Order of operations. If instead of giving Bam an extension they let him go to FA, he would only count for his cap hold (more than his salary in the coming year, but well below the max) until he was signed. So they could sign Giannis with cap space, then go over the cap to sign Bam (you can go over the cap for your own FAs).I'm confused on this. Could they have really gotten him to sign for less to somehow get GA? How much less did they need?
I see bam is estimated to be at $28M in 21-22 and butler is at $36M. GA is at $28M. What were the other options for getting bam and GA to both be on Miami that bam would have gone for? Or is it a case where teams have so much leverage over a player on their second contract, they would have been able to sign bam for 3 years at a lower number he would have been forced to take?
Edit- looked it up, Bam's cap hold would have been $7.1M