The Proposed NBA CBA and its Impact on the Toronto Raptors

[Built Ford Tough]

Another excellent read from my favourite Raptors blog, RaptorsHQ.

 

They explain concepts of the new CBA and tie into how it will affect the Raptors.

 

Amnesty provision

 

This is a biggie. In 2005 you may recall that one player could be waived under the newly negotiated CBA and said player's salary would not count towards the luxury tax.

 

In the proposed 2011 plan, again a player can be waived but this time, the salary of said player will not only not count against the luxury tax, but won't count against the salary cap either. As well, this amnesty provision can be exercised prior to the start of any season, not just the upcoming one.

 

This is huge for a team like Toronto.

 

As noted in previous discussions on the topic, Toronto has some candidates that make sense for the provision (Linas Kleiza, Jose Calderon etc) but there really are no Gilbert Arenases or Rashard Lewises on the roster, and it may make a lot more sense to hold onto this card for a season or two.

 

Also of interest regarding this rule, "amnestied" players can be acquired by teams with cap room by submitting a bid essentially before said player hits free agency.

 

So let's use an example here to illustrate the rule from a Raptors' vantage point.

 

Say Washington decides to use the amnesty provision on Rashard Lewis so he indeed is waived by the team. If Toronto decided they wanted Lewis to add a veteran presence to the team, they could submit a bid then for his services. If Toronto submitted the top bid, say $5M per season whereas Minnesota and Houston bid only $4M, then Lewis would go to Toronto and the Dinos would only be on the hook for $5M of his salary per season, the remainder being paid by Washington.

 

Stretch provision

 

This is an interesting one. In the past, the remaining guaranteed salary of waived player was applied to the team's salary cap across the remaining years of the player's contract.

 

Under the new CBA though, said player's remaining salary and his cap hit "may be stretched across twice the number of seasons remaining on the contract, plus one."

 

So for example, if the Raptors end up signing someone during this upcoming free agent period to a three year deal, who then pulls a Jason Kapono, they could waive that deal and stretch the salary and cap hit across seven seasons.

 

This only applies to contracts signed starting under the new CBA (so no go on doing this with Jose or Linas for instance), but it's a huge boost to teams that were previously handcuffed by signing bad long-term deals. (Think Hedo had BC not been able to deal him.)

 

Midlevel exception

 

Under the old CBA, the midlevel was five years starting at an average salary of $5.765M with eight per cent raises. Now, as mentioned above, there are two options; one for tax-paying teams, one for non-tax paying teams.

 

For non-taxpaying teams, the midlevel starts at a $5M base salary with 4.5 per cent annual raises. Contracts can only be four years max.

 

Tax-paying teams are limited to being able to sign players to three-year deals with only a $3M base salary.

 

Teams with cap room, meaning they're not only under the luxury tax bar but also the salary cap, can sign players to a new mini midlevel deal for two years starting at $2.5M.

 

For the Raptors this amounts to protection from more Jason Kapono/Linas Kleiza type deals, as well as another shot at quality talent that perhaps a luxury tax paying team can no longer afford

 

Some more at the link:

 

http://www.raptorshq.com/2011/11/29/2595673/the-proposed-nba-cba-and-its-impact-on-the-toronto-raptors