salary cap hell!

donato said

It can be a myth. It's definitely not a myth in our situation now. Can't trade players, eating enormous amounts of dead money. Can't resign some guys, can't pursue prime free agents. Unfortunately it will take a few years to remedy IF we choose to do so instead of halfway doing things that neither make us better, nor clears our cap.

Click to expand...

I think trade possibilities are planned a year in advance by the FO while they’re restructuring. They aren’t restructuring players that they may consider trading the following season. They’re pushing salaries of players who they’re committing to and expecting to be productive during the restructure’s cap hit window. I think the FO’s fully aware of the restructure implications beforehand, beyond the immediate cap space.

Lattimore is currently the only player with an option bonus restructure which allows him to be traded before August. By his cap hit converting into an option bonus, his cap hit doesn’t go into effect on our cap until a later date in August. The team he’s being traded to will be responsible for his cap hit if traded before that point. Other players’ restructures could be done the same way as an option bonus if the team wanted to leave a trade possibility open like Lattimore’s.