Lakers Salary Cap / CBA Q&A (please see pg 17 for 2024 offseason projections)

[hydrohead]

Props Vash for nailing it.
_________________
Darvin

[gng930]

[vasashi17+]

Haha, thx @HH…but it was just an educated guess. There’s way too much money in the game to have not reached the max allowed, especially with cap smoothing / COVID correction looming in the backdrop.

@G: yeah I’m not sure the 1st Apron gets triggered in that scenario either. But it’s something to keep an eye out on.

Also it’s possible that is the reason the cLips are even entertaining a cp3 trade to begin with. They probably do t want to take any chances seeing how the definite the new CBA terms are still ambiguous to most.

[vasashi17+]

With deadline day approaching on Beas & Mo and with the old 125%+100k trade rules expiring with the start of the FA moratorium, nows a good time as any to BUMP the “need to know” material for the offSZN! Made some slight revisions to it as well…

2023 OFFSZN PRIMER

Please present in this thread any questions, inquiries, corrections, requests (like examples to illustrate a point) that are not addressed below and either I or a fellow caphead will get to it. Thx!

So what are the numbers that we looking at for the 2023/24 season?

Note: we don’t know the official numbers yet, but the most current salary cap projections reflect an 8.4% increase from this season; it could go as high as 10% and imho is likely to; therefore that max 10% projection is displayed below & individual player amounts are also found further below within the sample cap sheets

Key resources
Cap: 136m
Tax: 165m
1st Apron: 172m
2nd Apron: 182.5m
tpMLE: 5m for up to 2yrs
-using it triggers 2nd Apron, which effectively hardcaps a team at 182.5m
ntpMLE: 12.4m for up to 4yrs
-using it triggers 1st Apron, which effectively hardcaps a team at 172m
BAE: 4.5m for up to 2yrs
-using it triggers 1st Apron & can’t be used in consecutive seasons
roomMLE: 7.7m for up to 3 years
2nd Round exception: 1.8m - 2m based respectively on either an up to 3 or 4 year deal with final year being team option
35% max (10+ seasoned player): 47.6m
30% max (7-9 seasoned player): 40.8m
25% max (0-6 seasoned player): 34m
Vet min: 2m (only 2 seasoned player cap hit applies w/ difference paid by the league)

What triggers the aprons?

1st Apron Triggers:
•Acquiring a S&t’d player
•Using ntpMLE
•Using BAE
•Aggregation of player(s) in trade using 125% multiplier
•Signing “buyout” player during the season that had a previous contract salary greater than the given ntpMLE value for that season
•Using TPE to trade for player in a non-simultaneous trade (does not apply till ‘24 offseason)

2nd Apron Triggers:
•Using tpMLE
•Aggregation of players in trade (using 110% multiplier towards the 2023/24 season only, otherwise nothing in excess of an 100% multiplier)
•Sending out a S&t’d player and/or trading for a player that was previously used as an outgoing S&t’d player (does not apply till ‘24 offseason)
•Use of cash in a trade (does not apply till ‘24 offseason)
•Use of a FRP 7 years out in a trade (does not apply till ‘24 offseason)

Would trading for Trae or any other max star player already on an established deal hardcap us at any of the aprons?

No; but it will cost ownership a pretty penny in taxes due to us potentially being a repeat tax offender due to having 3max players on our books

When do the new tax laws come into effect?

The new more punitive tax laws will begin to apply towards the 2025/26 season. This means teams will have 2 seasons (the 2023/24 & 2024/25 seasons) to get their cap affairs in order. New tax bands are displayed below and note that 10m above the tax line (ie the 3rd tax band) reflects far more punitive tax rates

[vasashi17+]

[vasashi17+]

Abridged version with key summary points found here:

https://ak-static.cms.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/06/2023-CBA-Summary.pdf
_________________
Not familiar with the salary cap/CBA rules & how it impacts our Lakers?
#GetFamiliar by CLICKING HERE!

[LaxT]

With news leaks that the Lakers prioritize Reeves and Huchimura, and want to pursue Brook Lopze or Bruce Brown, I guess their plan assumes 1. no tax, i.e. 165m threshold ; 2. no DLo; 3. Huchimura will not get outrageous offers.

In this case, Vanderbilt will be the only one left for the 2027 pick. Is he worth it? No. But in the full context, the team made a playoffs run because of this trade and it might have helped to keep LBJ. I can't imagine how James would have reacted if the Lakers had missed the playoffs for the third time in his five years here. Vanderbilt and LBJ are definitely worth a FRP.

