Wolves Post Ball Trade Cap Situation

[Lipoli390]

Or since the mega trade has an early July date of completion does that mean we have a short period of time where we aren’t hard capped?

If we make a move before the hard cap trade completion date does it affect the ability of the mega trade to actually be completed? This is so confusing. I’m glad it’s not my job. I don’t math good.

But it makes it nearly impossible to speculate with all these limits and penalties.

We were hard capped at the 2nd apron before all these deals and will be hard-capped at that level after those deals are consummated on July 6 - absent another salary-reducing maneuver by our front office. I’ve updated by post above with more details on where I think we’re at regarding the cap and transactional flexibility.

[AbeVigodaLive]

We can’t take back more than we send? How does TJ get us more than a player that makes his salary?

Asking my previous question again, can we just add TJ to the mega trade and pull a larger salaried player out? We are hard capped anyways so we couldn’t bring back more than the 2nd apron cap so like 14m? I’d rather see if TJ or Ayo can be the 6th and 7th we desperately need then to give up more of our roster for hopeful replacements to a different roster hole. There HAS to be more to the mega trade…we don’t have the ability to get a quality PF in some seperate move. If we had flexibility like we did 24 hours ago we would be able to.

Oh. Yeah... I was thinking of packaging him with Josh Green... but I'm not sure that's even possible with the cap situation, right?

[Lipoli390]

Or since the mega trade has an early July date of completion does that mean we have a short period of time where we aren’t hard capped?

If we make a move before the hard cap trade completion date does it affect the ability of the mega trade to actually be completed? This is so confusing. I’m glad it’s not my job. I don’t math good.

But it makes it nearly impossible to speculate with all these limits and penalties.

I think the best way to think of it is to focus on what the payroll will be COB on July 6. We were somewhat below the 1st apron at around $191.6M with our 1st round cap hold before all these trades (technically we’re still at that level). If Ball waives his trade kicker, we’ll be ever-so-slightly below the 1st apron at around $207M. Either ways, we’ll be capped at the 2nd apron. I think we can go above the 1st apron with vet minimum and taxpayer MLE contract or via trades provide that the trades meet the strict matching requirements that apply to 1st apron teams. So the actual hard cap for the Wolves at this point is the 2nd apron but there are transactional constrains on what the Wolves can do if it means exceeding the first apron.

[Lipoli390]

We can’t take back more than we send? How does TJ get us more than a player that makes his salary?

Asking my previous question again, can we just add TJ to the mega trade and pull a larger salaried player out? We are hard capped anyways so we couldn’t bring back more than the 2nd apron cap so like 14m? I’d rather see if TJ or Ayo can be the 6th and 7th we desperately need then to give up more of our roster for hopeful replacements to a different roster hole. There HAS to be more to the mega trade…we don’t have the ability to get a quality PF in some seperate move. If we had flexibility like we did 24 hours ago we would be able to.

Oh. Yeah... I was thinking of packaging him with Josh Green... but I'm not sure that's even possible with the cap situation, right?

We can package Josh Green with other players but not if we end up taking back more salary than we send out. If we were still a 2nd apron team as we once were, then we would be prohibited form aggregating player salaries in trades. So the 1st apron is bad but the 2nd apron is untenable.

[BeenLurkin]

I still haven’t found an answer as far as when it matters if you’re in the 2nd apron to be considered a violator and accrue a year of penalty towards the 3 times in 5 seasons to end up getting the “death penalty” of locked end of round first round picks. It sort of doesn’t matter since we don’t have a first rounder it seems like for 8 years that we technically control…

[TheGrey08]

Oh. Yeah... I was thinking of packaging him with Josh Green... but I'm not sure that's even possible with the cap situation, right?

We can package Josh Green with other players but not if we end up taking back more salary than we send out. If we were still a 2nd apron team as we once were, then we would be prohibited form aggregating player salaries in trades. So the 1st apron is bad but the 2nd apron is untenable.

Yeah, that's why TC needs to get this figured out before they finalize the big trade.

[Lipoli390]

Oh. Yeah... I was thinking of packaging him with Josh Green... but I'm not sure that's even possible with the cap situation, right?

We can package Josh Green with other players but not if we end up taking back more salary than we send out. If we were still a 2nd apron team as we once were, then we would be prohibited form aggregating player salaries in trades. So the 1st apron is bad but the 2nd apron is untenable.

Yeah, that's why TC needs to get this figured out before they finalize the big trade.

