC CAN pay the largest luxury tax in league history. The question is would they. The owner is a notorious low budget guy. He’s proven it over and over. Not gonna become the exact opposite of who he is.
happened 1 time with hardened n people continue with that rhetoric....they're a repeat tax offender, guess what means?
That they're paying a giant effing tax which is what we're all saying. This guy was unwilling to pay for a Harden/Durant/Westbrook trio. What makes this different? He may have changed his mind and be willing to pay for a contender. Are they a contender?
no, it means the cheap rhetoric is over blown. okc has been paying a luxury tax n harden wasnt allbout being cheap, he choked big time in the finals n okc didnt think he was gona live to the contract, n who knows he might not have with kd/westbrook in his way
theyve been paying luxury tax, that doesnt scream cheap ownership...are you gona justify yoyr comment with ibaka trade? dude was declining n just got another 20mill a yr deal. any smart gm would move ibaka rather thsn reup him, they reuped odalipo to his max deal,doesnt look cheap there
It ain't rhetoric, if it's the truth. Moved out of Seattle cause it was cheaper. Paid Roberson 80% of his true rookie deal to save 300K. Moved off of Harden after that team went to the Finals. Moved off Ibaka when team salary waa headed towards becoming too expensive. Didn't amnesty Perkins cause that contract would still have to be paid for and would still affect luxury taxes if they found another player to replace Perkins after being waived...essentially paying a player twice their market value. People claim that Clay is running that team wisely by moving off bad contracts or refusing to pay too much for players, yet you lost 2 MVP type players in the process and haven't sniffed the Finals since. Meanwhile one of the dudes you wanted to keep turned to a burner account to s*** talk the organization...yeah, great management?!? 2014/15: 2.8M in taxes 2015/16: 14.5M in taxes 2016/17: KD bails...no taxes 2017/18: 24.5M in taxes Over the span of 4 seasons, they've averaged just over 10M in taxes per season.... Yet some of you believe that Clay is fine with a $150M tax bill ($115M is grossly underestimated and is a misrepresentation of how punitive the tax bill could really be)? Presti is a great GM for a cheap owner, since he will find ways for a star player to re-up with the organization before dumping those contacts to reboot once that star player commits. It didn't work with KD...it did with Russ, so mission accomplished. Hoping that PG doesnt fall for it too...
harden was not an mvp in okc n probaly never would be if he stayed n Durant left for the warriors not cause of anything okc did or didnt do,dont fall for kd petulance,dude a band wagon jumper thru n thru.....not saying that tax bill doesnt play a factor but its 1yr thing n. they knew of that possibility when they made the trades...besides they have till next trade deadline to lessen that tax hut n i would not doubt a gm who at the time traded junk for pg n Melo. Whether pg leaves or stays, i highly doubt taxes would be the reason for either choice
The tax bill is an argument towards Clay doing everything he can in making the OK3 successful. Clay will not go above and beyond in making those 3 successful in OKC. He will turn to Russ and PG qs cash cows all whike tinkering around the roster to minimize the tax hit. Dont fall for it PG. If PG gets duped and re-ups, I wouldn't be surprised if they traded Melo for more team friendly deals. KD believed that, so he bounced. I'm not defending KD cause I thought it was a b**** a** move...but he did leave OKC cause he believed they were not committed to winning. So obviously there is something there. Here is the fundamental flaw in the "Clay not being cheap" argument. If he is so willing to pay crazy taxes now, why wasn't he willing to pay extra on a team that went to the Finals then? Once a cheap, always a cheap.
well pg dont know that n russ got super max, clay can do all as you say to save $ n milk russ/pg for all he can get but he only has to trick pg once, like to you said he already suckered russ.
