Music City posted:Boneio posted:Pardon my NBA ignorance as I stopped watching after the 2000 season.
My question is, why can’t the Bucks go after another big name star? Someone like a Durant, or Klay Thompson.
The issue is the soft cap. You can only exceed the cap up to the luxury tax re-signing your own players. SO for example, according to Hoopshype, the Bucks have $100M committed to next year with a projected cap of $109M. Hill has only $1M guaranteed of his $18M, and Middleton will decline his $13M option, adding $30M for a total commitment of $70M. The luxury tax threshold is $132M.
So they have about $52M to use to keep Middleton, Lopez, and Brogdon, and they probably won’t be able to keep Hill. The Bucks could target other FA(s) up to $39M, but would only have $13M left to keep anyone else and they’d have to be players on their own roster.
At least I think that’s how it works...
The system is set up so that teams can spend more money to keep their own free agents and they can extend the superstars a year before their contract was up. So the Bucks can guarantee Khris Middleton 5 years and 190 million while other teams can "only" go 4 years and 140 million. All indications are that several other teams will have no problem going 4/140. So basically the Bucks will probably have to massively overpay him to keep or lose him without being able to adequately replace him. The Bucks can go after another "big name" star, but they'll have the same disadvantage that any other team does for Middleton - that is, they will be able to offer much less money than the team he plays for. Klay Thompson or Durant will be giving up 50-60 million dollars if they sign with someone other than the Warriors. But in Durant's case, the fact he has a 300 million dollar shoe deal over the next 10 years helps him move on.
Then, next summer (July 1, 2020) the decision that will define the Bucks for the next 10 years happens. Giannis can sign a supermax extension of 5 years and 250 million dollars. If he declines, then he becomes the next Anthony Davis.