Contracts

[Laimbeer40]

Contracts
Contracts are always listed in terms of flat salary and the last season of such contract.��For example, $10m (2020) is a contract the pays $10m each season through the 2020 season.

All contracts must be no longer than five years.��Also, for a given salary, all contacts have term limits (max years contract can be per the salary) as provided below.

Salary range, Maximum Years
$1m or less = 2 years
$1.1m - $4.9m = 3 years
$5.0m - $9.9mm = 4 years
$10m or higher = 5 years (max years is 5)�

Releasing Players Under Contract (New for 2022)
You may release a player�at any time. However releasing a player under contract does come with a penalty as outlined below...

Player's yearly salary/Cap penalty
$1.0m or less = free drop!!
$1.1m - $2.0m = 50% penalty each season
$2.1m and higher = 75/50/25 penalty (1st season = 75% cap hit, 2nd season = 50% cap hit, All additional seasons = 25% cap hit)


Example - Jakeem Grant is making $12.0m for 4 years and the owner decides to release him.
Yr 1 = $9.0m cap hit
Yr 2 = $6.0m cap hit
Yr 3 = $3.0m cap hit
Yr 4 = $3.0m cap hit

-If a team releases a player, that team may not re-sign said player for 30 days.


Contract Buyout
For a contract buyout, a GM can accelerate any cap penalties to the�current season.��This will allow a GM to not accrue any cap hits for any future years of a forfeited contract.�No buyouts allowed once playoffs start. The buyout can only be done at the time of the initial release thus you can't decide to accelerate the penalties a month later.

Example: Using the Jakeem Grant example above. The total amount of cap penalties would be $21.0m. If the owner has enough cap space to afford to pay that $21.0m in the current season, then they could choose to buyout this contract.

If money has been paid on a player's salary via a cash exchange in a trade, then that salary adjustment would be included for each season. So if Jakeem had $10m paid on his 4th year by another team, then that amount could only cover the $3.0m cap hit for the 4th year. This would reduce the buyout from $21.0m to $18.0m.