Looking At The Salary Cap Implications If Jimmy Butler Murders Markelle Fultz
by Boobie
On Saturday, seemingly out of the blue, the Philadelphia 76ers sent Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless, and a 2022 second round draft pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves in return for superstar wing Jimmy Butler. Last season, Butler lead the Wolves to their first postseason berth in nearly a decade and a half, and was even garnering some “should this guy be in the MVP conversation?” talk before a knee injury wiped out most of the back half of his season and limited him in the playoffs. Butler, though, became disgruntled with the Wolves young core of Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, whom he perceived as soft and lacking in drive, and demanded a trade this past summer.
It’s a home run swing by the new Sixers front office, who felt that, at the price they paid for him, Butler was too good a player to pass up. It’s become clear early this season that the offense, tight on space when playing Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz together, is susceptible to long stretches of unwatchable stagnation. Fultz was supposed to alleviate this issue when they traded up with the Celtics to select him, but his insanely weird ongoing shooting saga has prevented what was supposed to be an ideal fit with Simmons and Joel Embiid from coming to fruition.
Enter Butler. He’s not the perfect fit on a team that lacks shooting from its other key players, but he is at least an average shooter from the outside, a threat to pull up from three when running the pick and roll or to get into the paint and collapse the defense, creating offense for others cutting off the ball or easy dunks for Embiid rolling to the rim. On the court, he solves a lot of the team’s problems, and given the reporting that the Sixers and Butler’s camp are confident the two sides will come to a long-term agreement this summer, he should continue to do so unless (until) his body breaks down after a career under notorious joint-disintegrater Tom Thibedeau. Off the court, though, could be a minefield.
As mentioned above, Butler demanded a trade because of his terrible relationship with the Timberwolves two presumed franchise cornerstones, Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns. The hope is that no such tension will materialize between Butler and Simmons and Embiid, both of whom appear to have a level of drive and determination that the Wolves youngsters lack (this difference is made clear by the the Sixers stars’ outstanding defensive play in comparison the Wiggins and Towns’ lackluster play on that end). Where is seems almost certain to become an issue, though, is with Fultz.
Butler, quite simply, will not find this to be an acceptable effort:
In his first practice with the Wolves this pre-season after demanding a trade, Butler apparently exploded, teaming up with the team’s third-stringers and beating the starters in a scrimmage, yelling that the team couldn’t win without him, and walking out directly into an interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols. Fultz has seemingly been battling confidence issues tied to his case of the yips, as evidenced by the fact that he’s shooting less than one three pointer per game so far this season, with none in the last six games heading into Monday night’s matchup with the Heat.
On top of those confidence issues, Fultz is having trouble figuring out who he can trust to be on his side. He recently parted ways with skills-trainer-to-the-stars Drew Hanlen, the man who was tasked with rebuilding his shot this summer, after Hanlen claimed on Twitter that Fultz was not healthy. Adding Butler’s “demanding” nature to Fultz’s unique mix of personal drama manifesting as on-court deficiency is a recipe for disaster. We could have blood on our hands.
If Butler bullies Fultz into hurting himself in a way that ends his basketball career, up to and including death, the Sixers would be able to apply for a Disabled Player Exception. Per Larry Coon’s NBA CBA FAQ,
If this exception is granted, the team can acquire one player via free agent signing, trade or waiver claim, to replace the disabled player:
The team may sign a free agent for one season only, for 50% of the disabled player’s salary or the amount of the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level exception, whichever is less.
The team may trade for a player in the last season of his contract only (including any option years)2, who is making no more than 50% plus $100,000 of the disabled player’s salary, or the amount of the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level exception plus $100,000, whichever is less.
The team may claim a player on waivers who is in the last season of his contract only (including any option years), who is making no more than 50% of the disabled player’s salary, or the amount of the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level exception, whichever is less
Fultz is on a rookie deal, making about the same amount of money this season as the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level, so the amount of space freed up would be just over $4 million this season. This could help in the buyout market, but won’t allow the team to get anyone with close to the long-term upside they were hoping to see from Fultz heading into the season.
After the season, with Fultz dead or grievously injured by his own hand, the Sixers would have no recourse to get his salary off their books. In the event of a career-ending injury or illness, a team can waive a player, then apply for an exception to have his salary taken off their books starting one year to the day after the player’s last regular season game. The salary would go back on the Sixers’ books were Fultz to come back and play at least 25 games for a different team, however, in the event of his death that would be unlikely. Such an exception most famously came into play during Chris Bosh’s blood clot saga, before he and the Heat came to an agreement that would allow him to pursue a comeback without endangering their cap sheet. Ultimately, this exception would not be helpful for the Sixers, because it would not free up any cap space this summer and they could simply decline his fourth year option to get his money off the books the following summer.
Were Jimmy Butler to attack Markelle Fultz and kill him, all of the above would still apply, and presumably the Sixers would not re-sign him this summer as he awaits his murder trial. There is nothing in the CBA specifically mentioning murder, meaning that, should the murder happen this season, cap relief would depend on the timeline of his prosecution and the specifics of his contract — it is perhaps possible that his contract could be voided, opening cap space into which the Sixers could take a star if one becomes available and that star’s team bites at the the Sixer’s remaining assets. That seems unlikely, meaning that such a murder would leave the team with nothing to show for their 2017 first round pick, the Kings’ unprotected 2019 first rounder, Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless, and that 2022 second rounder. This seems like the most likely scenario, and will at least make for a compelling ending to both the eventual Process documentary and professional basketball in the city of Philadelphia. Hopefully, none of this information becomes relevant, and the Sixers are able to take advantage of their short but realistic championship window, but if you’ve watched as many blown second halves as Sixers fans have over the past couple years, you may not be too optimistic.
