Allen Crabbe surrendered $681,544 in his buyout agreement with the Timberwolves, according to reports from Dane Moore of ZoneCoverage.com and Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights (Twitter links). That’s more than the veteran wing would earn if he signs a rest-of-season deal with a new team after clearing waivers, but it wasn’t quite enough to get Minnesota below the luxury-tax threshold, as Moore and Siegel note.
If the Timberwolves are dead-set on getting out of tax territory, buying out Evan Turner remains a possible path, but it appears less likely now that he would no longer retain his playoff eligibility if he’s released.
The Timberwolves’ other option for sneaking below the tax line would be to cut a little-used player who is likely to be claimed on waivers, like Miami did at the end of last season with Rodney McGruder. That’s a risky alternative though, since any player valuable enough to be claimed on waivers probably isn’t someone Minnesota wants to lose.