Lou Dort- Dort has been an important part of the OKC Thunder for the last several years. He has been the tough, physical defender they could put on the other team’s best players.
This Spring, OKC traded Dort to Dallas. Being young, and being good, the return should be good. Nope. OKC got three 2nd round draft picks, spread over ‘27, ‘31, and ‘31. The trade was a cash dump, OKC could not afford to pay their top players and keep Dort. So they dumped Dort to create cap space.
Math- My math is based on articles that I have read. My math may be off but the basic concepts are true.
Indiana Fever in 2027- Boston and Mitchell will be eligible to make $1,582,000. Clark can make $1,345,000. Hull and Billings will have contracts to make $800,000, while Johnson $300,000, Timpson $300,000, Dantas $288,000.
Going into 2027, the Fever will have contracts worth $6,718,000. The WNBA cap is expected to be $7,910,000. That will leave the Fever with about $1,190 in cap space.
The Fever must have 12 players on the roster. The minimum salary is expected to be $280,000 per player. If the Fever retain all 7 players under contract, the added 5 other players if payed the minimum salaries, will cost $1,400,000. So the Fever would be over the cap by $200,000.
Cunningham, Harris- Cunningham might stay with the Fever for reduced rate because she is making so much off the court. Say she accepts on $480,000. And Harris likes Indiana, but she is going to be attractive to other teams. Maybe they sign her for $380,000. These two signings put the Fever another $300,000 over the cap so a total of $500,000 over the cap.
Timpson, Johnson, Dantas- Releasing or trading any of Johnson, Timpson, or Dantas. Even if they released/traded all three, they would still need to add three more players at $280,000 minimum. Releasing/trading them for draft picks would save maybe $40,000. The team would still be $160,000 over the cap or $460,000 over if retain Cunningham and Harris.
They might let Johnson go but will not let Timpson go.
Hull, Billings- If Indiana took the Lou Dort approach, they will trade one of them for future draft picks. This would clear $800,000, and put the Fever under the cap by $340,000. The combination of Harris, Cunningham, and Johnson would make Hull more expendable.
Spurs Approach- Years ago, Tim Duncan left money on the table so that the Spurs could have money to help build the roster. This year Wemby signed a contract for 5 years that leaves $10 million per year.
Clark is estimated to be making $16 million yearly in endorsements. If Clark chose to take only $900,000 instead of $1,345,000, the Fever could retain everyone.
And Jalen Brunson signed a long-term contract that left $113 million on the table to help build the Knicks championship team.
Bottom Line- With projections for cap and salaries, either the Fever will have to trade Hull or Billings for draft picks, or have Clark agree to a lower contract.
 |
Entertaining- Anyone who doesn’t think that the last three weeks of Fever basketball have been entertaining doesn’t like basketball.
Biased, Biased, Biased- It is crazy how hard it is to get any sports casters or podcasters to give objective analysis of the WNBA. With the increase in eyes on the WNBA, most teams quickly recognized they needed to get professional GM’s, coaches, and front office people.
Networks need to recognize that they need to clean house in terms of many of their analysts. For whatever the reason- biases toward/against some players, low level basketball IQ, too many can’t focus on what is going on in term of basketball.
Elevating Their Games- Harris and Timpson are growing in front of our eyes. They have elevated the Fever from good to maybe a contender.
Marketing- The NBA has always been criticized for marketing games as matchups between stars, “Sunday, Magic Johnson squares off vs. Larry Bird.” “Tuesday night it will be Lebron James vs Steph Curry.” The NBA was marketing their biggest stars.
This was ION’s ad for the Dallas vs Indiana matchup. Crazy!!
If ION had advertised the Bulls vs Lakers NBA title game, they would have featured Magic Johnson vs Will Perdue.
No comments:
Post a Comment