As we've said before, if LeBron James does go to Miami to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, that most likely means the Heat can only fill out their roster with veterans minimum contracts. That's what makes this report from FOX Sports' Jeff Goodman so confusing.
Source told FOXSports.com Miami Heat have offered Mike Miller 5-year deal worth 27-30 million with deadline tonight.
Miller has been told by Miami that the team is "confident" LeBron is coming. Miller could likely earn more money with New York Knicks.
How, exactly, does Miami have this salary-cap money to offer Miller this contract? Answer: they probably don't, at least not right now. There are two ways they might, though.
How much less money would they have to take? The salary cap is $58,044,000, and the Heat currently have Michael Beasley ($4.96 million), Mario Chalmers ($854,000) and the remnants of James Jones' partially-guaranteed contract ($1.9 million) on their payroll. Subtracting those players puts us at $50,371,371. Assuming Miller makes $5 million in year one (a guess), that puts us at $45,371,371. Divide that by three, and you get $15.1 million each for LeBron, Wade and Bosh. The first-year value of a maximum contract is $16.324 million, according to Larry Coon, so to make this work, all three players will have to give up $1.2 million per season.
That's not as much as I expected, but that's just to slot in Miller. To slot in more players, they'd obviously have to give up more.
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I’m not an NBA cap expert, but couldn’t they backload the contract so he only makes the minimum the first year, then significantly more other years?
by rockchalk on Jul 8, 2010 1:56 PM EDT reply actions
No
You can only have annual raises/drops of 10.5% of the original year each year.
SB Nation DC | Bullets Forever | Twitter.
by Mike Prada on Jul 8, 2010 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions
I figured there was something like that.
Thanks for the clarification.
by rockchalk on Jul 8, 2010 5:28 PM EDT up reply actions
Unless I didn't follow..
Don’t you also have to subtract the money needed for veteran minimum contracts to fill out the roster?
by Dan Bohm on Jul 8, 2010 2:24 PM EDT reply actions
No
NBA teams always are able to sign players for the minimum to fill out the roster no matter their cap situation. The league pays a good portion of the salary.
SB Nation DC | Bullets Forever | Twitter.
by Mike Prada on Jul 8, 2010 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions
Once they are over the cap, could they use the MLE for Miller?
"We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors." - Weldon Drew
I'll tell ya about the Magic It'll free your soul but it's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock n roll
by NC Magic Fan on Jul 8, 2010 3:37 PM EDT reply actions
to expand, they sign all three but not Miller. This puts them at 56.7 mil. They sign a couple of vets to go over the cap and then use the MLE for Miller?
"We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors." - Weldon Drew
I'll tell ya about the Magic It'll free your soul but it's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock n roll
by NC Magic Fan on Jul 8, 2010 3:43 PM EDT up reply actions
Again, you don't get the MLE back if you go over the cap in the middle of the summer
You have to renounce your salary-cap exceptions to have cap space. Think of them as a cap hold just like any other free agent on your roster.
SB Nation DC | Bullets Forever | Twitter.
by Mike Prada on Jul 8, 2010 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions
No
You do not get any salary-cap exceptions (MLE, low-level exception) if you begin the summer under the salary cap. They’re called exceptions for a reason.
SB Nation DC | Bullets Forever | Twitter.
by Mike Prada on Jul 8, 2010 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions
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