Wolves Will Pay Luxury Tax

[Lipoli390]

As I expected, the Wolves will end up paying the luxury tax for this past season. If you didn't already believe this was a poorly run franchise, perhaps this will convince you.

How does a team with the 3rd worst record in the NBA end up with a payroll above the luxury tax threshold? As I recall, ending up with Allen Crabbe and Evan Turner via trade and the inability to reach buy-out agreements with either one obviously played a big role. I'm not sure why the Wolves had to take back Omari Spellman and Jacob Evans in the DLO deal. Those two contracts pushed us over the luxury tax line. Wasn't it enough to give up our first and second round picks next year for DLO?

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Not coming to terms on buyouts with Allen Crabbe and Evan Turner is the main culprit as I see it. Neither of them provided any value to the team, but yet they were on the payroll far too long. Speaking of Crabbe, I still don't understand trading Jeff Teague for him, but whatever. It doesn't necessarily matter because I think the Wolves will avoid the tax this season, but yeah, some of that mess shouldn't have happened.

[Monster]

Well some of not being able to agree to buyouts could have been because of Covid hitting. I'd rather they kept Spellman than just dump him get under the tax as I'm guessing he has value. He would have gotten claimed.

Meanwhile it's worth remembering that Rosas was able to turn Dieng into a cheaper more valuable player to the Wolves (and probably around the league) in James Johnson.

I'm not worried about poor Glen Taylor having to lose out on a million bucks or whatever it ends up being. I don't see having to stay under the tax being a big issue going into this season. Is it really such a bad thing that they weren't laser focused on ducking the tax?

[Lipoli390]

Not coming to terms on buyouts with Allen Crabbe and Evan Turner is the main culprit as I see it. Neither of them provided any value to the team, but yet they were on the payroll far too long. Speaking of Crabbe, I still don't understand trading Jeff Teague for him, but whatever. It doesn't necessarily matter because I think the Wolves will avoid the tax this season, but yeah, some of that mess shouldn't have happened.

I agree with you on the Jeff Teague deal. I never understood trading for Crabbe. He lost interest in playing basketball years ago. All the Wolves had to do was trade Teague for some other useless player with a slightly cheaper deal.

What really troubles me is that the Wolves ended the season only around $600K over the threshold. So this never should have happened. Perhaps Rosas and his cohorts assumed they could easily buy out Crabbe or Turner for that small amount, but you can't assume another party's agreement. I don't understand why the Wolves had to take both Spellman and Evans in the DLO deal. It's clear the Wolves had no interest in making use of either one. And there's no way the Warriors would have killed the deal without including both Spellman and Evans. The prize for them was our lightly-protected 1st. Our 2nd round pick provided frosting.

I want to have confidence in this front office, but it's not easy. Fortunately, none of this will matter if Rosas and his cohorts nail this draft.

[WildWolf2813]

As I expected, the Wolves will end up paying the luxury tax for this past season. If you didn't already believe this was a poorly run franchise, perhaps this will convince you.

How does a team with the 3rd worst record in the NBA end up with a payroll above the luxury tax threshold? As I recall, ending up with Allen Crabbe and Evan Turner via trade and the inability to reach buy-out agreements with either one obviously played a big role. I'm not sure why the Wolves had to take back Omari Spellman and Jacob Evans in the DLO deal. Those two contracts pushed us over the luxury tax line. Wasn't it enough to give up our first and second round picks next year for DLO?

Wiggins was that bad of a contract. It was a price to pay. Paying the luxury tax is what it cost to get rid of the worst contract in the league. And guess who ultimately signed off on that contract? The guy footing the bill: Glen Taylor.