Salary Cap, Hard Cap, Luxury Tax, etc

[countryboy]

Ok guys, I'm not very familiar with how the caps work in the NBA. Can someone please explain them?

The reason I ask is in my Pacers franchise, C.J. Miles is lost for 2-4 months with a Torn Meniscus and I need someone who can come in off the bench and score. I was wanting to sign Ray Allen. He is asking for nearly $4M a year and I am over the Salary Cap but have like $23M free in hard cap space. Can I sign him?

Thank you in advance.

[twhittle2308]

Short answer is no, because you are over the Salary Cap.

The Salary Cap is how much salary a team is permitted to spend on it's roster. Once the cap is reached, no 'new' salary can be added. However, the Hard Cap exists so that teams can resign their own free agents that would otherwise take them over the salary cap. The Hard Cap is therefore the maximum salary a team can have at any time.

[redsox4evur]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

Ok guys, I'm not very familiar with how the caps work in the NBA. Can someone please explain them? The reason I ask is in my Pacers franchise, C.J. Miles is lost for 2-4 months with a Torn Meniscus and I need someone who can come in off the bench and score. I was wanting to sign Ray Allen. He is asking for nearly $4M a year and I am over the Salary Cap but have like $23M free in hard cap space. Can I sign him? Thank you in advance.

I think you should be able to, I was playing as the Warriors and I know they are over the regular cap and I signed Andrew Bynum to be the backup post player and I offered him like 3.23M and a team option on the end of it for the same amount.

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by twhittle2308

Short answer is no, because you are over the Salary Cap. The Salary Cap is how much salary a team is permitted to spend on it's roster. Once the cap is reached, no 'new' salary can be added. However, the Hard Cap exists so that teams can resign their own free agents that would otherwise take them over the salary cap. The Hard Cap is therefore the maximum salary a team can have at any time.

Quote: Originally Posted by redsox4evur

I think you should be able to, I was playing as the Warriors and I know they are over the regular cap and I signed Andrew Bynum to be the backup post player and I offered him like 3.23M and a team option on the end of it for the same amount.

I'm still confused....

I appreciate the responses guys.

[redsox4evur]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

I'm still confused.... I appreciate the responses guys.

I think you can go over it, because I was over the cap and signed Bynum. The Warriors are about 10 million OVER the cap and I still signed Bynum, so as long as you have the roster spot you can sign him.

[ThatMichiganFan]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

Ok guys, I'm not very familiar with how the caps work in the NBA. Can someone please explain them? The reason I ask is in my Pacers franchise, C.J. Miles is lost for 2-4 months with a Torn Meniscus and I need someone who can come in off the bench and score. I was wanting to sign Ray Allen. He is asking for nearly $4M a year and I am over the Salary Cap but have like $23M free in hard cap space. Can I sign him? Thank you in advance.

Ok here is your answer. If you are already over the salary cap, teams are given what is called a MLE or Mid Level Exception of about $5 million per year to sign free agents. You should be able to sign him given you have not already used it.

[ffosb22]

You can always sign a player to the minimum salary, even if you're over the cap. You can also spend up to 5MM if you're over the cap (called the mid-level exception). That's why they were able to sign Bynum for 3MM. Once you go over the 5MM, you have to sign players at the league minimum.

[countryboy]

Thank you guys! Very much appreciated!