So Whiteside says he wants to know where he is going by Friday. Is there any possible way that the Hornets sign him while also maxing Batum? I still can't see how Miami can try to keep him, Wade, Bosh, and sign Durant, yet we just have Kemba and MKG on not-bad deals yet somehow apparently can't sign anyone.
the cap for the 2016-17 season is $94mm
Hornets players under contract for 16-17
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Kemba Walker - $12mm
MKG - $13mm
Spencer Hawes - $5.8mm
Cody Zeller - $5.3mm
Frank Kaminsky - $2.7mm
Jeremy Lamb - $6.5mm
Marco Belinelli - $6.3mm
Troy Daniels - $1.2mm (team option)
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total: $51.6mm if they let Daniels go or $52.8 if they keep him
So they have around $42mm in cap space this summer, but have a lot of FAs they want to bring back. I take it the trading for Belinelli signals they have given up on trying to re-sign Courtney Lee. So the FAs in order of importance are 1. Nic Batum, 2. Marvin Williams, 3. Jeremy Lin.
Nic Batum will get a max from someone on the open market because it's flush with cash, this isn't a super strong FA class, and he just had a career year. If we give him the max on July 1 under this cap and his experience he'll get $25mm in 2016-17.
That leaves $17mm to re-sign Marvin (I have no idea what he'll get in this market) and Jeremy Lin (someone will probably again pay more than the Hornets want) and fill out the rest of the team. Whiteside looks highly unlikely as the Lakers, the Mavs, and others will offer him a max that starts at around $22mm... and I don't necessarily think it's a terrible thing that the Hornets won't be in the running.
Miami will not be able to sign Whiteside for a max if they sign Durant as they're at $50mm in salary and Wade isn't even under contract yet. I guess they could do it if it looks like Bosh isn't going to play again and he retires and his salary comes off the books, but it doesn't seem like that's likely especially based on Bosh's desires.