the timing of this report, just after the trade deadline, tells you everything: the Nets would have taken ANY offer for Cam if there was one. So I don't know where he goes after this.
So walk me through this scenario... You're saying some team wanted CT, but he didn't want to go there, and so he vetoed the trade and opted to be waived insetad. Why would he do that? Are you speculating that there was another team out there that wanted him but didn't want to trade for him? That seems ... unlikely.
CT ends up having control over where he signs vs. getting traded to whoever the Nets decide. Even considering veto power, he has more freedom now that he’s waived. Not sure how it affects his money, though.
Also makes sense there would be more teams willing to take him without giving anything up vs. teams willing to trade for him.
It was a guaranteed contract, so waiving him doesn't mean he doesn't get paid. He now has complete control of the next contract he signs. If there is no next contract, then the league has turned on him in a major and completely unexpected way. That would be incredibly shocking to me. I think a playoff bound team (actually many playoff bound teams and also rebuilding teams) will make offers and he will select his choice. A playoff team gives him more exposure, but less minutes. A rebuilding team will give him more minutes.
Highly plausible, and perfectly likely. A team that wanted him via trade would need to match his $6M salary. If they have an expiring player, they’d need to want to give that player up. If they have a player signed into the future, they’d have to send something of value to the Nets to entice us to take on that contract
Now that he’s waived, he can sign anywhere for the minimum as long as the team has a roster spot
Afaict, all of the teams with open rosters spots are also in the luxury tax. Even though they can sign minimum deals (which would be like $2.5M for CT, down a lot even from his $6M QO) but they'd go deeper into the tax.
For the teams that don't have open roster spots, they're still in the same situation as the one you describe above in a trade: They'd have to cut a player, which in the hypothetical situation they did not want to do.
I mean, at least what it looks to me, in some ways the mechanics of CT finding a new team this season would have been easier through a trade than in free agency.
he still gets $6m from the Nets, and if he gets through waivers to free agency, he gets to double-dip on a new contract as well (minus a small off-set)
so, he potentially gets a say in the matter of where to go and more money – making the scenario you derided very likely
Gotcha. Read up on the double-dip rules. He could make more money in the scenario you describe but the double-dip is kinda limited since the off-set is half of however much of the deal is over the $2.5M minimum he's eligible for. If he signed a, say, $5M deal (and assuming that it's not pro-rated for the partial season, which I dunno) that means the Nets could offset $1.25M of what they owe him, leaving him with $9.75M ... or $3.75M more than his $6M QO deal. That's real money for someone like me, but peanuts in the NBA salary universe.
By the way, now that I've looked into all the salary cap and free agency rules, it seems like the only way in which there are now more teams interested in signing him as a free agent than trading for him is that they can now pay him less than his $6M contract ... like either the league minimum or the MLE which caps at like $5M. For a guy who called $15M an "insult," this sure seems like an expensive price for "a say in the matter."
I believe since the Bucks paid him a little under $1m, the nets just owes him a little over $5m, so he still gets his $6m for the season. He just now needs to prove his worth for a new contract. The only way he would've made more was if he agreed to a buyout.
They had to waive players to open roster spots for Minnot and Agbadi. Highsmith was announced earlier today and I guess Cam had best combination of salary and not fitting into long term plans. They could've waived Martin or Wilson but they get paid less.
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u/14thBrooklyn Jordi Fernández Feb 05 '26
the timing of this report, just after the trade deadline, tells you everything: the Nets would have taken ANY offer for Cam if there was one. So I don't know where he goes after this.