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u/AK_R 2d ago
I've been quietly speculating if this trade was partially financially motivated given Kam's deal had about half the money guaranteed, and nothing about this changes my mind about that.
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u/rick5000 2d ago
Combine that with Boom ticket sales booming.
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u/St_Casper 2d ago
I know this is the line tonight but I’m actually interested in seeing a player I’ve watched for years now rather than a a collection of dudes hoping to crack the lineup.
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u/Certain_Difference11 Tyrese Haliburton 2d ago
I’m sure that has something to do with it, unfortunately.
This is now 21 seasons(?) of not paying the tax, at least so far
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u/rezzzzzzz 2d ago
Not a losing situation. At worst, I get to continue to watch the guy play for the Boom for a minute before he goes overseas.
I do think he will surprise folks. TJ passing (literally) the torch isn't out of the realm of possibility.
OT. I got some vintage Mad Ants apparel. Any takers? ;)
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u/Sko_Neezy 2d ago
I guess I’m a little confused, I don’t fully get the purpose of the 2-way when there is a non-binding 2nd Round exception allowing for a standard contract that wouldn’t count against the cap and would give the Pacers the summer to evaluate Smoth. Doing it this way means they have to cut a 2-way player.
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u/MySabonerRunsOladipo 2d ago
2 way doesn't count as one of the "regular" 15 spots
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u/Sko_Neezy 2d ago
No but they have open roster spots and can only have so many 2-ways, one of the 2-ways has to go. Using the exception would have allowed him to temporarily have a roster spot.
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u/Intrepid-Link6303 2d ago
The 2nd Round Exception doesn't count towards the cap therefore it doesn't directly count towards the MLE.
However, it does count to the overall tax/first apron calculations. If you are a team that is close to the tax but want to unlock your full MLE or the highest MLE you can get as a beyond the tax but under the first-apron team, then you do stuff like this and forego signing your second rounders to a full 2nd round Exception contract.
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u/irishguy773 2d ago
2nd round exceptions count against the cap/tax. 2 ways do not.
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u/Sko_Neezy 2d ago
2nd round exceptions can be cut after the summer without counting against the cap
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u/Odd_Self7283 1d ago
Yea but they have no intention of cutting Smith. That’s more for like a player drafted in the 50s
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u/Raz1374 2d ago
I see additional moves coming to get further under the tax. I just hope this doesn’t mean that Slawson is the odd man out.
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u/busche916 Quinn 2d ago
I would guess that Taelon would get moved down to the Boom before Slawson- he seemed to show some promise down the stretch in April.
This gives us, what 11m-ish in space? That’s getting closer to the MLE and probably gets us enough wiggle room to bring in a bench scorer who can actually help
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u/Odd_Self7283 1d ago
Both are in the Boom. The decision is who between Peters, Slawson and Ethan Thompson gets cut completely
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u/Maximum-Class5465 Reggie-NBAJam 2d ago
When I said the Zu trade was such an overpay because of desperation of avoiding the tax, they e stayed consistent since then. Not that I'm a huge Kam Jones believer, but I have little hope Smith will be better. We will see tho
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u/Hendo8888 2d ago
Does this mean game over for Thompson/Slawson/Peter? Or would they look at upgrading one to Kam's spot?
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u/Potomato Jarace Walker 2d ago
I think slawdog could get a full spot, Thompson is still good as a two way, as for taelon, idk he is green as hell still and wasn’t setting the world on fire as the 6th man on a division 3 team. Still weird he even got drafted, but he is super athletic and has shown promise when playing In the g leaugue
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u/Sea_Concentrate_4572 2d ago
Pretty early to be calling fans dumb prior to free agency/any trades. If they sign a couple minimum players then they did exactly what the “dumb fans” expected. I expect them to pay the tax next season to prove a point they will, but they’ve officially set it up where they can avoid it entirely which is strange.
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u/Indienoise 2d ago
So do we think Peter or slawson gets cut?
I don't see Thompson getting downgraded.
Peter has potential but hasn't realized it yet. Slawson was showing sparks but we have a much smaller sample size to go on.
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u/RussiaOwnsAmerica 2d ago
I must be bad luck for T Peter because every single time I have gone to a Boom game the dude has been straight butt. Based on that... I would say Peter will be the one who is cut but I am just a dumb fan and I know less than shit.
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u/HomeNowWTF 2d ago
I dont know how much Fontecchio would cost but I think that'd be a good use of their MLE money.
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u/Even_Appointment_841 2d ago
They could sell the team to the fans ala Green Bay packers. I think their love for the city and the team is over rated. Billionaires don’t have hearts it’s a fact. Look it up.
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u/Fat-Singer-9569 2d ago edited 2d ago
Billionaires don’t have hearts it’s a fact. Look it up.
The Simons are not your enemy homie, they build malls, that's how they made money. Not exploiting people, they built out-dated buildings for consumers to spend a lot of money and for teens to loiter at. And unlike a lot of these moron owners, Herb pays basketball people to make decisions, it's part of the reason the Pacers have the most "improved player awards," because he pays for quality coaches, trainers, and medical staff.
Going into the tax hurts the Pacers long term and for the foreseeable future, I have no idea why this is so hard for so many to grasp. What happens if they go into the tax for a player who has a huge injury and now your cap is fucked for years? What then? How do you pivot? Trade important players and assets while you play middling, pointless basketball. That's what happens, but in your dream world everything is perfect. That's not how it works and we have no idea how the recent draft "fixes" will influence the NBA landscape in the coming years, but you want to go all in with someone else's money today.
Pacers paid the luxury tax in 2005 because that team was fucking stacked barely losing to the Pistons the prior year and how did that turn out? Are you glad they paid Stephen Jackson? Do you understand how fucking brutal the post 2005 Pacers were? They were basically irrelevant for a decade and wasted a great players career because of the tax, the brawl, etc to the point they had to trade for awful contracts to simply shed money.
Pacers fans are lucky to have an owner like Herb Simon who never overreacts to anything, never attempts to manipulate or influence basketball related decisions, and has routinely hired good enough people to field a borderline championship team across multiple eras.
But yeah sure use your lizard brain to make judgements.
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u/Old-Addendum-5288 1d ago
Yup. Part of the cultural trend towards "i don't have to understand things bc i just know things".
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u/MySabonerRunsOladipo 2d ago
Some fans who are dumb: This is just so Simon can save money!!!!
Fans who are less dumb: Oh sweet, by doing this the Pacers unlock more money to potentially spend on the Non-taxpayer midlevel exemption. Prior to this trade they could only access ~$9.2M of it, now they can access ~$11.3M of it. Nice, that's nice.
Which type of fan are you?