2013 Amnesty Candidate: Kendrick Perkins

[Bruno]

http://www.nba.com/media/act_kendrick_perkins.jpg
Born: Nov 10, 1984
Height: 6-10 / 2.08
Weight: 270 lbs. / 122.5 kg.
Prior to NBA / Country: Clifton J. Ozen HS (TX) / USA

Info (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/kendrick_perkins/career_stats.html)

2 years left on his contract.

[Bruno]

Some rumors about a possible amnesty:
http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/2013/03/16/uconn-star-shabazz-napier-mulls-the-nba-return-trip-storrs/kW72RjkeCnRR0eptuIb1YJ/story-2.html


There will be some interesting decisions this summer in terms of veteran contracts and the amnesty clause. One of those players could be Oklahoma City’s Kendrick Perkins, who is scheduled to earn $17.5 million over the next two years and be the team’s fourth-highest-paid player. Perkins has been a visible leader for the Thunder, but the cost-conscious club may seek a more productive center in the free agent market for a lower price. The Celtics did not sign Perkins to a four-year, $30 million extension because they were wary about the health of his knees. While the Thunder have been pleased with Perkins’s production, they just extended Serge Ibaka, and Nick Collison, because of his front-loaded contract, is due $4.7 million over the next two seasons.

[exstatic]

I would stop being a Spurs fan if he were signed. Really.

[elemento]

I hate him as well but I don't see the point to use the amnesty clause on him after the Harden trade.

They won't have cap space to sign an upgrade (someone like BIG Al for example) even using the amnesty clause and there won't be many good targets this offseason. Pekovic and Splitter are restricted and the rest (Kaman or Dally) are so "meh".

The best thing they could try is using Perkins + assets (TOR pick, Lamb, Jones) to get an upgrade.

[Bruno]

I hate him as well but I don't see the point to use the amnesty clause on him after the Harden trade.

Amnestying Perkins won't be because of cap space but because of the luxury tax.

Thunder team salary will be at $69M with their draft pick. If you take a luxury tax threshold of $73M, Thunder won't be able to re-sign Kevin Martin and stay below the tax.

Amnestying Perkins, re-signing Martin and using the MLE on a bigman might be the best compromise between the basketball side and the financial side.

[elemento]

Amnestying Perkins won't be because of cap space but because of the luxury tax.

Thunder team salary will be at $69M with their draft pick. If you take a luxury tax threshold of $73M, Thunder won't be able to re-sign Kevin Martin and stay below the tax.

Amnestying Perkins, re-signing Martin and using the MLE on a bigman might be the best compromise between the basketball side and the financial side.

I understand your point Bruno, but if Presti does it then trading Harden was a massive mistake (it looks ugly already).

If amnestying Perkins was always in Presti's plan, why didn't he keep Harden instead? Harden would count for the QO and even if someone throws the max on him, it's a 58-60m contract that starts at 13m that he could match.
Instead, he downgraded the position to get assets, but in the end, will lose his starting Center anyways just to re-sign Martin and replace Perkins with a MLE BIG?

Humm, not sure if it makes sense. Looks like a bad plan to me.

[Bruno]

I understand your point Bruno, but if Presti does it then trading Harden was a massive mistake (it looks ugly already).


I'm not really sold on Thunder amnestying Perkins. I haven't created an "amnesty candidate" thread about him until a newspaper said it was a possibility.

Regardless of a Perkins amnesty, the Harden trade is a big mistake made by Presti. Perkins sucks and keeping him can't justified that trade.

[Chinook]

The Thunder re-signing Martin may depend on how they think of Lamb. Unless they plan on trading him, you'd think they'll be looking to get him some minutes.

Also, somewhere among Thabeet, Perrry Jones and that Toronto pick, they may be able to find a good young big man. So that may also play into them amnestying Perkins.

[Captivus]

OKC has to be almost sure that someone will bid for Perkinks before he clears waivers, otherwise they still have to pay, I know the cap benefit, but still, its a lot of money.
Am I understanding the amnesty rule correctly?

[Chinook]

OKC has to be almost sure that someone will bid for Perkinks before he clears waivers, otherwise they still have to pay, I know the cap benefit, but still, its a lot of money.
Am I understanding the amnesty rule correctly?

