A lot of people have been asking me about how Elton Brand’s
new contract affects the salary cap in relation to re-signing Andre Iguodala and Louis Williams. I’ve done the research and I’m going to tackle this question to the best of my ability.
Andre Iguodala and Louis Williams are restricted free agents. Restricted free agents can sign an “offer sheet” with any team other than their original team. But the original team has around 10 days to match that offer. If they choose to do so, the player returns to that original team, under the terms of the new contract.
Last Tuesday, the NBA raised the salary cap level to $58.68 million. Before signing Elton Brand, the Sixers had around $12.5 million to spend on “outside” free agents (free agents that are not named Andre Iguodala or Louis Williams). The trade that sent Rodney Carney’s and Calvin Booth’s contracts to Minnesota cleared up another $2.8 million. After signing Elton Brand to the reported five-year, almost $80 million contract, the Sixers were left with approximately $1.1 million to spend on “outside” free agents.
However, the Philadelphia 76ers can still sign Iguodala and Williams to contracts without having those numbers affect the cap. The CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) has an exception set in place where teams can re-sign their own players at an amount up to the maximum salary (based on the player’s experience) if they have played with that team for three seasons without being waved or changing teams. This rule is known as the Larry Bird exception.
If the Philadelphia 76ers do re-sign one or both of these players, they can still avoid paying the luxury tax. A luxury tax payment is required of teams whose payroll exceeds a certain “tax level.” Teams exceeding it are punished by being forced to pay one dollar to the League for each dollar by which their payroll exceeds the tax level. The 2008-09 tax level was set at $71.150 million. Therefore, if they sign Iguodala and Williams to contracts that don’t exceed this level, the 76ers are not required to pay the luxury tax.
In recent news, the Los Angeles Clippers have been reported to be interested in signing Iguodala to an offer sheet. After losing Elton Brand and Corey Maggette to free agency, they have been actively searching to sign another star to play along side their free agent catch, Baron Davis. The Clippers have also been reported to be considering Emeka Okafor, Josh Smith, and Luol Deng. Iguodala has not yet met with any Los Angeles Clippers representatives.
If the Los Angeles Clippers do sign Iguodala to an offer sheet, it could be just to drive up his market price. There are no signs from the 76ers indicating that they will have any problems matching an offer made from another team. Ed Stefanski believes that Iguodala is a big part of this Sixer team. Furthermore, I haven’t heard anything about Louis Williams not returning either. I expect both players to re-sign and for them to be huge contributors for Philadelphia next year.
