A realgm.com post explains it this way:
This was all answered earlier in the thread, but in regards to how Riley can promise Odom the same money using just the MLE ...
- Let's say Lakers are offering 4 years, $36 million. Due to state income tax differences, that's like being paid 4 years $32.7 million by Miami. Odom would receive the same "net" money in either contract after taxes
- So Miami signs Odom to a full MLE deal ($5.9 mill first season) with an opt out after one season
- Then he uses the option to become a free agent in 2010 when we have the cap room to reward him, at which point Riley gives him 3 years $26.8 million. If you're wondering, that's a contract starting at about $8 million and escalating from there. Add that 3yr $26.8 million contract, plus the $5.9 mill Lamar earned in the first season from the MLE, and it equals ...
4 years, $32.7 million from the Heat[/size]
Which again, nets Lamar the same as 4 years $36 million would in California (9% state income tax).
http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=928151&start=345
Thanks. With regard to all the other posts, I know that all these sources are saying what Riley said, I read that in the first place; I was just looking for a rational explanation as to how it could actually happen.
Din, I appreciate that. It raises a ton of questions, but at least it provides an answer for my original one. So TP. However, it still seems to me this is just flawed.
First, I don't think you can have an opt out after the first season of a 5 year deal. I think you can only have one extra year after an opt out. So it would have to be a 2 year deal, with an opt out after one. No to 3 years, $27 mil but yes to 2 years, less than $12.5 mil? That just seems like too great a risk for Odom.
Second, this requires a type of collusion that is completely impermissible - similar to the kind of collusion that cost Minnesota draft picks after the Joe Smith fiasco. If Odom turns down a 3 year, $27-30 mil or 4 year, $36 mil deal from LA to take a 2 year, $12.5 or so mil deal, it's gonna raise questions when he opts out and gets the contract described. No way Stern allows that to happen.
But if it could happen, it answers my question, so thanks again.