Lakers’ Talen Horton-Tucker could get poison-pill offer sheet in free agency https://t.co/ZMZumGAFal via @Yahoo
— LakerTom (@LakerTom) February 9, 2021
As a restricted free agent with fewer than three years experience, Horton-Tucker will be limited by the Gilbert Arenas provision (as Tyler Johnson was in 2016). The projected worth of the largest offer sheet Horton-Tucker could sign:
2021-22: $9,535,740 (equal to non-taxpayer mid-level exception)
2022-23: $10,012,527 (105% of first-year salary)
2023-24: $30,913,905 (110% of a 2021-22 max salary for a player with fewer than seven years experience)
2024-25: $32,305,031 (104.5% of third-year salary)
Total: $82,767,203
To sign Horton-Tucker to this offer sheet, a team must have enough 2021 cap space to fit the contract’s average salary. If the offer sheet goes unmatched, Horton-Tucker would count against the cap at his average salary each season of the deal ($20,691,801 in the above scenario).
If the Lakers match, they could theoretically decide whether to count Horton-Tucker against the cap at his actual salary each season or his average salary all four seasons. However, only teams under the cap when matching can use average salaries. The Lakers will almost certainly be above the cap.
Lakers would obviously opt to match contract at actual amounts to postpone the big hit for two more years.
Yep.