Releasing Players:
Any player making under $1m per year can be dropped for free with no penalty ($0.5m-$0.9m per year)
Contract Buyouts
Money owed to a player released under contract may be financed through a contract buyout.
A buyout may be spread out over the total number of years the player has remaining on his contract (less years is allowed but never more) with 2 specific options:
Option 1 - Buyout is 60% of total salary and must be paid in full by year 1 or 2
Option 2 - Buyout is 70% of total salary and must be paid in full by year 3 or 4
Any player with 1 or 2 years remaining on their contract is automatically ONLY eligible for the option 1 buyout.
Example:
Buyout of Russell Westbrook, $12m (2021)
$12m over 4 years is owed, so $48m total.
Option 1:
60% of $48m = $28.8m owed
You can pay the full $28.8m out in either year 1 or year 2 ... OR spread the $28.8m out over 2 years, however you want. ($14.4m in year 1 and $14.4m in year 2 if evenly split up; Or you could do something like $8m in year 1 and $20.8m in year 2).
Option 2:
70% of $48m = $33.6m owed
You can pay the entire $33.6m in year 1 or 2 or 3 ... OR spread the $33.6m out over 3 or 4 years however you want. ($8.4m each year for 4 years if evenly split up; Or you could do something like $0m in year 1, $3.6m in year 2, and then $15m in year 3 and $15m in year 4).
Special Case Buyouts
If your player has retired or signed overseas, you are on the hook for 50% of that player's total contract value. You may pay this out however you wish, over however many years were remaining on the contact. (So if it the player has 3 years left, you can pay it out spread over 1, 2 or 3 years).
Bidding on Released Players
Any player who is bought out on the Transactions thread is eligible to be bid on right away by the other 19 teams.
However, a team who released a player may not bid on that player for 30 days.
