Potential CBA loophole that the warriors can use

[NKY fan]

This is a question for the cap gurus and is purely theoretical.

The warriors are facing maxing out Durant and Klay and them not being able to play for a whole year. If they max them they are looking at ~ $70-100M dollars of luxury taxes.
So here is something that a warriors fan was suggesting:

Can the warriors hire Klay and Durant for their front office and pay them $35M each for one year to just give interviews and waive towels from the bench?

Doing this they still keep their bird rights for next year when they are healthy and their 5 years max contracts can start in 2020.

- They avoid the luxury tax this year
- in 2020 Iggy and Livingston contracts are off the books so that will give them room
- get the full level MLE they can use on cousins or someone else
- match any offer on looney
- use the BLE on a useful player
- in 2020 the salary cap will be higher than 2019 so their 5 yr max contracts will be higher than what they sign for this year.
- esentillay price out competition for Durant because this would mean a 6 year max contract vs the 4 yr max the Knicks can give him...

Is there a rule in the CBA that prevents them from doing this?

[BitterJim]

Anything that is not explicitly allowed by the CBA is prohibited. There is a 0% chance that the NBA would allow the Warriors to circumvent the salary cap in that way

[Fafnir]

Uh yeah there is a general rule against circumvention. Paying a player to rehab as a member of the front office is obvious circumvention.

[PAOBoston]

If they re-sign both of the these guys and both of these guys are hurt, can they file for the hardship exemption (similar to why Cs did with Hayward) twice from the beginning of the year and use to fill out their roster while those guys rehab?

[nickagneta]

This is a question for the cap gurus and is purely theoretical.

The warriors are facing maxing out Durant and Klay and them not being able to play for a whole year. If they max them they are looking at ~ $70-100M dollars of luxury taxes.
So here is something that a warriors fan was suggesting:

Can the warriors hire Klay and Durant for their front office and pay them $35M each for one year to just give interviews and waive towels from the bench?

Doing this they still keep their bird rights for next year when they are healthy and their 5 years max contracts can start in 2020.

- They avoid the luxury tax this year
- in 2020 Iggy and Livingston contracts are off the books so that will give them room
- get the full level MLE they can use on cousins or someone else
- match any offer on looney
- use the BLE on a useful player
- in 2020 the salary cap will be higher than 2019 so their 5 yr max contracts will be higher than what they sign for this year.
- esentillay price out competition for Durant because this would mean a 6 year max contract vs the 4 yr max the Knicks can give him...

Is there a rule in the CBA that prevents them from doing this?

Definite circumvention of CBA rules. It would never be allowed.

I do believe, if the Warriors could ever convince Thompson and Durant to take a year off unpaid, they could keep both player's Bird rights and sign them the following year, but really, does anyone expect both players would give up $30+ million each just to save the Warriors owner money? Come on! That's not happening.

[footey]

Thompson will be back by the end of the season. Durant unlikely but theoretically could be. My guess is they wouldn’t play him even if medically cleared just to be sure, and given what happened.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Doubt that's allowed. I don't think the NBA would allow that as well. They would probably sanction the Warriors to do so.

Although, in light of this, I do want to ask, because I don't fully know how Bird Rights work.

Say both Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson sign for the Warriors' MLE (split between the both of them) for one year while they rehab, does Golden State keep their Full Bird rights for next year?

I don't know the math on the top of my head, but I think doing this could take them out of the luxury tax line, and resets their stance so they won't be under repeater status once they max out Klay, KD, and then Draymond Green. It could save the Warriors a lot of money.

Is this doable, or am I just a guy who needs to learn more about how the CBA works?

[NKY fan]

This is a question for the cap gurus and is purely theoretical.

The warriors are facing maxing out Durant and Klay and them not being able to play for a whole year. If they max them they are looking at ~ $70-100M dollars of luxury taxes.
So here is something that a warriors fan was suggesting:

Can the warriors hire Klay and Durant for their front office and pay them $35M each for one year to just give interviews and waive towels from the bench?

Doing this they still keep their bird rights for next year when they are healthy and their 5 years max contracts can start in 2020.

- They avoid the luxury tax this year
- in 2020 Iggy and Livingston contracts are off the books so that will give them room
- get the full level MLE they can use on cousins or someone else
- match any offer on looney
- use the BLE on a useful player
- in 2020 the salary cap will be higher than 2019 so their 5 yr max contracts will be higher than what they sign for this year.
- esentillay price out competition for Durant because this would mean a 6 year max contract vs the 4 yr max the Knicks can give him...

Is there a rule in the CBA that prevents them from doing this?

Definite circumvention of CBA rules. It would never be allowed.