The reports are about Bamba and Beasley, and about possible full MLE offers to Bruce Brown or Brook Lopez, but it's really about DLo whose name is not mentioned at all. Either the team does not want him back, or it's negotiation tactics.

For me, the most important thing to know is the payroll threshold the FO works under. Maybe Jeanie Buss wants to get out repeater tax more than trophy #18.

[vasashi17+]

^I don’t think it was worth a FRP at all…whether that’s retaining DLo or not. The only way salvage that trade imho is if they turn DLo into a mainstay building block next to AD in the post-Bron era. You don’t only need a guy that is offensively capable, but you need a legit defender that can play off of AD. Vando brings the D, but no O. And OLo brings the opposite, so combined I guess you can see them as a 2-way player, but worth a FRP?…nah, I still hope they looking to retain & flip dudes for a legit perimeter 2-way presence and/or a 2-way center that can move AD to note com4ting confines!

As for not bringing back Mo, Beas & ShaqH (and more importantly their salary potential), we looking to hardcap ourselves with the full ntpMLE and possibly the BAE. Here is how our books would look and how much we could potentially offer DLo & Rui, since we know Reaves is capped at his early bird max of 11.4m, while Schro can only make as much as 12.4m with the MLE.

1. Bron 47.6m
2. AD 40.6m
3. DLo ???
4. Rui ???
5. ntpMLE 12.4m
6. Reaves 11.4m (early bird max)
7. Vando 4.7m
8. BAE 4.5m
9. MaxC 1.7m
10. JHS 3.7m
11. MLewis 1.8m - 2m (depend’n on contract length via 2nd round exception)
12. Vet min 2m
13. Vet min 2m
14. Vet min 2m
Two-way: Swider, Castleton, Hodge $0
= up to 134.6m in team salary not counting DLo/Rui deals, meaning we will have roughly 37.4m to split between the two of them before hitting the 172m 1st Apron hardcap that gets triggered with even a partial use of the ntpMLE. We could also elect not to use the BAE and get those two up to a combined 42m instead.

Personally if we were to get hardcapped, I’d rather use Beas/Mo’s 26.8m aggregated to go get a 33.6m type player via S&t or otherwise instead. But in projecting to be hardcapped, we still can use the 125% + 250k trade rules instead of the new 110% trade multiplier seeing how teams can use the more lax trade rules as long as the remain below the 1st Apron after the trade. So a S&t’d DLo and/or Rui ain’t out of the realm of possibility still.
_________________
Not familiar with the salary cap/CBA rules & how it impacts our Lakers?
#GetFamiliar by CLICKING HERE!

[LaxT]

[vasashi17+]

^LT: I agree that if we retain most of these players on budget contracts it is a win in terms of asset management and potential flipping them for better fitting parts later down the line. The ntpMLE is such a misnomer since teams can still pay a tax and utilize it due to the 7m in wiggle room from the 165m tax line to the 172m hardcap 1st apron. You can use the ntpMLE and still pay up to 18m in taxes (as a repeat tax offender for up to 7m above the tax line) as long as you do not breach the 1st apron after using it. Also as a repeat tax offender this year, that 18m amount is half of what we ended up paying taxes this past year as a non repeat offender. If we do duck the tax this year by fielding a team with salary less than 165m, then it wound be a soft reboot to our repeat offender clock. We would completely reset the repeat offender clock if we also ducked the tax bill for the 2024/25 season as well.

Btw, if we do not use the BAE this year, we will have it for next season and can open up to 42m in combined salary for DLo & Rui as long as Reaves gets his max amount. That Reaves early bird max annual figure is from this btw: 105% of average NBA salary for the 2022/23 season = 10.8m

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q31
_________________
Not familiar with the salary cap/CBA rules & how it impacts our Lakers?
#GetFamiliar by CLICKING HERE!

[vasashi17+]

Unofficial cap sheet after today’s (June 30th 2023) FA signings:

1. Bron 47.6m
2. AD 40.6m
3. Rui 15.7m (via bird rights)
4. Gabe 10.5m (via partial ntpMLE; ~2m remaining)
5. Vando 4.8m
6. Prince 4.5m (via entire BAE)
7. MaxC 1.7m
8. JHS 3.7m
9. MLewis 1.8m - 2m (depend’n on contract length via 2nd round exception)
10. Cam (via vet min) 2.2m
Two-way: Swider, Castleton, Hodge $0
= 133.3m (just about capped out); about 39m away from 1st apron hardcap that was triggered with Gabe ntpMLE and Prince BAE contracts.

