2025 Off-Season Thread

[Shine88]

BREAKING: Masai Ujiri is out as Vice Chairman and President of the Toronto Raptors, sources tell ESPN

Shocker!

[CTMagicUK]

1 hour ago, Shine88 said:

BREAKING: Masai Ujiri is out as Vice Chairman and President of the Toronto Raptors, sources tell ESPN

Shocker!

That's crazy. 

[hootie249]

I just read on another board about Portland getting a pick from Orlando? Anyone know how or what?

I can't follow this new NBA. Did anyone notice how about 3/4ths of all picks were involved in some kind of trade!

[Shine88]

9 minutes ago, hootie249 said:

I just read on another board about Portland getting a pick from Orlando? Anyone know how or what?

I can't follow this new NBA. Did anyone notice how about 3/4ths of all picks were involved in some kind of trade!

The 2028 pick when Memphis traded up with Portland for Cedric Coward.

[CTMagicUK]

Probably going to repeat myself a little here:

Still feels like there's moves to be made but with Jase and Penda we currently only have 1 open roster spot.

Mo Wagner, Caleb Houstan we'll find out on Sunday what's happening.

If I had to guess right now would be decline Wagner (after that who knows if we can bring him back or not) and accept Houstan. 

Jett Howard is the biggest question after that to me, he makes 5.5 mil. How confident are we he can be a real NBA player? Because otherwise losing that 5.5mil would really help us make space for a free agent acquisition. 

There was talk about Isaac being available for Coby White before the Bane trade, is that still the case? Are we open to using Isaac's salary in a trade or sign and trade? And would anybody even want to trade for him given the season he had last year? 

Suggs/AB

Bane/Jase/Jett

Franz/TDS/Penda

Paolo/Isaac/Houstan

WCJ/Mo/Goga

Is how it currently looks. This can't really be the finished roster can it? Still feels light at perimeter positions (guard and wing) who you'd be confident can be a positive in a playoff setting. 

[All Eyes On Me]

2 hours ago, CTMagicUK said:

Probably going to repeat myself a little here:

Still feels like there's moves to be made but with Jase and Penda we currently only have 1 open roster spot.

Mo Wagner, Caleb Houstan we'll find out on Sunday what's happening.

If I had to guess right now would be decline Wagner (after that who knows if we can bring him back or not) and accept Houstan. 

Jett Howard is the biggest question after that to me, he makes 5.5 mil. How confident are we he can be a real NBA player? Because otherwise losing that 5.5mil would really help us make space for a free agent acquisition. 

There was talk about Isaac being available for Coby White before the Bane trade, is that still the case? Are we open to using Isaac's salary in a trade or sign and trade? And would anybody even want to trade for him given the season he had last year? 

Suggs/AB

Bane/Jase/Jett

Franz/TDS/Penda

Paolo/Isaac/Houstan

WCJ/Mo/Goga

Is how it currently looks. This can't really be the finished roster can it? Still feels light at perimeter positions (guard and wing) who you'd be confident can be a positive in a playoff setting. 

Yeah, there’s still more to come imo. We have to decline Moe so we can access the full MLE, unless we trade JI. For me it boils down to, was Penda brought in to replace JI? We’ve been super aggressive and I agree the title aspirations are real, but the bench doesn’t fit the mold yet. We’re either trading a big for backcourt help and signing a new big, or we gotta use the MLE on a guard. Should be an interesting weekend

[jmmagicfan]

35 minutes ago, All Eyes On Me said:

Yeah, there’s still more to come imo. We have to decline Moe so we can access the full MLE, unless we trade JI. For me it boils down to, was Penda brought in to replace JI? We’ve been super aggressive and I agree the title aspirations are real, but the bench doesn’t fit the mold yet. We’re either trading a big for backcourt help and signing a new big, or we gotta use the MLE on a guard. Should be an interesting weekend

Actually, I don’t think we “have” to decline Moe; but we do have to decline one or both of Queen/McClung, which should get us under the 1st apron and unlock the full mid-level. Remember however, because he is a second round pick without a guarantee, I believe anything we give Penda comes out of that MLE money.

