Not every franchise is The Lakers , Knicks or Celtics
Literally every franchise in the NBA would pay KAT the max. It's not even a close question.
Ok is it a good investment to lock up 90+ mill on 3 players to be the 4th or 5th seed in the West?
No, but the solution is to acquire more good contracts and get rid of bad contracts. KAT on a max is a good contract. The Wiggins contract is the problematic one, and it will be difficult to move. It is because of Wiggins that they might end up having to let Butler go, but not KAT. There are 3 reasons: 1) KAT is cheaper on a max than Butler is (max increases by experience); 2) they have control over KAT (Butler will opt-out to become unrestricted); and 3) KAT is younger and more likely to live up to his contract, which takes him through his prime, than Butler, who will be post-prime for most of his next contract.
My point is what the max is based on the salary cap has gotten out of hand.
So you would rather billionaire NBA owners have the revenue than millionaire players? Weird position. Also what players receive is set at a % of basketball related revenues, so unless/until the CBA is redone, it is what it is.
Plus they are paying Jeff Teague thru 2019-2020 because he won't turn down that 19 mill player option. Say Butler does too at 20 million. So 2019-2020 Minnesota could have a little over 100 mill in 4 guys for that season. That's dumb and I think paying Towns 30 mill a year in that market with no realistic chance to win a title is dumb.
First, Butler is not opting in for $20m unless he suffers a catastrophic injury.
Second, KAT at the max is a good value contract. Period. The dude is already an elite offensive player, is 22, and has missed zero games his first three seasons. He's a top 5 trade asset in the entire league, in no small part because the team that has him basically has him locked up for the next 6-7 years (through his prime). Even on a max contract, he provides surplus value.
Third, in that scenario the "dumb" part is paying Wiggins a max because that is a negative value contract (Deng's contract is also terrible).
Fourth, Teague's contract expires after the 2019-20 season, so the financial pain that you've described is for only 1 year. Would you trade one year of luxury tax payments for 5 years of KAT on a good value contract? Yes. Yes. Yes. Every. Single. Time. It would be colossally stupid to do otherwise (see Harden, James). And all that assumes that the Wolves cannot move on from Deng or Wiggins, and that Butler resigns for a large sum, and that the Wolves think the world is ending in 365 days.
Let's be clear: the alternative (which by negative implication is the one you think is smart) is to let KAT go for nothing. That's ludicrous.
