Thread by @wojtek_kowalik1

It's almost certain the #Knicks will aquire Jalen Brunson via sign&trade. This trade will include three teams.

Below you can find more details and some numbers.

Scroll to the end for an easier to read form.

@TheCohencidence figured it out first.

https://twitter.com/TheCohencidence/status/1542862950641401858

We know the Knicks traded three players to the #Pistons to make room to sign free agents:

* Alec Burks $10m
* Nerlens Noel $9.2m
* Kemba Walker $9.2m

Total value $28.4m.

This could help create the cap space but none of those trades is yet official.

The Knicks could go below the salary cap and sign Brunson and Isaiah Hartenstein outright.
It was reported Brunson signed a contract for four years worth $104m.
Hartenstein's deal is for two seasons and $17m.
The Knicks could get to almost $34m in cap space to sign both players.

Here's the breakdown of both contracts with standard 5% annual raises

* JB
2022-23: $24,186,047
2023-24: $25,395,349
2024-25: $26,604,651
2025-26: $27,813,953

*IH
2022-23: $8,292,683
2023-24: $8,707,317

That's $32.5m in total and fits the potential available cap space.

But @TommyBeer said, Brunson's contract has descending value. With 5% annual decrease it would look like this:

2022-23: $28,108,108
2023-24: $26,702,703
2024-25: $25,297,297
2025-26: $23,891,892

And fits what Tommy said but doesn't match the cap space.

https://twitter.com/TommyBeer/status/1542700464927657984?t=snJ20ycB8pWOHyzhyJgiu05DU1e1nPmEl6wz_Sl4IF0&s=19

There's an option to do a sign&trade with the #Mavs. Because Brunson gets over 20% raise over his previous contract, Base Year Compensation comes to play. It's a rule that makes player's outgoing salary count as half of his new salary but full new salary for the receiving team.

It makes this trade very difficult to do because of the salary matching. There are some options for a direct trade but including a third team makes this much easier.
It's very convenient all three players were sent from the Knicks to the same team, right?

Sending out $28.4m in salaries to the Pistons allows the Knicks to bring back player(s) making up to $35.6m.
Those trades with Pistons have not yet gone through and the Mavs can join as a third team to send Brunson to the Knicks in a sign&trade.
The trade would look like this:

What are the benefits of that solution?
* Pistons get picks for facilitating the trade;
* Mavs get hefty trade exception for $14m;
* Knicks get to keep their $10.5m MLE and use it to sign Hartenstein and Sims (longer deal vs space route) and get $4.1 BAE and descending contracts.

Check out the first reply to this tweet for an easier to read form.

@threadreaderapp unroll please.