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Add another $324,000 in dead money to next year's salary cap.
Eric Pincus, Basketball Insiders cap guru, reports that amount is what Andrea Bargnani's buyout will add to the Nets salary cap in 2016-17. Bargnani was one of four Nets who signed guaranteed two year deals with a player option last summer. He asked for a buyout last week. Here''s how Pincus says the buyout was broken down.
Andrea Bargnani's buy-out for Brooklyn Nets- looks like he'll earn $1.04 mil this season & $324k next @BBallInsiders https://t.co/zmBAGLhcdK
— Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) February 24, 2016
The amount, precisely $323,599, will be added to the team's other "dead money" -- the stretched buyout Deron Williams received during the summer. As a result of that buyout, the Nets will carry $5,474,787 on the cap each year through 2019-20. Only one NBA team has more "dead money" --money paid to former players-- as the Nets do: $27.85 million. (The Pistons lead the league with $31.83 million, most of it the Josh Smith buyout.)
By dropping Bargnani's cap number this year from $1.3 million to a little more than $1 million, the Nets do have a little more wiggle room under the luxury tax threshold. They will now have about $1.7 million to sign another player now that they have an open roster spot. It is uncertain that they will.
Pincus estimates that the Nets will have about $40 million in cap space this summer if the cap is projected at $92 million, as currently estimated. That's enough for one, maybe two max players depending on what moves the team makes through July.
Meanwhile, Bobby Marks notes the Nets DPE from Jarrett Jack's injury, up to $3.15 million, expires March 10. can only be used to sign, acquire or claim a player in the last year of his contract. It's unlikely that the Nets will use the DPE.