Luxury Tax Hell

[F Gump]

This is all very well said and the side of the camp that I fall on and have repeated for a while that we've always just been under the assumption that Cuban will never pay the tax again.

Having said that, Cuban did mention that he'll be in luxury tax hell next year "but it's ok because things cool down after that" or something to that nature.  I think that's why a lot of folks are expecting this to kind of be "we're going to pay the tax to keep Brunson and then we need to find a different path to roster changes".

Cuban said: “We’re going to be in luxury tax hell next year, but that’s OK; it frees up the year after that." But let's see what happens, because it's easy to say "salaries expire" but ignore "of course, we either have to re-sign those players then, or pay someone else to replace them" -- which then can jump the salary total right back up again.

The trick will be in whether they can find good replacements that are just as good, but less costly. We know who they need to move (see Hardaway, Tim) but can they get back someone that's both more helpful and cheaper. I'm thinking it's not that easy, and ....