I guess if we were getting seconds for them and we thought we could trade them at the deadline for those same or lesser seconds, it might make sense, because then we've gotten four months of backup production at effectively no cost, and presumably we'd get new trade exceptions at the deadline. Aside from that unlikely scenario, it is very confusing.
Right, so those guys aren't worth paying 11.67 million this year with the tax implications but would they be worth it if it costs basically nothing. There just doesnt seem to be any decent free agents left at the moment but someone will get cut in Jan/Feb and will be looking to jump on board as a ring chaser.
The current free agent market isn't great, but I think it's likely much better than what we'll see in buyout season. It varies from year to year, but the buyout market didn't really materialize last season. There were a few guys -- Dragic, Carter, Bembry -- but overall there wasn't much to choose from. Compare that to the current crop of free agents: Whiteside, Cousins, Zeller, Howard, Aldridge, Bledsoe, Schroder, Carmelo, Harrell (unlikely to take the minimum, but I guess we don't know that for sure), Griffin, Jackson, Paschall, Lamb, Kemba. Those guys aren't great, but they may be better than what's available for buyouts.
The one potential buyout guy I'm interested in is Derrick Favors. Maybe San Antonio buys out Josh Richardson at some point. I'm not seeing a lot of expiring guys on non-contenders right now, but time will tell. To the extent that there may be others, I'm fine carrying an open roster spot or a non-guaranteed guy like Kornet.