Charlotte Bobcats Salaries
Alright, we’ll split the contracts into two sections, above and below $5 million, let’s start with the above $5 million crowd.
- Emeka Okafor – $10.5 million
- Gerald Wallace – $9.5 million
- Boris Diaw – $9 million
- Vladamir Radmanovic – $6.47 million
- Nazr Mohammed – $6.47 million
- DeSagana Diop – $6.03 million
- Raja Bell – $5.25 million
These seven contracts combine to make $53.22 million.
Splitting these contracts into two sections
- Okafor + Wallace + Diaw = $29 million
- Radmanovic + Nazr + Diop + Bell = $24.22 million
Emeka Okafor has five years left on the board. Gerald Wallace and DeSagana Diop have four years. Boris Diaw has three years to go. Radmanovic and Nazr both have two years left on their contracts. Raja Bell is an expiring contract.
The rest of the team’s contracts
- DJ Augustin – $2.37 million
- Alexis Ajinca – $1.37 million
These two contracts combine to cost $3.74 million. Both players just finished the first year of their rookie contracts.
The Bobcats total is up to $56.96 million for nine players.
Other costs
- Lottery pick — Gerald Henderson has a cap hold of $1.63 million.
- Team Option — The Bobcats have a team option worth $740k for Sean Singletary. Hard to say whether they’ll pick that up or not.
- Non-guaranteed contract — Dontell Jefferson for $740k, unlikely to return.
- Open roster spots — Bobcats are over the salary cap, but well below the luxury tax. At a minimum of 13 roster spots, assuming the Bobcats keep Singletary and waive Jefferson, the Bobcats would need two roster spots costing between $950k and $1.65 million.
- 2nd round pick — Derrick Brown was picked with the #40 pick, he doesn’t have a guaranteed contract. If the Bobcats sign him, he will likely be paid a minimum contract so he’ll have one of the slots accounted for directly above this bullet point.
The Bobcats have a payroll ranging between $60.3 million and $61 million.
The Cap + Luxury Tax
The salary cap is expected to be between $56 and $58 million, likely somewhere at or slightly above $57 million.
The figure mentioned for the new luxury tax figure in Stern’s memo at midseason was $69.4 million.
Bobcats vs Cap + Tax
The Bobcats are $3-4 million above the salary cap. So they’ll have the MLE at their disposal this summer.
The Bobcats are $8-9 million below the luxury tax threshold so they can take back contracts comfortably enough.
Free Agency
The Bobcats starting point guard, Raymond Felton, is a restricted free agent this summer. Charlotte value him highly, with both Larry Brown and Michael Jordan in love with their young point guard, and plan on keeping him.
Raymond Felton is expected to command a salary worth around the MLE. So let’s add $5.5 million to the Bobcats $60.3-to-$61 million, increasing to $65.8-to-$66.5 million.
The Bobcats also want to sign a backup power forward. They may use part of their MLE on that player (don’t need to use MLE for Felton, they have his bird rights). That player will need to cost less than $3 million in order for the Bobcats to avoid the luxury tax.
Posted on June 28, 2009 by Dave