About 23m away, which is assumed to be the most we can offer to DLo, when accounting Reaves’ 11.4m early bird max + 2 vet min deals leading to a total roster of 14 necessary to roster during the season.

Note: Cam counts as 2.2m instead of just 2m due to having a guarantee 2yr vet min deal (via player option on 2nd year); Vando counts as 4.8m since he has 145k in unlikely bonuses that must be incorporated when calculating hardcap math; the remaining ntpMLE amount of 1.9m can be used toward offering up to a 4yr/8.2m deal.
_________________
Not familiar with the salary cap/CBA rules & how it impacts our Lakers?
#GetFamiliar by CLICKING HERE!

[wolfpaclaker]

Thanks V you are the man. That is exactly my question. By using the MLE we hardcapped oursleves as a non tax payer. So the Lakers need to now wait on Reaves and add 2-3 vet mins, and then what's left is the most they can offer DLO.

[vasashi17+]

^Thx W…

The thing is till DLo is signed, there is the possibility that all this is happening with cap space, since most of these deals have been on the lower end and Rui was retained at a lower cap hit than his caphold (ie 15.7m vs 18.8m).

Which brings us to….

Were these moves made as a capped out or spaced out team?

There’s a joke in there somewhere with all the moves we have made, but I’ll leave that alone for now…

Whether we operated with space or not, all comes down to if DLo remains or not. If he moves on, his max caphold gets removed and that allows a lot of moves to occur with space.

1. Bron 47.6m
2. AD 40.6m
3. Rui 15.7m
4. Vando 4.7m
5. JHS 3.7m
6. Reaves QO caphold 2.2m
7. MaxC 1.7m
8. IR charge (Lewis) 1.12m
9. IR charge (Cam) 1.12m
10. IR charge (Hayes) 1.12m
11. IR charge (Gabe) 1.12m
12. IR charge (Prince) 1.12m
= 14.2m in cap space & if you substitute in Gabe (10.5m) & Prince’s (4.5m) 15m aggregated with 2 of those IR charges (2.24m), then you can see we’re pretty much capped out where the vet min exceptions & 2nd round exception take care of Cam, Hayes & Lewis.

If we see a surprise signing with our next move that’s other than DLo & this surprise signing has a starting annual of 7.7m and is making up to 24.3m over 3yrs, then that folks is us operating as team with cap room that just used the roomMLE to get our DLo replacement. And unlike with the DLo route, this cap space pathway most likely does not lead to us paying any taxes and getting hardcapped.
_________________
Not familiar with the salary cap/CBA rules & how it impacts our Lakers?
#GetFamiliar by CLICKING HERE!

[vasashi17+]

Capped out team it is…

As of July 1st 2023, roster stands as:

1. Bron 47.6m
2. AD 40.6m
3. DLo 17.8m (via bird rights; 1+1 deal w/player option, so NTC is included)
4. Rui 15.7m (via bird rights; 3yr deal makes him extension eligible)
5. Reaves 12.4m (via early bird max; 4yr deal makes him extension eligible)
6. Gabe 10.5m (via partial ntpMLE; 3yr deal makes him extension eligible)
7. Vando 4.7m (150k unlikely incentives; will be extension eligible)
8. Prince 4.5m (via entire BAE; 1yr deal no NTC included as nonbird)
9. JHS 3.7m (via 1st round 120% rookie scaled contract)
10. Cam 2.2m (via vet min; 1+1 deal with no NTC due to nonbird)
11. Hayes 2.2m (via vet min; 1+1 deal with no NTC due to nonbird)
12. MLewis 1.8m - 2m (depend’n on contract length via 2nd round exception)
13. MaxC 1.7m (not extension eligible)
•Two-way: Swider, Castleton, Hodge $0
•Partial MLE remaining: 1.9m (potential 4yr 8.2m deal)
•4 minimum TPEs remaining varying from 1.8m - 2.7m expiring on 2/9/24
= 165.4m in team salary; ~400k into tax territory yielding about 1m in taxes; that figure reflects a 3yr deal applied on Lewis instead of a 4yr deal and that figure only gets higher with a 14th player rostered and Vando hitting his unlikely incentives (based on meeting a dreb%); also due to using the ntpMLE (Gabe) & BAE (Prince), we will be hardcapped at the 172m 1st apron…as a result, even as a repeat tax offender, we can only pay at most 18m in taxes (ie being 7m above the 165m tax line)
_________________
Not familiar with the salary cap/CBA rules & how it impacts our Lakers?
#GetFamiliar by CLICKING HERE!