[CTMagicUK]

18 minutes ago, jmmagicfan said:

Actually, I don’t think we “have” to decline Moe; but we do have to decline one or both of Queen/McClung, which should get us under the 1st apron and unlock the full mid-level. Remember however, because he is a second round pick without a guarantee, I believe anything we give Penda comes out of that MLE money.

I don't think this is right. Queen and McClung cap holds aren't part of the 190mil salaries that put us over the tax. 

Also we can use the 2nd round exception to sign Penda. 

[All Eyes On Me]

I love Moe as much as everyone else, but we can’t pick up his team option. He’s going to miss half the season continuing to recover from his ACL. The move is decline it, use the MLE, then use his bird rights to sign him to something more lucrative long term. If he gets a better offer elsewhere, so be it. His injury plays a big factor in what we do with him imo.

[jmmagicfan]

33 minutes ago, CTMagicUK said:

I don't think this is right. Queen and McClung cap holds aren't part of the 190mil salaries that put us over the tax. 

Also we can use the 2nd round exception to sign Penda. 

 

27 minutes ago, All Eyes On Me said:

I love Moe as much as everyone else, but we can’t pick up his team option. He’s going to miss half the season continuing to recover from his ACL. The move is decline it, use the MLE, then use his bird rights to sign him to something more lucrative long term. If he gets a better offer elsewhere, so be it. His injury plays a big factor in what we do with him imo.

The way I read it is that the tax line doesn’t apply to the mid-level at all. It’s if you are over the cap but under the 1st apron, you get the full $14.1M mid-level; and if you’re between the first and second aprons you only get the $5.685M mid-level.

The cap-holds help determine where you are in relation to the aprons, and that is an additional $7M; which includes Jase’s maximum salary based on his draft position, and the holds for Queen and McClung. That would put us at $197M, where the first apron is about $195M.

 I am 99% sure that if you decline Moe’s option, then anything you re-sign him for afterwards counts against the mid-level “pool”. Even though it is counter intuitive, it actually makes more sense to keep him, even if it’s only so you have it as an expiring contract at the trade deadline.

[jmmagicfan]

Based on a $154,647,000 cap, here’s what the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions would look like in 2025/26:

---

Mid-Level Exception

Year	Standard MLE	Taxpayer MLE	Room MLE
2025/26	$14,104,000	$5,685,000	$8,781,000
2026/27	$14,809,200	$5,969,250	$9,220,050
2027/28	$15,514,400		$9,659,100
2028/29	$16,219,600	–	–
Total	$60,647,200	$11,654,250	$27,660,150

The standard mid-level exception is available to over-the-cap teams who haven’t dipped below the cap to use room and whose team salary remains below the first tax apron. It can run for up to four years, 

 

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2024/08/mid-level-bi-annual-projections-for-2025-26.html#:~:text=Based on a %24154%2C647%2C000 cap%2C here’s what the,team salary remains below the first tax apron.

[CTMagicUK]

5 minutes ago, jmmagicfan said:

 

The way I read it is that the tax line doesn’t apply to the mid-level at all. It’s if you are over the cap but under the 1st apron, you get the full $14.1M mid-level; and if you’re between the first and second aprons you only get the $5.685M mid-level.

The cap-holds help determine where you are in relation to the aprons, and that is an additional $7M; which includes Jase’s maximum salary based on his draft position, and the holds for Queen and McClung. That would put us at $197M, where the first apron is about $195M.

 I am 99% sure that if you decline Moe’s option, then anything you re-sign him for afterwards counts against the mid-level “pool”. Even though it is counter intuitive, it actually makes more sense to keep him, even if it’s only so you have it as an expiring contract at the trade deadline.

No this is not true. The full mid level exception is available to teams under the luxury tax. Tax payer teams that are below the first apron have access to the tax payer mid level exception. If you use either you actually cannot go over the first apron. You're hard capped at the first apron amount. 

We're obviously declining the Queen and McClung cap holds so they hold no baring. The Jase cap hold is relevant but the Noah Penda one isn't because the second round pick exception doesn't count against the cap until after July 30th. His eventual salary does have to be factored in though if we do use the MLE and are thus hard capped at the first apron.