The Unlikely Bonus

by Tommy Dee on April 16th, 2010 at 3:06 pm

Via ESPN- (Nice job by Sheridan)

“…Should Plan A fail, or should the Knicks go after one maximum salary player and two $8 million players, they will have one trick up their sleeve. Those two $8 million players would be able to sign contracts with $2 million bonuses for making the playoffs. In salary cap parlance, those are known as “unlikely” bonuses — unlikely because the Knicks did not make the playoffs this season.

And it is to the Knicks’ benefit that two of the other likely heavy hitters in free agency, Chicago and Miami, cannot offer playoff bonuses because that money would be considered “likely” to be earned, and thus would count against those teams’ caps...”

Also, Sheridan reports that Walsh is still seriously considering a late 1st round pick acquisition along with the possibilities (however unlikely) of sign-and-trades with not just David Lee, but:

“…Al Harrington (whose cap hold is $20.05 million), Chris Duhon ($12.06 million cap hold) and Eddie House ($7.2 million cap hold) as part of their overhaul…”

The Knicks, depending on Walker, will have 7 players on the roster after the draft and 8 if they keep Walker before August 1st and the cap goes up allowing for a first round pick.

  • traps9
  • vinrummy

    56.1M = gonna get happy hour started a bit early.

  • trenttucker

    Larry Coon seems to think that the unlikely bonuses still need to fit in the salary cap:

    “Unlikely bonuses in any season are limited to 25% of the player’s salary in that season. In the first year of a contract the base salary, likely bonuses and unlikely bonuses must all fit within the salary cap or exception.”

  • bigblue973

    Yes that extra 3 million dollars is huge, that 3 million dollars can be used to sign a bunch of minium contracts for the bench, now we have a billion options, I say sign one max, bring another max via trade using fat boy curry’s contract and one young guy and use the rest of the money to build a good supporting cast, thats the best way to go about it, instead of signing 2 maxes straight up it would be more helpful to bring in one via trade.

  • BiggieSmalls

    that’s the big news from today.

    Totally expected but great news.

  • Dylan

    Thats great news! The extra money could be used to fill out our roster, or to bring in another guy like Camby. We could now afford to bring in two max free agents and we would still have some money left over.

  • trenttucker

    Not really. Max salaries are $16.5m each and the Knicks may have $35m. That’s $2m left after two maxes — not much.

  • LBJ2010

    It wasn’t expected to go up above $56, was it?

  • bigblue973

    yes thats why i think bringing in a max or close to max player via trade including currys contract and one of our young guys not named gallo lol is key, That way we can bring in a guy using money already on our books and still have around 39 mill to spend on one more max and some good surronding players. Two maxes for straight cash is dumb unless you use currys contrac or other trades to bring in some more players,

  • LBJ2010

    up to $56*

  • bigblue973

    and ps if the knicks reounce all playes they will have about 17 millon on the books, 39 mill to spend

  • BiggieSmalls

    expected by me.

  • JohnnyG

    With the good news on the projected cap for next season, i really hope Walsh can get into the end of the 1st round. A guy like Daniel Orton would be an absolute steal. If he stayed at Kentucky he would be a top 10 pick next season. Stud young center to develop behind a guy like Okafor.

  • trenttucker

    Doubtful he falls to the Knicks.

  • BigDaddybluesman

    The fix is in, 56.1 million dollars……I wouldn’t be surprised if by July 1st it doesn’t go even higher.

    The fix is in………….YAY!!!!!!!

    In that case maybe I don’t have to become a Net fan after all, yay!!!

    But we are still stuck with D’assholi. Maybe if Lebron or whomever comes here the first thing he says is dump this bum and get a real coach here to teach/preach defense so we can win.

  • trenttucker

    Nah, they have to add in another $500k for each empty spot — league minimum. They’ll have about $35m to spend.

  • BluEandOrange

    Been awhile since I posted after being distraught about the Knicks the last couple of weeks.

    This is great news today . Still, the July Moratorium is several weeks away and the exact number wont be solidified until then.

    Anything can happen. I hope Donnie doesn’t disappoint because I don’t believe he’ll survive the public backlash if he doesn’t acquire a superstar.

  • bartnyk

    You would do that anyway

  • x-man

    Playoff bonus money? hahahahahahahaha Mr Mets are offering the same thing and we stil only have 1.5 pitchers!

    We would be so much better off if we offered a legit coach who made defense a central component.

    Come on Walsh, if you can’t get LBJ and you mostly can’t , please go after CP3! NY luvs a great pt guard!

  • Hydr0

    $56 million expected? really? I guess you decided to let us all in on that secret expectation today? ;)

    the high number i have seen from pretty much everyone (until today) was $54 million.

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