2021-2022 MAVS NEWS: 4th in West | WCF loss [ARCHIVED]

[F Gump]

The problem with a buyout is that it does not help the Raptors with their luxury tax problem. They still have to carry the dead money, so if Dragic were to sign for the minimum with Dallas, he´d still count with ~17M against the tax. 

TOR doesn't look to have a tax issue that can't be solved in an easy and obvious manner. (I'm sure they have great number crunchers, and didn't end up in this spot, without already knowing exactly how they would make the tax issue go away. It's not like they will be a major contender this season at the mercy of having to find a way to fit together too much talent onto their roster. You don't pay tax in a rebuilding season, unless you were already buried in payroll and can't get out.)
 
In fact, a by-the-book Dragic buyout looks like their obvious SOLUTION, rather than an obstacle.

The Raps have 17 players under NBA contract, and will only keep 15. Their current payroll total for all 17 contracts is 139.8M. The tax line is 136.6M.

Once Dragic agrees to a buyout of his salary minus minimum (the NBA by-the-book discount, since Dragic will get back the minimum when he signs with Dallas), that will leave them with 16 contracts totaling about 137.2M (which includes Dragic's dead money). That leaves just the move to shed that one extra player, one who has little (if any) guaranteed money, to be under the tax. They have multiple choices that would provide more than enough..

So that $2.6M they will get back from Dragic looks like an obvious (and logically already-planned) path to staying tax free.

Also, they will want to do it before the season, not later. The by-the-book discount gets reduced the longer they wait (the pro-rated minimum he gets back by signing elsewhere would dwindle in proportion to how much of the season remains, and instead of saving $2.6M, it might be as little as a third of that).