Many of you have been asking about how the current payroll of the Clippers affects their ability to sign or trade for a player they may want to bring in for the push toward the playoffs and to replace the injured Corey Maggette. I tried to piece together their current situation by reading conflicting stories regarding where the Clippers are. Not all sports writers are accurate in their reporting. One report says that the Clips are over the cap which limits their ability to make any moves.
This is true. However, the cap is a soft cap, which means if the team resign their own free agents, those salaries do no count against the cap. Does that mean that the salaries of Brand and Maggette do not count? It appears so.
The Clippers have the highest salary payroll in their history at 51 Million (adjusted for released players). The soft cap is at 49 Mil which means they are over by only 2 Mil. But Brand's and Maggette's salaries total 18 Mil, which gives them plenty of room under the cap to add salary without being penalized.
Confused, well if you read the few articles available out their where sportswriters have addressed this issue regarding the Clippers, you could get more confused. But from what I can tell, the Clippers could trade for a more expensive player or sign an available free agent like Spree, and they would just be spending money without the penalty.
This analysis means that it is more likely that the Clippers would make a move than they otherwise would if they got penalized for every dollar they spent. Sterling probably has his checkbook handy! JamFan
