So Long to Rashard Lewis, Hello Trade Exception

SEATTLE - Where do I begin? First, I'm very happy for Rashard Lewis. He is set to make 126 million dollars over the next 6 years thanks to a sign and trade deal completed today between the Seattle SuperSonics and the whOrlando Magic. The Sonics will sign Lewis, trade him, and receive a conditional second round pick as the Orlando part of the trade.

Orlando had the salary cap room because they renounced their free agent rights to Darko Milicic. They have salary cap room; that's why the salaries between the parts of the trade didn't have to match, the Magic absorbed Lewis' salary and stayed under the salary cap (that's what happened Percy, they didn't have an exception, they had cap room). A byproduct of the trade is a trade exception for the Sonics. The Sonics sent out a giant salary that Orlando absorbed, creating a 11+ million dollar trade exception (possibly up to 14) that the Sonics have one year to use as a tradable commodity, like a salary placeholder.

The Sonics could use the trade exception to absorb the salary of a player from another team, and send along the Orlando second round pick in the exchange. For you armchair GM's out there, the salary cap is $55,630,000, and the luxury tax is at 67,865,000, you might want to go take a look at the teams over the tax line to see if there is somebody you could see playing for the green and gold.

I like Lewis, he's a very good player, but not great. So, I kind of feel bad for the Magic fans. At the end of that contract will be the sixth year at around 25 million dollars. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a boat anchor. Lewis is worth half that, why? Because he plays on one end of the court. Too harsh? Ok, he's worth 2/3 of that at the most. His defense is not even average, and yet he's getting maximum money.

That's a dumb signing. Orlando was one of the few teams that had any cap money. The Sonics were not about to pay Lewis that much, and as we have seen, the Sonics didn't want a bunch of ending contracts in a sign and trade deal. So, a sign and trade with another team wouldn't have been the best option for the Sonics. It was a limited pool of possible teams, no matter what Lewis' agent said.
Orlando outbid themselves.