Why do some websites still show Rasheed on our books?

[LarBrd33]

Example:  

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/boston.htm

Why does it still show Rasheed on our books for this year if he retired?  

I know there have been examples of players in the past who never officially "retired"... allowing teams to retain their rights and use them in later sign-and-trades.  Win-Win because it ends up being free money for the unofficially retired player.  I use to remember an example of this, but I'm drawing a blank.  Hold on... let me google this...

...5 minutes later:  Too lazy to re-write previous paragraph.  Here's what I am remembering:

http://www.shamsports.com/whatthedeuce.htm

However, players often don't formally retire until they're eligible for their NBA pension, and the reason for that (other than laziness) is that many of them still have cap holds with NBA teams, which means that they can still be incorporated into sign and trades as salary filler for trades. It would be an extremely impossible thing to imagine had it not already happened: at the 2007 trade deadline, Aaron McKie and Keith Van Horn were both signed and traded to complete deals while being unofficially retired, earning them 7 figures worth of free cheddar. And all they had to do was not file the retirement paperwork. It's implausible, but it happens.

Example:  "On February 19, 2008 Van Horn signed a three-year deal (only the first year guaranteed) with the Mavericks in order to help complete a blockbuster trade that sent Jason Kidd from the New Jersey Nets to the Mavericks and Devin Harris to the Nets.  As expected, Van Horn did not play at all for the Nets and was waived on October 23, 2008."

Is this what is going on with Sheed?  Is it a mistake?  Is it reflecting his cap hold?  

Relevant, because... theoretically wouldn't that mean if you combined Sheed's "expiring contract" with Jermaine O'Neal's expiring contract it would equal 12.9 mil in expiring money.  Which would mean... theoretically, if Utah looks to dump Al Jefferson (14 mil this year... 15 mil next year... arguably a waste of money for a lotto team when they probably would rather just give those minutes to Derrick Favors)... wouldn't that work?

Someone who knows things please set me straight.  Thanks.

[LarBrd33]

Hmm... not sure why people haven't brought this up more.  

I have found two more sources that seem to suggest not only is Rasheed, but Shaq is also still counting on our books.  We haven't reached a buyout with either as far as I know.  I think their contracts were guaranteed when they signed them... aren't these still theoretically "tradeable" contracts?

http://www.nbadraft.net/state-cap-boston-celtics-1

"even a bigger burden for this year’s Celtics is that the retirements of other old dudes – namely Shaquille O’Neal and Rasheed Wallace – are still counting against Boston’s cap this year. Combined that’s an $8 million cap hit for guys who will play as many NBA minutes next year as I will. It really puts a damper on Boston’s ability to go out and add pieces to help them make another immediate title run. Thankfully for C’s fans both deals end after this season. "

http://basketball.about.com/od/nba-vs-nbapa/a/The-Nba-Cba-Amnesty-Rule-And-The-Leagues-Worst-Contracts.htm Under their "worst contracts list"

The Celtics still have Rasheed Wallace on the books for over $6.7 million in 2011-12.

So stop me if I'm wrong... but...

Doesn't that mean Sheed: (6.7) + Shaq (1.3) + Jermaine (6.2) = 14.2 mil in expiring contracts?  

So for the dreamers... at least financially... theoretically couldn't we trade for Dwight Howard without giving up any of the big 4?... (not that it would happen)

[clover]

I'm no Roy, but I don't believe you can trade the contract of a player that has retired.

[Roy H.]

Never rely on hoopshype; they're garbage for salary information.

Looking at more reliable sites, like shamsports and this google spreadsheet, it looks like Rasheed counts about $491,109 on this year's cap.

We don't know whether Rasheed's retirement was formal or informal.  However, we do know that it was reported that he agreed to a buyout of his deal.  How buyouts work is that whatever amount the team agrees to pay a guy is divided equally by the number of years left on a guy's contract.  That amount is then applied to each year that was remaining on the contract.

Here, Rasheed had two years left on his deal.  That means that, for whatever reason, the buyout amount her agreed to was around $982k, if the reported cap hit this year is accurate.  It's hard to say why the team and Rasheed came up with that odd ball number.  Maybe Rasheed had already been paid part of his 2011 salary by the time he walked away, and didn't want to give it back, so they agreed to a buyout.  It could be it was just courtesy money to keep Rasheed from formally retiring while we tried to trade his contract (although the $982 figure is still a mystery.)  Whatever the case, it was a small amount, but we still have it on our cap through this year.

Also, clover is correct:  you can't trade retired or bought out contracts.