# Cap Question...



## TwinkieFoot (Jul 8, 2006)

Would it be possible for the Knicks to utilize the Mid-Level Exception if they sign and traded for Joe Johnson and Chris Bosh consider that they would eat up all tbe cap space we have saved? I know that teams are not able to exceed the cap by adding free agents they don't have Bird Rights to. The issue of Bird rights, however, in a sign and trade appear to be a gray area since you'd need Bird Rights in the first place to make such a deal. Bird Rights are never lost in this scenario but the rights then become attached to different players. During the 2005 offseason,the Bucks managed to use their cap space to acquire Bobby Simmons and then later re-signed Michael Redd to a max deal since they had his Bird Rights. The point of this story is that they would not have been able to exceed the cap to pick up Michael Redd had they not had his Bird Rights. Technically speaking, the Knicks would have the Bird Rights of the players being traded (and later acquire), so why couldn't this be done? Having that extra cash could go a long way in adding more role players to this team.


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## Kiyaman (Aug 14, 2006)

The Knicks are under the cap, so they have no MLE, unless they trade for players (salary dont have to match) and resign their own players. 
I beleive once the (under the cap) Knicks sign a FA player they are limited to only spend a certain amount of money above the NBA salary-cap level on other FA players. 
How much above the NBA Salary cap? it's hard to tell right now with the new CBA negotiation coming soon.

However, if the Knicks were to just trade players and resign their own players they wouldve been able to go way above the NBA salary-cap without any limitations, plus use their MLE. 

The Knicks will only have 4 players under contract ($17.8M), and will have to add 9 players to their roster this offseason (having above $34M to spend on 2 max FA, the other 7 players will have to be paid the NBA minimum). 
All NBA teams must have 13 or more signed players on their roster at the start of the regular season.


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## Kiyaman (Aug 14, 2006)

The Knicks having the money and cap space to sign 2 max FA, actually can not afford to sign one max FA. *WHY?*


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