It's possible. But remember that dealing Vince won't result in $16M in savings--the players the Nets get back have to get paid, too. Maybe they save a few million dollars. Big deal. You'd probably argue that the big savings will come in future years, since Vince's contract will be off the books, and assuming that they acquire some high-salaried player in his contract year for the deal to work. But I'd counter by saying that the Nets will ALREADY have big savings next year, simply by the fact that Swift and Hassell will be gone. That is a $10M savings, maybe half of which would go to paying their replacements. Also, a team just full of prospects will almost always lead to a never-ending spiral of ineptitude, failure, and pessimism. The Nets need to build an environment of winning, even if Vince will no longer be around by the time they are contenders, so that the youngsters are properly trained and you can attract a big free agent.
Vince may not bring in as much as he costs, but I bet he brings in as much as the difference between what he costs and what the players acquired in a deal would cost.
Anyway, I could easily be mistaken, but my impression is that some percentage of merchandise sales goes to the team, and some to the NBA (possibly to be shared among all franchises). I don't know the percentages.
