Can we give Banton an extension right now?

[SharpesTriumph]

Last year we signed Duop during the season to a multi year extension.

Can we do a similar deal with Banton now?

Anyone know the years or dollars we can offer?

 

[Phatguysrule]

This is a great question.

 

[RR7]

He is ineligible for an extension

 

[SharpesTriumph]

He is ineligible for an extension

Damn that's sucks.

I guess we can offer him an MLE deal this summer if he keeps up the good play.

Or if he REALLY improves then we trade our lottery pick and a vet to a team to open up cap space and resign Banton. Maybe that's what MM meant when he said we'll likely send out our pick to dump a vet contract.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

Although Banton was with us last year so we'll have early bird rights to resign him. Not sure how that compares to the MLE as I'm not up to date on all the details of the new CBA.

 

[RR7]

Although Banton was with us last year so we'll have early bird rights to resign him. Not sure how that compares to the MLE as I'm not up to date on all the details of the new CBA.

I believe early bird rights allows him to be eligible or 105% of the average, so a slight bump over MLE.

 

[Samuel]

I believe early bird rights allows him to be eligible or 105% of the average, so a slight bump over MLE.

yes, 175% of previous salary OR 105% of average player salary, whichever is greater. advantage portland because they could conceivably go up to that amount without hardcapping themselves. (I doubt the market is THAT rich for banton but good to know.

 

[Phatguysrule]

That's good to know. Seems like he has potential to be a really capable two-way player.

 

[Samuel]

yeah i'd be bummed if he went somewhere else. he's not perfect but he's pretty solid for what he is. the people who critique banton seem to think he's this finished product. and maybe he is. but he's like a year and a half older than suggs and dalton knecht, and 9 months older than kris murray.

 

[beast blazer]

I will not be happy if he's a cap casualty because we didn't get rid of either Simons/Ayton/Grant and signed Thybulle to that stupid contract.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

I will not be happy if he's a cap casualty because we didn't get rid of either Simons/Ayton/Grant and signed Thybulle to that stupid contract.

Cronin really needs to hire an assistant GM to handle all the vet contracts. He's much worse than Olshey with those.

I do like all the draft picks and other young talent Cronin has acquired with the emphasis he has on big defensive wings.

It's like he's a Batman villain TwoFace type of GM with split personalities. Wish we could promote one and fire the other.

 

[B-Roy]

I was hoping we could get 2/5 million. That may be too cheap though. Maybe 3/21 with a TO. Dude was a fringe player before coming here I doubt another team would give more.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

I was hoping we could get 2/5 million. That may be too cheap though. Maybe 3/21 with a TO. Dude was a fringe player before coming here I doubt another team would give more.

Just depends how he finishes this year.

Wes Matthews was a vet minimum player at Utah then next summer we signed him for a maxMLE deal, which ultimately ended up being a bargain.

 

[BankTeller]

I was hoping we could get 2/5 million. That may be too cheap though. Maybe 3/21 with a TO. Dude was a fringe player before coming here I doubt another team would give more.

Ok 3 yrs/$21m I can live with. We still have questions with a lot of the roster than I would not want to commit big money to depth pieces. $7m over the next 3 years is essentially a rookie deal.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

yes, 175% of previous salary OR 105% of average player salary, whichever is greater. advantage portland because they could conceivably go up to that amount without hardcapping themselves. (I doubt the market is THAT rich for banton but good to know.

Great to know, yes I like the idea of not being hard capped. Although I doubt the Blazers would consider paying any luxury tax so that tax line that is lower might effectively be an "Ownership hard cap"

Still in theory having Banton on an early bird deal, as well as also having the MLE gives us more flexibility. Maybe that flexibility helps some Ant Ayton etc type trades at the 2026 trade deadline. When their contracts are expiring they will have less downside.

 

[Samuel]

Although I doubt the Blazers would consider paying any luxury tax so that tax line that is lower might effectively be an "Ownership hard cap"

I'd imagine they'll be cutting salary elsewhere at the deadline too, fwiw.

 

[wizenheimer]

I'd imagine they'll be cutting salary elsewhere at the deadline too, fwiw.

Maybe. It may not be imperative to cut salary at the deadline though

next season's tax line will likely be in around 180M; maybe 185M. Right now the Blazers have about 170M guaranteed for 13 players. But two of those salaries are Thybulle's player option of 11.6M and Reath's non-guaranteed 2.2M

now I suppose the prevailing wisdom would be that a player like Thybulle won't walk away from 11.6M. But I'm not convinced he wants to be in Portland; my hunch is he'd like out and may trade a 1 year payday for a multi-year payday with a playoff team. If he does opt out then the Blazers could be 25M under the tax line, or more. So, even with the salary of their 1st round pick and a Banton salary of 6-9M, they won't be nearing the tax line. It will be tighter if Thybulle picks up his option though

 

[SharpesTriumph]

Maybe. It may not be imperative to cut salary at the deadline though

next season's tax line will likely be in around 180M; maybe 185M. Right now the Blazers have about 170M guaranteed for 13 players. But two of those salaries are Thybulle's player option of 11.6M and Reath's non-guaranteed 2.2M

now I suppose the prevailing wisdom would be that a player like Thybulle won't walk away from 11.6M. But I'm not convinced he wants to be in Portland; my hunch is he'd like out and may trade a 1 year payday for a multi-year payday with a playoff team. If he does opt out then the Blazers could be 25M under the tax line, or more. So, even with the salary of their 1st round pick and a Banton salary of 6-9M, they won't be nearing the tax line. It will be tighter if Thybulle picks up his option though

I never considered that at all.... Thybulle play was pretty bad last year and zero this year, he sounds more like a vet minimum guy to me. I'll be shocked if he opts out.

I'd think one of our vets is likely traded in the next couple months or at the summer which could open up some of that space similar to your post. Kind of sucks the Blazers need to negotiate nearly every trade where they're giving up value to cut salary though. Did it in the Clippers trade, Pelicans trade, Knicks trade, Wizards trade, etc.

If we ever stop handing out so many of these idiotic contracts for below average vets we could be the team receiving that value back in trades. Instead we're the team still giving it up, which is insane to be doing while on our 4th year in the lottery.