Before the start of free agency last summer, the Hornets’ $77.5 million payroll was the highest in the league, and it was speculated the franchise would conduct a fire sale to keep owner George Shinn from having to pay a luxury-tax penalty.
Emeka OkaforBut instead of making drastic moves, the Hornets have maintained their strategic plan to pare payroll without having to trade their core of David West, Chris Paul and newly acquired center Emeka Okafor.
Instead, they parted ways with starting shooting guard Rasual Butler during the offseason and backup center Hilton Armstrong earlier this week. Those deals and last summer’s trade that sent center Tyson Chandler to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for Okafor have put the Hornets about $500,000 from getting under the luxury-tax threshold of $69.9 million.
Under league rules, any team with a payroll above $69.9 million after Feb. 18 will have to pay $1 for every dollar they are over that figure. The Hornets’ payroll is at $70.5 million, and they are saving about $1.1 million in the first two years of Okafor’s contract compared to what Chandler was to make.
And by trading Butler to the Los Angeles Clippers and sending Armstrong to Sacramento on Monday for a second-round pick, the Hornets trimmed $6.7 million.
“Our whole approach has been to create as much flexibility as we can addressing the luxury-tax concerns, because it is a league-wide issue for all 30 teams,” Hornets General Manager/Coach Jeff Bower said. “So we looked at it and put plans together and tried to adjust that.”
Bower did not deny that teams have called expressing interest in trying to obtain Paul or West. One reported deal this week had the San Antonio Spurs willing to exchange point guard Tony Parker for Paul.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have expressed interest in West since November. Since last season, the Dallas Mavericks have expressed interest in obtaining Paul and taking on the remainder of Peja Stojakovic’s hefty contract to make the deal more attractive for the Hornets.
But Bower said the Hornets have no intentions of breaking up their core to get under the luxury-tax threshold.
“The foundation of our plan has always been to maintain our core group of players and to look at ways that wouldn’t affect our overall basketball team on the court,” Bower said. “Mr. Shinn wants to win, but he understands the impact of the economy.”
Despite their recent moves, New Orleans still must make another deal before the Feb. 18 trade deadline to get under the threshold. If they are under it, the Hornets would receive an estimated $4.5 million from the league that is given to all non-luxury tax teams.
To cash in, the Hornets likely would have to make a deal with a team that is under the $57.7 million salary cap.
The Hornets can only make a trade with teams under the cap without adding salaries to their payroll, taking future second-round draft picks instead because they don’t count against the cap.
At the start of free agency last season, there were nine teams that were under the $57.7 million salary cap. With teams signing players and increasing their payroll since the free-agency period into the regular season, the Portland Trail Blazers ($56.8 million) and the Memphis Grizzlies ($54.6 million) are the only remaining teams under the cap.
With a little more than a month remaining until the trade deadline, teams are seeking expiring contracts to cut their payrolls. The Hornets’ next trade could involve either backup point guard Bobby Brown, starting shooting guard Devin Brown or backup center/forward Sean Marks because all three have expiring contracts.
The Hornets attempted to trade Devin Brown this month to Minnesota, but the deal fell through because Brown balked at accepting a lower salary to consummate the trade.
Hornets President Hugh Weber is at league meetings in New York this week and could not be reached for comment. But when the franchise was formulating its plan for this season, Weber said they believed it would work in staying strategic and not making quick decisions.
“We believe in the plan we have,” Weber said. “We look at these things three, five and 10 years out. These plans and budgets are multiyear, and we knew this day was coming, and we planned and worked toward it.”
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