I don’t really think the explanation of how Gotham can afford Sam Kerr is that hard/controversial?
It’s a 5 year contract (league maximum) that is surely on a sliding scale. Take less money now and earn more in the back half (and potentially become HIP eligible). Or she retires at some point and Gotham buys out her contract. Plus we have confirmation that Sonnett is getting HIP money, Guro probably (though she’s on a long deal too), and Rose as well if she resigns with Gotham.
I don’t think you can compare this to the Rodman saga because there’s no way Trinity would’ve signed a deal this long (nor should she!) so the money has to be spread out differently.
Also it makes sense (to me) for Sam to want to go to a team where she doesn’t have to do everything in the team’s attack. Going to a team somewhere lower on the table might’ve meant more money up front but a tougher task on the field. At Gotham she gets to add to an already well developed attack.
Edit: I understand that Trin’s contract was also backloaded, but my guess is that the percentage put back over a 3 year period versus 5 was pretty hefty and that was the league’s issue.
Gotham will have to unload some money in the offseason but that’s not something they’ve ever had trouble doing.
Congrats to the Spirit for having a player so important that the rules were changed for others in the future, that’s a big deal. I know it’s not the best rule change, and I hope we can get rid of the salary cap soon enough, but thats why this deal works (we assume because we’ll never know the actual numbers).
Edit #2: Gotham just completed a major trade for a good chunk of allocation money and have been stockpiling quite a bit for a while, unsure if other teams have done this in order to play a top dollar player.
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