Cap and bonus question for the capologists

[Peregrine]

Question that ive been wondering about for quite some time...

I know that if you cut a player, you are going to have to pay the signing bonus to the player, and that still counts against the cap(cap penalty basicaly). Now my question is, since you pay it off that first year in the full sum, is that cap penalty removed after that first year, or is it assesed for the full length of that players contract?

[MRMADD]

The signing bonus is spread over the life of the contract, but if you cut the guy before the contract is up, whatever's left of the signing bonus hits the cap immediately. Let's say you have a contract that looks like this:

4 year contract.

$1m in salary each year.

$4m signing bonus.

In that situation, his cap cost each year would be $2m ($1m from salary, and $1m from 1/4 of the signing bonus). If he's cut in year two, all of the remaining signing bonus accelerates into that year's cap, so his cap cost in year two, even though he's gone, is $3 million.

There are lots of loopholes/exceptions, but that's the basics.

[BigDFan5]

The signing bonus is spread over the life of the contract, but if you cut the guy before the contract is up, whatever's left of the signing bonus hits the cap immediately. Let's say you have a contract that looks like this:

4 year contract.

$1m in salary each year.

$4m signing bonus.

In that situation, his cap cost each year would be $2m ($1m from salary, and $1m from 1/4 of the signing bonus). If he's cut in year two, all of the remaining signing bonus accelerates into that year's cap, so his cap cost in year two, even though he's gone, is $3 million.

There are lots of loopholes/exceptions, but that's the basics.

Thats correct unless he is cut after June 1 then the cap hit is spread over 2 years (this is assuming a new CBA is reached)

[Peregrine]

So basicaly the cap cost is just for one year only

[MRMADD]

Yes... except that you can split it over two years if you cut them after June 1, which is often done.