NBA Rumors: Thaddeus Young’s salary holding up trades?
By Bryan Rose
The Philadelphia 76ers appear determined to trade small forward Thaddeus Young, who has found his name swirling in trade rumors the past few weeks.
A young and talented defender, Young is thought to be a relatively hot committee on the NBA’s trade market but Philly.com believes his contract could be a potential hangup on any deals.
"“There is not a GM in the league who wouldn’t want Thaddeus Young on their team,” an NBA executive told me. But there is a caveat. Young is scheduled to make $9.1 million next year and $9.7 million the next. That isn’t exactly looked on as favorable around the league, but for a team looking to compete for a title, it might be worth the risk."
This becomes a problem for two reasons.
A youthful re-building team would obviously like Young, but they aren’t going to commit a large portion of their salary cap space for Young’s near $10 million dollar deal. They’d only want Young if they were able to trade back salary, something the Sixers likely wouldn’t be interested in.
On the flip side, a playoff team would certainly be interested in adding a player like Young but again, that near $10 million dollar contract adds a pretty hefty sum onto teams who already have salary cap concerns (and possible luxury tax concerns).
Finding middle ground could be difficult for the Sixers who are going to want significant talent in return for Young.