The Hornets will waive and stretch the final year of Nicolas Batum‘s contract in order to create the cap room necessary to sign Gordon Hayward, reports Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.
[RELATED: Hornets, Gordon Hayward Agree To Four-Year Deal]
Batum, who will turn 32 next month, is entering the final season of the five-year, $120MM contract he signed back in 2016. His cap hit for 2020/21 is approximately $27.13MM, but the Hornets can stretch that amount across three seasons at $9.04MM annually, opening up more than $18MM in cap room for 2020/21.
That newly-opened amount will be more than enough to complete the Hayward signing, as Charlotte entered the day with about $19MM in space. The team should have some room left over for an additional move or two, though it will now have to deal with $9MM+ in dead money on the cap for 2021/22 and ’22/23 as well.
Batum was excised from the Hornets’ rotation this past season, appearing in just 22 games (23.0 MPG) and playing poorly in his limited time, with 3.6 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 3.0 APG on .346/.286/.900 shooting.
Although he’s coming off a down year and has long been viewed as an unfavorable asset as a result of his oversized contract, Batum might be an interesting minimum-salary target in free agency once he clears waivers.
This mean no sign trade for Boston. Wow they blew this one. His expiring contract was a big asset. Could of filled their PF or a rim protector C. Now they lose him for nothing. I go and sign Whiteside .
Steals others ideas like there your own, nice.
Danny Ainge strikes again
I don’t believe they have the caps space for his asking price third yr in a row Danny’s hurt the C’s they’ve now probably dropped to a bubble seed because of Danny’s moves this yr
Yes I know we still have Tatum Brown and Walker but they only got so and the probably max out what those 3 can do and now you’ve lost a solid player who could still get you 20pts a night and 2 of your centers for nothing so now the two giant holes with less than 10m to fill them
Nah, Whiteside doesn’t fit what they’re trying to do at aLL.
Your dip stick Knicks somehow manage to replace Gibson and Paytin with Alec Burks, I wouldnt be talking too much
Oh we got passion now. What doKnicks have to with Hayward. WTF is Payton. No one in NY cares. And Gibson is from my Hm town Queens. And a Thibs player. So I’m guessing he’ll be back. Consider yourself informed.
Am I the only one who thinks this doesn’t really fit what they should be trying to do? Signing Hayward in general doesn’t make sense for them imo
It doesn’t, but as a hornets fan I’m excited to see a really good player at on the wing and no more Dwayne bacon and confused batum
They look like a 35-40 win team, but at least they’re going in the right direction.
5 seed here we come!!! I love that my Hornets are finally making a good signing
Yeah, fellow Hornets fan who sorta shares the same sentiments. I like Hayward and his game. It’s going to be great to have a good wing on the team. I’m seriously worried about the contract and I question the timing, as it feels about 2 years to early. Just have to cross our fingers, I guess.
He is so overpaid. How can MJ approve these contracts?
You’re thinking a person being really good at playing basketball automatically makes him really good at negotiating contracts?
Side not with Batum gone it’s possible to see melo get #1 from monk because monk will likely switch to his favorite #5
Note*
Blazers on a vet minimum PLEASE and thank you
C’s got 34M in cap space now … Go @ Giannis next
They don’t though…
Does anyone know if the S&T where Celts would have netted Turner + McD was actually on the table? Meaning GH and Indiana had agreed to a final contract that they were both ready to sign (where GH walked away from the Charlotte figures).
I’m not a big fan of Ainge’s passive-aggressive negotiating style, nor has it generally been effective.
But I find it hard to believe he refused to sign off on an otherwise done deal that would have netted him Turner, solely to get more. He knew the other bidders had cap space.
There is no way Indy was going to pay Hayward 30M. He took the cash and ran.
I read a rumor that Ainge turned this offer down because he wanted Indy to include Oladipo instead of McDermott.
My point is, if Charlotte was offering 120M the Indy-Boston talks were moot anyway.
I understand your point but if the rumor is accurate then Indy had to be offering up a deal in the $25-$27MM per range to make the initial deal work. Also if Ainge wanted Dipo instead of McDermott then Smart would have needed to be heading back to Indy to make salaries match.
C’s would have been way other the cap with this deal and with a lil flexibility on the 2021 FA … They probably needed a 3rd team with cap space to move more assets …
I think Milwaukee needs ONE more wing player. I can see Batum landing there or maybe acquire Ariza. Batum gives them a little bit more as a playmaker though. I think he would be a decent fit on that roster.
I like this idea and it allows them to maintain a small portion of their MLE to use on buyouts after the trade deadline.
As for Ariza, they don’t have the salaries necessary to match up in a trade for him but could pick him up if he gets bought out at some point during the season.
Is done and will probably retire …
Is done and will probably retire …
He’s only 32 and hasn’t even put much mileage on his body the last couple of years. I doubt he’ll retire.
Theis is their only C. Williams is not a true C. More an old school 4. Now that Kanter is gone. Say what you want about Horford. But he was a big who knew how to play his position 4or5. And he played both ways. He helped make Celtics a solid playoff team. Not a rim protector but good rebounder and guarded the paint. Yes he was overpaid. But Celtics have never replaced him. And it has shown since he left. Then they never used Hayward to help fill that void. This is a simple observation of team chemistry. Of a talented team. That has regressed since he left. To me it’s obvious the best fix is a rim protector like Whiteside. Because he is available. Even Howard at minimum would have been solid. So the baby the dude and the Muchi learn some ball before the tantrums.