The Miami Heat’s head talent guy, Pat Riley, is known for his salary cap magic. Will he pull another rabbit out of his hat in the near future?
The Miami Heat are right where they want to be. Well, sort of.
Like every other team that was in the NBA’s postseason picture prior to the suspension taking hold, they are getting themselves back together and primed to try and make a run in the NBA’s newly dubbed, Bubble City.
Not too far away from home, it should be a short trip to Orlando and a short period of adjustment for the guys who spend all of their time in the Sunshine State anyways. That isn’t the topic of conversation here though, as we have pounded the NBA restart into the ground in recent days and as we will also continue to do moving forward.
Here, however, and as mentioned, let us dare to look a bit into the offseason. Without any real juicy rumors or tidbits of information to sink our teeth into, we have resorted to procedural news scoops to get our breaking news fixes. Here is a morsel brought to us by ESPN front-office insider, Bobby Marks.
The $17.2M Golden State trade exception now expires on October 24.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) June 20, 2020
Not to be outdone by Marks, Miami Heat insider Greg Sylvander added on his two cents to the tweet. It wasn’t the fact that Sylvander chose to do so that is worth a thought though.
What is indeed worth a thought though is what he said. What Sylvander had to say might not be the likeliest of moves, but it isn’t that insanely crazy either. In fact, it’s actually a move that sits right in Riley’s wheelhouse.
Watch the Heat create more cap space by sending Iggy back to GSW in October https://t.co/qVBaO11oPF
— Greg Sylvander (@GregSylvander) June 20, 2020
Wow! It makes so much sense.
The Miami Heat have a magician in the head player personnel decision maker’s seat. Will he pull a “Houdini” in the near future?
For clarity, a trade exception is what occurs when a team trades a player away. Basically, it says that a team can use an exception created by trading a certain player and his salary, more specifically, to sign a player that may have a salary greater than the player that they traded in accordance with that team’s salary cap.
In transactions that occur at the same time, where a player leaves a team and that team gets another guy back at the same time, the exceptions allow the team to take back a salary of up to either 125 or 175 percent plus $100k, no matter their salary cap standing and depending on their luxury tax-paying status.
In transactions that occur at different times, when a player is traded and the team isn’t planning to take back or get a guy at that exact moment, the salary of the incoming player(s) must match the outgoing salary plus $100k.
In Sylvander’s scenario, the money that was created in an exception by sending Andre Iguodala to Memphis in the first place to create cap space can now be used to receive him back in a trade. With that date being extended to October now, imaginably with all that has occurred with coronavirus and the suspension, the window to do so was just elongated and therefore gives more flexibility to that possibility.
With Pat Riley always looking to hunt a big fish and simultaneously always looking for ways to get tricky with the cap to his own benefit, this a move that I could absolutely see him pursuing. This goes especially if it helps the Miami Heat land another star in free agency because Riles always gets his guy.
While again, it isn’t that likely, it is entirely possible. As we said, it would be such the Pat Riley thing to do.