Interesting discussion of Brandon's contract...

[mrhonline]

http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=157306

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Brandon's contract is guaranteed. He will get paid every penny. The Hawks can apply to have his salary come off their cap in February because it will be the 2-year anniversary of his injury. That's why they traded for him. Insurance will pick up most of the money paid to Brandon, and after he disappears off their cap in Feb, the Hawks will be free and clear of the luxury tax (if there is one) next summer.

What will probably happen:

Brandon will officially retire before the season starts.

The Hawks will waive him to open up a roster spot.

Brandon's salary will count against the team's salary cap until February.

In Feb, the Hawks will apply for cap relief.

If accepted, Brandon's entire salary will disappear from their team cap.

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And more here:

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They get to eliminate Brandon's WHOLE SALARY from their cap before the luxury tax threshhold is computed. They could care less about the rebate.

If we ignore Brandon (because his salary will be erased by the time they compute the tax threshhold) The Hawks have 8 guaranteed contracts totaling about $41.5mil. They could re-sign Terry at a $7mil salary to get up to $48.5mil. They would still have $8.5mil to play with and remain below the $57mil lux tax estimate.

In contrast, if they hadn't made the trade, Robinson's $10.7mil + Terry's $7 mil would push the team salary up to $59.2 mil... which probably means Terry would not be re-signed unless he takes a pay cut.

I think the trade was definitely "tax influenced", but only the future will say whether the trade was good or bad for the Hawks.

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