re: Suns looking at Ryan Anderson

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Aminu and that contract would be bad for us, too. We are trying to free up space to make an offer at a max guy next year. This move would eliminate $8M of that space leaving us with no exceptions and a small amount of space. Also, if the charges are not dropped, it's a bad deal.

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If the charges are dropped (which we would need to be sure of before the trade occurs) then his contract will be easily moveable next summer when EVERYONE has cap space and will be looking to make big moves. His contract will be absurdly reasonable next year compared to what will be given out in FA. Assets are better than space considering we are unlikely to sign Durant and may not be able to get players deserving of a max contract. Despite AD being here New Orleans is still not a premier destination. We don't want to get stuck in a Knicks situation where you have space and nothing to spend it on. I would rather have a good player on a great contract that is easily moveable than just space.

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Did you see any of those MAX GUYS came calling? I don't think so. Maybe when we look like we can do more than sneak in the playoffs.

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We didn't have the space to offer any max guys and most were restricted.

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David West Took a 10M dollar cut to play for the Spurs.

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After the Spurs maxed LaMarcus Aldridge. At this point in his career David West is a complimentary piece, not a key piece. He won't even be starting in SA. The Spurs and West are an exception.

Matthews got $14M per to go to Dallas. A little less than Sacramento offered, but not much of a discount when you consider the tax structure in Texas. Hell, he could end up netting more money. Not sure about Cali's state income tax rate.

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You have to over pay when you suck.

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I'm glad we don't suck.

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Not sure about Cali's state income tax rate.

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Cali's state income tax rate is the highest in the nation so he probably will net more cash in Dallas than Sacramento.

CA and most jurisdictions tax based on duty days, not games. His effective tax rate in TX would probably be around 1% while in CA would be around 11%.

This is part of the reason why so much talent is flowing into the Southwest division:
Hou(0%), MEM (0%), SA (0%), DAl (0%) & NO (6%)

Southwest is by far the cheapest division to play in based on state income taxes and jock taxes.

I wish Louisiana would issue a non-transferable tax credit of 6% for professional athletes that reside in the state so that our rate would be 0% for our guys living here and we could still collect taxes on visiting athletes.

ETA - for comparison look at the Pacific division:
GS (13.3%), LAL (13.3%), LAC (13.3%), SAC (13.3%), PHX (4.54%)

So in the Pacific division not only are you paying 13.3% for your home games, but also for a significant portion of your road trips.

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For instance, the mavs play 41 games in Dallas, but also 2 away vs san antonio and 2 in houston. So technically they get 45 games in texas.

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Yeah, but Sacramento also plays games in Texas, as well, so you have to deduct those. Basically, the Mavs have 41 home games + 2 in Hou + 2 in SA. Sac plays 1 in Dal = 1 in Hou + 1 in SA. When you add in Dal@Memphis twice minus Sac@Memphis once, you get to a difference of 43 tax free games.

Sac = 41 @ Home + 2 @ LAC + 2 @ LAL + 2 @ GSW - DAL@Sac - DAL@LAL - DAL@LAC - DAL@GSW, you get to 43 more games in Cali.

Updating my numbers, you have Sac playing 43 more games in Cali and Dal playing 43 more games in Texas and Tennesee.

So, you have $16,000,000*43/82= $8,390,243.90 earned in Cali

13.3% of $8,390,243.90 = $1,115,902.44

Sacramento: $16,000,000 - 1,115,902.44 = $14,884,097.56 - out of division taxes

Dallas: $14,250,000 - out of division taxes

Considering out of division taxes a wash, he would actually bring home about 634,097.56 more in Sacramento than in Dallas.

Beyond that, which I'm not going, you can compare cost of real estate, property taxes, and cost of living, which would probably further whittle down the difference between the two.

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Yeah, but Sacramento also plays games in Texas, as well, so you have to deduct those. Basically, the Mavs have 41 home games + 2 in Hou + 2 in SA. Sac plays 1 in Dal = 1 in Hou + 1 in SA. When you add in Dal@Memphis twice minus Sac@Memphis once, you get to a difference of 43 tax free games.

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It is a bit more complicated than this because CA does not assess income based on games, but rather on duty days (assuming he is not a CA resident in which case he would be taxed on all games at 13.3%).

A duty day is any day services are performed under the contract from the beginning of an official preseason activity until the last game played. So even though they play a game in Texas that might only account for a single duty day whereas practice days, summer practice, weightlifting, tape study would be allocated to CA income. The 43/82 figure you used to calculate Cali income is low. Its probably closer to 125-140/183.

In the end Matthews probably gave up $200-400k per year to play in Dallas over dumpsterfire Sacramento.

ETA - This is why I would really like to see a non-transferable 6% income tax credit for professional athletes residing in Louisiana. It means our offers would be better than CA/NY and on par with TX. It would also encourage our athletes to make New Orleans their home meaning a better chance of getting a hometown discount later.