I'd guess they leave it open. Parker looks like a money move.
After Jabari's release I believe that Dennis Schröder is all that's needed to be moved to get under the tax.
I think if the rest of Jabari's contract was guaranteed it whould have taken Schröder + just a little bit more $.
I could be wrong because I thought that's what the Edwards deal did. Maybe the likely/unlikely incentives come into play.
The C's are $4.65 million above the tax at this point, including likely incentives, but excluding unlikely incentives. The key for whether they try to get under the tax or not will likely be Jaylen's incentive. He'll get roughly $2 million for making the All-Star game (which he did last year, so it's included in the current tax calculations). If Jaylen is healthy and makes the All-Star game, they'll continue to be a rotation-level contract above the tax. But they'll also probably be a competitive team, and perhaps willing to pay the tax. If Jaylen isn't healthy/misses the All-Star game, that probably means he didn't fully recover from his injury and/or the team's performance wasn't warranting of two All-Stars. This would put them at about $2.7 million over the tax, which would be easier to get out from, and they'd also be more inclined to sell players (like a Schroder) to do so.
Hernangomez also has a smaller incentive (~$800k). It's considered likely, although I can't find anything about how it's earned. Most likely it's some sort of playing time threshold. If he doesn't pan out, that's also a potential savings. Depending how things pan out, it getting out from under the tax could be as simple as sending teams a little cash to take on Fernando and Kanter, and then signing their replacements to rest-of-season deals.
Thanks! Lots of moving pieces.
I think Parker's guarantee would have added $1.35M, putting us $6M over the threshold. Schroder is $5.9M.
Now we could dump Schroder, and take back a small contract to get under the tax, if things go bad.
Hopefully we over achieve and spend the $17M TPE (or one of the smaller ones) to put us over the top.
I still think its a "money move" to increase "flexibility".