Life Without ANT - Warriors at Wolves GDT

[60WinTim]

He's under contract, no?

I agree with you, but they'll have to pull levers to make that happen

Kuminga or Rudy? Both have player options next season. 38 million for Rudy, and 6.3 million for Kuminga. Rudy can opt out at any time (today, next week, in June) and agree to an extension as soon as he opts out. Or he can opt in and play on an expiring contract. If Rudy plans on staying here for a few years, ideally he opts out and takes a pay cut to round the roster out. Kuminga can opt out and sign anywhere, the most we could open up for him is the 15 or so million mle, but getting that far below the apron might be tough, especially if they want to re-sign Donte and keep everyone.

To afford Kuminga the Wolves would need to trade Rudy next summer to a team with lots of cap space for a MUCH lower contract or draft assets in return. I’m not advocating for that but if we want a shot at keeping Kuminga that’s what the organization would need to do.

You missed the memo, Cool. You could wipe Rudy's salary off the books and still only be able to offer JK the full MLE. While wiping Rudy's salary off the books does get the Wolves under the salary cap, it's not more than the full MLE under, therefore the Wolves would not be able to offer more than the full MLE.

If JK was willing to sign a short term deal for the full MLE, the Wolves will be sufficiently under the 1st apron to do so, even without moving Rudy. Of course, the desire to re-sign Donte complicates things... But extending Rudy at a smaller number might enable both signings.

[Q-is-here]

I like the idea of a Rudy taper, whereby he signs an extension for less money and gradually plays fewer and fewer minutes.

[60WinTim]

I like the idea of a Rudy taper, whereby he signs an extension for less money and gradually plays fewer and fewer minutes.

Yeah, this is my preferred route as well. It keeps the floor in place, gives Joan time to develop, and creates salary space to address the depth in the front court.