My understanding of TPEs is they cannot use it as outgoing salary in a trade, you can only use it to absorb salary coming in. It's not a contract that can be traded, it's just a coupon that can be used to absorb incoming salary. So we could absorb a player up to $27m without sending out salary in return, but we can't say let's use the $27m Simons TPE and add another $27m in salary to get Giannis to make our Big 3.
What I think we could do is use the $27m TPE to absorb a player up to that value, then use that player in a package with other riffraff vet mins (maybe you S&T Vucevic for $12m which would hard cap Milwaukee) and Hauser for Giannis. Because then you have converted the TPE to actual salary that can be sent out. But I have to look at the rules as to the timing of when you can trade the player you got via the TPE.
The other roster building implications of such a move would be that you now have $170m of your $165m cap on 3 players, two of who have suffered serious injuries, and a third (Jaylen) who has not played more than 72 games a season since 2028-19. Then you have White (assuming you didn't trade him in the superteam building scenario) for $30m, which brings you to the luxury tax line with 4 players. Then you need to fill out the other 11 players on your roster, with the constraints being: to stay under the $209m first apron you can only spend up to $9m on all 11 (average of less than $1m a player); or to stay under the $222m 2nd apron you can only spend $22m on all 11 (average of $2m a player).
This scenario would remind me of the Suns with KD, Beal and Booker - and those 3 were only taking up $153m of their cap. Or the Sixers with Embiid, PG13 and Maxey. All you need is a chemistry fail or an injury and you're in a very tight spot, because once you're over the 2nd apron you can't aggregate salaries in trade, and can't use exceptions, and can't take in more salary than you send out.
Topic: Giannis, Jaylen, and Tatum Big 3 (Read 300 times)