It was reported that there were still 'significant issues' with the proposed three-team trade between the Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Hornets and Minnesota Timberwovles for Robin Lopez and Hakim Warrick, but according to SB Nation's Bright Side of the Sun, the deal does not comply with the new NBA collective bargaining agreement, meaning it, in it's current state, is a void deal.
Here is Bright Side of the Sun's Alex Laugan with the explanation:
After absorbing [Brad] Miller's contract, signing Ryan Anderson and using Bird Rights to match on Eric Gordon, the Hornets are now "over the cap" meaning that any trade they execute must be close in salaries (within 150%, plus 100k). In other words, the Hornets can no longer participate in lopsided trades. This rule was specifically designed to discourage teams from exceeding the collectively-bargained salary cap by making it harder to add salary. The Hornets are now in that boat.
This means that the Hornets cannot take on Lopez AND Warrick ($9 million total) unless they can combine [Brad] Miller's expiring contract ($5 million) with other players on their roster, which is also against the rules.
That is not good news. Hopefully the Suns can figure out a way to still make this deal happen, because it was going to be a good one for Phoenix.
Laugan continues that there is still a possibility it could work, listing three possibilities to make the deal work:
- In the proposed trade, the Hornets must send out salaries ranging from $5.9-$13.6 million in order to take on $9 million in new salary (Robin Lopez for $5 million, and Hakim Warrick for $4 million).
- A traded player cannot be traded back to the same team in the same league year, meaning Miller cannot be traded back to Minny until next July 1.
- Any "cap" team cannot trade a player "for two months after receiving the player in trade, if the trade aggregates the player's salary with the salaries of other player", according to Larry Coon's cbafaq.com. In other words, Brad Miller can be traded but only BY HIMSELF.
Should be interesting to see how this all plays out.
For more on this deal and the Suns in general, make sure to check out Bright Side of the Sun.
