Are luxury tax issues an impediment to the Jazz and Clippers making a trade? If so it says something about the deal
Grantland's Zack Lowe, who does great work, has tweeted out that luxury tax issues are causing the Clippers and Jazz to have a tough time making a deal - likely the rumored deal with Millsap and Bledsoe.
The Clippers are only 440,000 below the tax and the Jazz are 3.5 million below the tax threshold.
However, if the deal were simply Millsap for Bledsoe and Butler or Bledsoe and Burks there would be no tax implications. Because the Jazz either 1.3 or 1.1 million more in either deal. Therefore, this would be a non issue.
However, if the Clippers are insisting that the Jazz include Alec Burks in the deal then the Clippers would be taking back 1 million more than the Jazz and would push the Clippers over the tax threshold.
If the Clippers add another player in the deal such as Ryan Hollins then the money gets straightened out but the Jazz would have to cut Raja Bell because it would put 16 players on the roster. Moreover, Ryan Hollins has been playing 15 minutes a night recently and the Clippers may not want to move him.
This leaves the possibility of the Jazz putting a 1st round pick into the deal instead of Burks and I need to investigate how that impact luxury tax