They won't have to pay whatever amount the winning bid is for, that's correct. But it's not likely to be more than a couple of million. I don't think anyone is going to submit a $15-20 Million bid, so OKC should be prepared to pay no matter what.

[Captivus]

They won't have to pay whatever amount the winning bid is for, that's correct. But it's not likely to be more than a couple of million. I don't think anyone is going to submit a $15-20 Million bid, so OKC should be prepared to pay no matter what.

Exactly. At the end they have to calculate the savings in salary (=bid) and the tax savings, If that is not at least, lets say 5-10M$ then it doesn’t make sense for them to loose him.
I don’t know if teams can talk to other teams to see if they are interested, in order to know if anyone will bid for the player (which is the biggest benefit for amnestying a player).

[Chinook]

Exactly. At the end they have to calculate the savings in salary (=bid) and the tax savings, If that is not at least, lets say 5-10M$ then it doesn’t make sense for them to loose him.
I don’t know if teams can talk to other teams to see if they are interested, in order to know if anyone will bid for the player (which is the biggest benefit for amnestying a player).

I guess I misunderstood your question.

No, once Perkins is amnestied, his entire contract comes off OKC's books no matter what. He won't count against their salary cap or the tax at all. The owners still have to pay him the balance to his deal minus the winning bid. So the only reason why OKC has to care about bids after releasing Perkins is because the owner may be less inclined to spend money for someone who's not playing for his team.

[Captivus]

I guess I misunderstood your question.

No, once Perkins is amnestied, his entire contract comes off OKC's books no matter what. He won't count against their salary cap or the tax at all. The owners still have to pay him the balance to his deal minus the winning bid. So the only reason why OKC has to care about bids after releasing Perkins is because the owner may be less inclined to spend money for someone who's not playing for his team.

Yes, we are saying the same thing, I was probably overestimating the impact of the bid. The cap and tax are lower no matter what.
So at the end they have:
1) Perkins Salary + Tax generated of his contract (current status)
2) Perkins Salary - bid - Tax --- no new player
3) (Perkins Salary - bid - Tax) + (New Player Salary + Tax) ---including new player, probably no tax in this case.

The kind of player they can get is another question? Better than Perkins? Worst than Perkins but cheaper (after all calculationes)?
Not an easy decision. Do you know if they can talk to other teams to see if someone will bid?

[Chinook]

Yes, we are saying the same thing, I was probably overestimating the impact of the bid. The cap and tax are lower no matter what.
So at the end they have:
1) Perkins Salary + Tax generated of his contract (current status)
2) Perkins Salary - bid - Tax --- no new player
3) (Perkins Salary - bid - Tax) + (New Player Salary + Tax) ---including new player, probably no tax in this case.

The kind of player they can get is another question? Better than Perkins? Worst than Perkins but cheaper (after all calculationes)?
Not an easy decision. Do you know if they can talk to other teams to see if someone will bid?

I guess they could talk unofficially, but there's nothing binding they could do. It's almost collusion if they did that.

Don't forget the draft picks they have. They could very easily be looking at a fourth option: 4) Perkins' salary - bid - tax) + player drafted in top 10 (possibly a center).

It's very possible that OKC may not have to re-sign Martin AND be able to get rid of Perkins. That would save them on tax for the foreseeable future, which means they'd also get a tax rebate. So the math isn't very clear now, and it won't be until after the draft.

[Bruno]

If you say estimate that re-signing Martin and filling the roster will put Thunder at $77M, amnestying Perkins and signing, for example Kaman for the MLE, will save them about $6M.

The savings will be $6M in tax payment, $2M/$3M in luxury tax redistribution, $2M/$3M with a team claim of Perkins while they will have to give Kaman $5M.

And for me, Kaman > Perkins.

[Chinook]

People has suggested that OKC use their assets (Lamb, Jones and the Toronto pick) as a means to salary dump Perkins. My question of the good people who frequent this thread is this: If you were in charge of the Spurs front office, would you try to make a deal with them? If so, how many assets would you require for taking back his deal?

I'd need at least the Toronto pick, and provided that doesn't rise to a 3-5 pick range, I'd probably want one of their young players (probably PJII).

[Captivus]

Between those two, I think taking Lamb would be safer, but PJ3 has a higher ceiling, IMO.