Aldama’s contract: Year-by-Year Salary BreakdownAccording to Spotrac's contract details, the deal has a slightly front-loaded structure:
2025–26: $18,485,916
2026–27: $17,007,043
2027–28: $17,007,043 (Includes a Team Option)

I’d love to route Green to Memphis and get Aldama as part of the Ball trade but I don’t see why Memphis would do that without sweetener we don’t have and even if they would I don’t think the CBA would allow it because the extra $3.5 million incoming from Aldama compared to Green would appear to put us over the Apron and you can’t aggregate outgoing salaries (Naz, Green) if it brings back more than you send out and results in you exceeding the 1st apron threshold. So TC would have to add TSJ or Donte to the deal to net out below the 1st apron. And maybe TSJ would be sweetener Memphis needs to do the deal. But is Aldama that good compared to having TSJ, Green and signing a FA PF like Sochan, Achiuwa or Landale? I’m not sure.

[mjs34]

We can package Josh Green with other players but not if we end up taking back more salary than we send out. If we were still a 2nd apron team as we once were, then we would be prohibited form aggregating player salaries in trades. So the 1st apron is bad but the 2nd apron is untenable.

Yeah, that's why TC needs to get this figured out before they finalize the big trade.

Aldama’s contract: Year-by-Year Salary BreakdownAccording to Spotrac's contract details, the deal has a slightly front-loaded structure:
2025–26: $18,485,916
2026–27: $17,007,043
2027–28: $17,007,043 (Includes a Team Option)

I’d love to route Green to Memphis and get Aldama as part of the Ball trade but I don’t see why Memphis would do that without sweetener we don’t have and even if they would I don’t think the CBA would allow it because the extra $3.5 million incoming from Aldama compared to Green would appear to put us over the Apron and you can’t aggregate outgoing salaries (Naz, Green) if it brings back more than you send out and results in you exceeding the 1st apron threshold. So TC would have to add TSJ or Donte to the deal to net out below the 1st apron. And maybe TSJ would be sweetener Memphis needs to do the deal. But is Aldama that good compared to having TSJ, Green and signing a FA PF like Sochan, Achiuwa or Landale? I’m not sure.

why not send Ayo to memphis and use green in his place? Green seems like as good or better of a defender and shoots the three well, plus he is 6'6. We save 5 mil and can get off of his contract next year if one of the younger guys takes a step forward.

[Phenom]

I thought I’d start a thread dedicated to the Wolves cap situation following flurry of Wolves deals starting with the Randle deal and the Ayo signing before continuing this morning with the Ball trade. The Wolves financial flexibility is key to the organization’s ability to finish building the team around this revamped core of Ant, Jaden, Ball, Ayo and Rudy.

Here are the key cap thresholds for 2026-27 under the CBA:

- Salary Cap: $165,500,000
- Luxury Tax Threshold: $201,000,000
- 1st Apron: $209,000,000
- 2nd Apron: $222,000,000

Assuming all the Wolves finalize their trades, make no more roster moves and sign Isaiah Evans at a starting salary of $1,500,000, which is slightly above the rookie minimum, the Wolves total cap hit will be $207,071,996 the following 10 roster players:

1. Edwards - $48.924M
2. Ball: $40.77M
3. Rudy - $36,500,000
4. Jaden - $25,750,000
5. Ayo - $19,200,000
6. Green - $14,679,012
7. Donte - $12,535,000
8. Beringer - $4,411,200
9. TSJ - $2,801,640
10. Isaiah Evans: $1,500,000

Ball has a 15% trade kicker. So 46.8

You’re right about the 15% trade kicker. I failed to incorporate it. But keep in mind that LaMelo can waive that kicker. It will be interesting to see if he did that. I actually think he will because I think he’s really excited to be coming here, wants to win and realizes that waiving the $6+ million kicker can materially improve the Wolves chances of building a championship roster. But we’ll see.

LaMelo can't go over the 25% max for his years of service so his trade kicker will be significantly less than 15%. If this trade had happened a year from now he could get the full kicker due to graduating into a different years of service bracket which allows him to go up to 30% of the cap.

[Lipoli390]

Ball has a 15% trade kicker. So 46.8

You’re right about the 15% trade kicker. I failed to incorporate it. But keep in mind that LaMelo can waive that kicker. It will be interesting to see if he did that. I actually think he will because I think he’s really excited to be coming here, wants to win and realizes that waiving the $6+ million kicker can materially improve the Wolves chances of building a championship roster. But we’ll see.

LaMelo can't go over the 25% max for his years of service so his trade kicker will be significantly less than 15%. If this trade had happened a year from now he could get the full kicker due to graduating into a different years of service bracket which allows him to go up to 30% of the cap.

Good info, Phenom. Thanks!