[gng930]

They're close enough to the tax line where I wouldn't be surprised if they dump Vando or Prince at the deadline; there's a bit of redundancy and potential for a minutes crunch with all the other combo forwards we have.
_________________
Luxury Tax/FA Spreadsheet (Save to your Google Drive to edit)

[hydrohead]

I think that lakers are terribly resistance to buy 2.50 on the dollar for any further contract and would be quite happy to end the season below the lux tax that I just see another signing imminent. Bet they would live to have Castleton take the role as a two way that they convert eventually.
_________________
Darvin

[LaxT]

[governator]

Does getting under the tax this season reset the repeater tax timer?
How far are we from getting under tax?

[venturalakersfan]

You need two seasons under the tax to reset.
_________________
RIP mom. 11-21-1933 to 6-14-2023.

[vasashi17+]

@Gov: to add a bit more info to VLF’s answer… it’s a soft reboot, since being classified as a repeater means a team would have to have paid taxes in 3 of any given 4yr window. We’ve already paid a tax on the last 3 seasons from 2020/21 to this past 2022/23 season. We still would be classified as repeat offenders if we still have to pay a tax for the 2024/25 season, even though we might have ducked it for the 2023/24 season. However if we duck the tax for that 2024/25 season as well, then we’d have a hard reset towards our tax offenses.

2019/20: non-taxpayer
2020/21: taxpayer
2021/22: taxpayer
2022/23: taxpayer
2023/24: repeat offender rate applies for the first time this season
2024/25: repeat offender rate applies still if tax ducked last season
2025/26: if a taxpayer, then repeat offender rate no longer applies since previous two seasons had us ducking tax

Hope that answers it for you when it comes to the repeat tax offense and fully resetting the clock on it.

As for this 2023/24 season, we appear to be about 400k into the tax (ie team salary of 165.7m in breach of a 165.3m tax line; leading to a 1m tax bill) for a roster still needing at least one more roster add to get to a league mandated 14 to start the season.

At the very most, we can only add about 7m more in salary past the 165m tax line, since we are hardcapped at the 172m 1st Apron (via use of ntpMLE/BAE on GabeVince/Prince). Even as a repeat tax offender, that would lead to at most an 18m tax bill. As a reminder, we paid 36m on a non-repeat offender rate this past season.

The Lakers potentially can get off enough salary and therefore duck the tax completely with a Vando salary swap for a true vet min contract (ie possibly 4.8m for 2m).

Something to note is that Vando has a performance based unlikely incentive that could add 150k to his 4.7m deal. Also it depends on how many years we get MLexis on using our 2nd round exception cause that would make his yr1 deal either 1.8m or 2m.

[gng930]

According to Spotrac, I'm noticing that Austin's number is coming lower than we had assumed, barely above 12M. Not sure why his contract was initially reported as 4/56...Spotrac is reporting it closer to 4/54 which lines up with Herb Jones' initial contract reports.

I have them being able to duck the tax altogether (without any follow-up deals) if they sign Max and Colin, for instance, for less than 2.7M combined. I wonder if they try to stiff JHS a bit too and ask that he take less than the usual 120%.
_________________
Luxury Tax/FA Spreadsheet (Save to your Google Drive to edit)

[vasashi17+]

^Yeah bro, I was expecting the initial yr1 12.6m projection on Reaves early bird max to be a bit inflated. It’s true that this year is the first time the ntpMLE (12.4m) was projected to be greater than the 2 seasoned RFA early bird (~11.5m). I feel they wanted to correct that a bit by getting it close to, if not matching the MLE amount…but in calculating that number it should be closer to 11.5m than 12.5m…and now Spotrac has corrected the projection to be a yr1 12m cap hit, which lines up with that calculation.