I do believe, if the Warriors could ever convince Thompson and Durant to take a year off unpaid, they could keep both player's Bird rights and sign them the following year, but really, does anyone expect both players would give up $30+ million each just to save the Warriors owner money? Come on! That's not happening.

If we assume that Durant and Thompson would be out of the league after 5 years it might make sense for them to wait a year and sign 5 yr max in 2020. The Cap is projected to be $116M. They would make $13-15M more if they waited but then again a huge risk for the players.

[NKY fan]

Doubt that's allowed. I don't think the NBA would allow that as well. They would probably sanction the Warriors to do so.

Although, in light of this, I do want to ask, because I don't fully know how Bird Rights work.

Say both Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson sign for the Warriors' MLE (split between the both of them) for one year while they rehab, do they keep their Full Bird rights for next year?

I don't know the math on the top of my head, but I think doing this could take them out of the luxury tax line, and resets their stance so they won't be under repeater status once they max out Klay, KD, and then Draymond. It could save the Warriors a lot of money.

Is this doable, or am I just a guy who needs to learn more about how the CBA works?

I think it is allowed to sign them as a players to any amount. So let’s say they sign for $10 M each. Their bird rights would be maintained. And they can sign for the full 5 yr max in 2020. I think Klay would be able to sign for 35% of the cap because he would have had 10 yrs experience.
I might be wrong on that... but if they are not listed on the injured list towards the end of the season it’s not circumventing... warriors would be limited to 13 players plus 2 2 way players

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Doubt that's allowed. I don't think the NBA would allow that as well. They would probably sanction the Warriors to do so.

Although, in light of this, I do want to ask, because I don't fully know how Bird Rights work.

Say both Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson sign for the Warriors' MLE (split between the both of them) for one year while they rehab, do they keep their Full Bird rights for next year?

I don't know the math on the top of my head, but I think doing this could take them out of the luxury tax line, and resets their stance so they won't be under repeater status once they max out Klay, KD, and then Draymond. It could save the Warriors a lot of money.

Is this doable, or am I just a guy who needs to learn more about how the CBA works?

I think it is allowed to sign them as a players to any amount. So let’s say they sign for $10 M each. Their bird rights would be maintained. And they can sign for the full 5 yr max in 2020. I think Klay would be able to sign for 35% of the cap because he would have had 10 yrs experience.

But wouldn't that reset their Bird Rights, and instead of getting Full Bird Rights for next year, they will only get their Non-Bird Rights, which means the Warriors can't max them out.

I don't know how the CBA fully works, but if they sign for the MLE, that means they are not using any sort of Bird Rights, right? Does that mean the Warriors retain their Full Bird status, which in turn, they can then use to max them out next year?

[NKY fan]

Doubt that's allowed. I don't think the NBA would allow that as well. They would probably sanction the Warriors to do so.

Although, in light of this, I do want to ask, because I don't fully know how Bird Rights work.

Say both Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson sign for the Warriors' MLE (split between the both of them) for one year while they rehab, do they keep their Full Bird rights for next year?

I don't know the math on the top of my head, but I think doing this could take them out of the luxury tax line, and resets their stance so they won't be under repeater status once they max out Klay, KD, and then Draymond. It could save the Warriors a lot of money.

Is this doable, or am I just a guy who needs to learn more about how the CBA works?

I think it is allowed to sign them as a players to any amount. So let’s say they sign for $10 M each. Their bird rights would be maintained. And they can sign for the full 5 yr max in 2020. I think Klay would be able to sign for 35% of the cap because he would have had 10 yrs experience.

But wouldn't that reset their Bird Rights, and instead of getting Full Bird Rights for next year, they will only get their Non-Bird Rights, which means the Warriors can't max them out.

I don't know how the CBA fully works, but if they sign for the MLE, that means they are not using any sort of Bird Rights, right? Does that mean the Warriors retain their Full Bird status, which in turn, they can then use to max them out next year?

I think you only spend the MLE on players that you want to sign but don’t have full bird rights on. I don’t think your bird rights reset if you resign for a lower amount then what is reasonable. I might be wrong and the league might decide it’s circumventing the rules...

[tazzmaniac]

Trying to hire them for some other job for a year would definitely fall under circumvention. 
http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q106 

[NKY fan]

Trying to hire them for some other job for a year would definitely fall under circumvention. 
http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q106

Oh ok thanks for the link. Looks like none of the above would be allowed including signing for a lower amount

[bopna]

Durant is a PO and not an UFA.

He can just opt in to his 30 or so million contract.. Wait out the Yr and sign the 5 Yr Supermax for a total of 6 yrs fully secured... KD ain't opting out to sign a lower salary.. Might as well sign with he Knicks then if that's the case.