Going into the trade deadline we outlined a few ways that Ryan McDonough could set himself up for a successful rebuild this summer.
In the end, the GM did what we thought he would do…nearly nothing. Going into a summer in which few teams will have any available cap room, that was the smart move.
To quantify the situation, there are only 15 teams with any cap room at all. In total they have a combined $309 million in available cap room of which the Lakers and Bulls combine for nearly 30%. There are 29 players guaranteed to go into free agency who are currently averaging at least ten points per game this year. Meaning that each will average less than $10 million a year. Considering Brandon Knight and Tyson Chandler will both make more than $13 million next year you can see that this summer is a buyers market.
When the new salary cap hit two summers ago, teams handed out nearly a billion dollars in huge contracts without a second thought. That has trapped mediocre teams like Portland and Miami in salary cap hell. As a result there are likely to only be 11 teams who have more than $10 million in cap room next year. That means that there are going to be a lot of quality players who are forced to settle for relatively cheap deals.
Let’s apply some reasonable assumptions. Let’s assume Aaron Gordon maxes out with the Magic. There goes all of their $16 million in cap space. Let’s assume the Rockets retain Chris Paul and match any offer for Clint Capela. There goes their $22 million in cap space. The Bulls should retain Zach LaVine and Noah Vonleh and take out $15-20 million there. Now we’ve got a collective pool of about $250 million in cap room. Imagine if LeBron and Paul George end up on the Lakers and you’d have less than $200 million in the open marketplace. That truckload of cash Isaiah Thomas thought was coming just isn’t going to be there.
Phoenix Suns, welcome to your buyers market.
Making the Most of the Moment
The question is, how do the Suns capitalize on the opportunity.