Yearly, July 1 is named “Bobby Bonilla Day,” the day every season the New York Mets owe a deferred cost to their former participant. The Milwaukee Bucks honored his legacy by taking up the most important quantity of lifeless cash in NBA historical past.
The Milwaukee Bucks waived guard Damian Lillard, who had two years and $113M left on his contract. Whereas Lillard is unlikely to play for many if not all of subsequent season as he recovers from an Achilles tear, the way wherein the Bucks cleared his wage off the books means Lillard might be on their wage cap for the following 5 seasons.
With a view to signal middle Myles Turner, the Bucks used the NBA’s stretch provision, which permits groups to increase a wage over a number of seasons. For Lillard’s contract, that might be 5 seasons, which means that the Bucks might be charged $23.6M per 12 months via the 2029-30 season. For context, that is solely $400K greater than what Fred VanVleet is getting to begin at level guard for the Houston Rockets.
That form of prolonged monetary dedication was what the Mets ended up with after they parted methods with Bonilla earlier than the 2000 season, deferring his $5.9M wage that 12 months. As a substitute of his common paycheck, Bonilla acquired it spread out over 25 years, starting in 2010, at an rate of interest of 10%. The Mets will nonetheless be reducing Bonilla a test till 2035.
The Mets agreed to the deferral partially as a result of their house owners needed to speculate extra money with Bernie Madoff, who was really working a Ponzi scheme that acquired him sentenced to 150 years in jail.
The one earlier parallel within the NBA got here when the Detroit Pistons determined to launch ahead Josh Smith outright early in his second 12 months of a four-year, $54M contract. Just like the Bucks with Lillard, the Pistons paid Smith’s full wage. In addition they used the stretch provision, which unfold the remaining cash over the following six seasons, which is how Smith remained on the Pistons cap till three years after his retirement. The Pistons had solely a single successful season in that point.
For his or her half, the Bucks can have Lillard’s wage on their payroll till Lillard is 39. They must hope they’ll discover some actual bargains, as a result of their wage cap has a $23.6M gap in it for 5 extra seasons. As for Lillard, he can commiserate with Bonilla about how candy it’s to be paid for not taking part in.
