I don't see that we have any potential CAP space next summer -
Name.............................2014-15...........2015-16.........Notes
LaMarcus Aldridge.......$16,006,000.....$19,860,000.......3,4
Nicolas Batum..............$11,765,500.....$12,235,750.......
Wesley Matthews........$7,245,640.......$10,868,460.......1
Robin Lopez................$6,124,728.......$9,187,092.........1
Damian Lillard.............$3,340,920.......$4,236,287.........
Steve Blake.................$2,077,000........$2,170,465.......12
Chris Kaman...............$4,820,000........$5,000,000.......13
Dorell Wright..............$3,135,000.......$4,075,500.........8
Joel Freeland...............$3,013,512.......$3,766,890.........
Thomas Robinson........$3,678,360.......$4,660,482.........
C.J. McCollum..............$2,421,000.......$2,525,160.........
Will Barton..................$915,243..........$1,181,348.........
Meyers Leonard...........$2,317,920.......$3,075,880.........
Victor Claver...............$1,370,000........$1,712,500.........
Allen Crabbe...............$862,000...........$947,276............
Mid Level Exception..............................$5,464,000.........9
Bi Annual Exception......................................................10
Draft Choice........................................$1,025,700..........11
2016 Total CAP Holds: $91,992,790
Qualifying Offer
Team Option
Non-Guaranteed
CAP Hold
Notes:
1. CAP hold is 150% of previous salary for non rookie, above league average previous contracts.
2. Assumed league average salary = 2014 average salary x 1.045 = $5.632M x 1.045 = $5.885M
3. Max contract for 7-9 yr vet is 30% of CAP. Assume 2016 CAP = 2015 CAP + 5% = 63.065M + 3.15M = $66.2M. Max = $19.86M
4. CAP hold is never greater than the Max salary.
5. CAP hold is at least the estimated ave salary
6. Max contract for 0-6 yr vet is 25% of CAP. Assume 2016 CAP = 2015 CAP + 5% = 63.065M + 3.15M = $66.2M. Max = $16.55M
7. CAP hold is 120% of previous salary for non-bird free agents.
8. CAP hold is 130% of previous salary for early-bird free agents.
9. 2015-16 Mid Level Exception = $5.464M
10. 2015-16 Bi Annual Exception = $2.139M (Blazers do not have due to using it on Blake in 2014-15)
11. Assume draft possion similar to 2014 finish (tied for 5th best record) - draft position 25.
12. Signed for BAE.
13. Signed using MLE - only $1M guaranteed 2nd year.
These cap holds are in place before we have the option to sign any free agents. The only way to eliminate them is to renounce the rights to our free agents. By doing that, we lose the ability to use any bird exceptions to re-sign them.
If we renounce the rights to: Wright, Freeland, Leonard, Claver, ,Crabbe, and Kaman ($1M Guaranteed), then I calculate we will have a CAP hold of $73,414,744. Still well over the estimated cap of approximately $66M.
Unless we're looking at renouncing the rights to one or more of our starters, I don't see that we have any CAP room to go after a key free agent (such as Gasol). And as we've seen this summer, if we're going to renounce the rights to one of our starters in the hope of getting a big time free agent, that approach comes with a lot of risks.
I'm no cap guru. I'm sure I made some mistakes with these calculations. But from what I'm looking at, our CAP options are pretty limited next summer.
What's Olshey's plan?