Spotrac currently has us at a team salary of 159.5m for 11 players. That would be about 5.8m away from the 165.3m tax line. JHS & MaxL just signed bringing our roster to 13 in total (not counting two-ways). We know JHS is projected to make at the most the 120% 1st round rookie scale deal at a yr1 3.7m. We could negotiate that amount to as low as 80% of the rookie scale, which would make his yr1 salary 2.6m instead. That is rare however and normally 1st rounders get that 120% scale.

If JHS is set at 3.7m, we’d be about 2.1m away from the tax line. Depending on what type of deal MaxL gets (ie 3 or 4yr via 2nd round exception OR 2yr via rookie vet min contract exception OR up to 4yrs via the remainder of the ntpMLE on a rookie vet min scale), his cap hit can be anywhere from 1.1m to 2m.

So depending on how our rookie deals are structured, we’d be pretty much 2.1m away from the tax line or right up against it with still 1 more roster add necessary to meet the 14 necessary to start the season. That 14th roster spot whether it’s via vet min exception or the remainder of our 1.9m ntpMLE will lead to a 2m cap hit (prorated if nonguaranteed) no matter what, in calculating for taxes. So even if JHS is on a 80% scaled deal and MaxL is on a rookie vet min 1.1m projection, we’d still be about 400k over the tax line in adding that 14th roster spot (since we can only go up to 2weeks at a time at rostering 13 throughout the entire regular season). We’re gonna have to add a 14th player even if on a nonguaranteed deal to minimize the tax hit. I can see Castleton eventually being that guy once his two-way deal gets converted to a RoS deal (via remainder of MLE proration or vet min contract exception proration).

All that being said, I still feel when it’s all said and done with, JHS is on a 120% scale at a 3.7m cap hit. MaxL will be a 2m cap hit via the 4yr option of the 2nd round exception & our 14th roster add will lead to a 2m cap hit (prorated of nonguaranteed and/or in-season) via 2+ seasoned vet min annual scale used for tax purposes, leading to us being up to 2m above the tax line overall. We’d have to do some serious cap gymnastics to minimize the tax hit with these 3 additions (rookies + 14th roster add), but I don’t anticipate we can outright dick the tax this year, unless DLo’s deal holds a 15% max unlikely incentive bonus within it where he does not meet it.

The other means of ducking the tax outright this year is if we swap Vando (up to 4.8m cap hit via 145k unlikely incentive) out with a vet min deal (2m cap hit via 2+ seasoned vet min scale). Fyi, in regards to salaries that are greater than the vet min amount this year & that are not Bron & AD, Vando is trade eligible right now while we’d have to wait a month to offload JHS & till Dec 15th to offload GabeVince & Prince & wait one more month till Jan 15th to offload DLo, Rui & Reaves.

Btw I did catch your proration post in the free agency thread @G. You are correct that vet min exceptions begin to prorate the day the regular season begins while the 1.9m remainder of the ntpMLE won’t begin prorating downward till Jan 10th.

I’ll update all our salaries & the resulting projected tax hit once those figures are publicly released, if you haven’t done so already, my guy!
_________________
Not familiar with the salary cap/CBA rules & how it impacts our Lakers?
#GetFamiliar by CLICKING HERE!

[mad55557777]

In theory, can they trade vando to a team with cap space mid season to get under the tax line and reset the tax?
It was a shame that lebron’s extension had to include that cap clause, otherwise, we could maintain all the players while still avoid the tax

[gng930]

Good stuff V+, thanks for all that! It will be really tight but it does seem they'd have to shed some salary to avoid the tax altogether.
_________________
Luxury Tax/FA Spreadsheet (Save to your Google Drive to edit)

[vasashi17+]

^Yep @mad, if you offload Vando for a vet min (~2.3m), then we should be able to duck the tax and won’t experiences any surprises since Vando’s unlikely incentives would be outbound. We’d be able to trade Vando for a vet min salaried at least to that amount via the 200% +250k trade multiplier allowable for teams below the 1st Apron to make using salary structures in those smaller amounts.

I believe Utah, SA, Indy & Orlando all still have at least that amount of cap space remaining to completely offload Vando into.

Also, if Utah operates above the cap, they have numerous TPEs that they can absorb Vando completely into. In addition, ATL, Boston, BK, Dallas, Miami, Phx, Pdx and DC all have notable TPEs that could completely take in Vando, but we gotta be mindful in how eager tax paying teams wound be in adding to their bills, in order to have us duck ours.
_________________
Not familiar with the salary cap/CBA rules & how it impacts our Lakers?
#GetFamiliar by CLICKING HERE!