Breaking: five-star talented player Gave Up $1.7 Million to Jazz in a Buyout Agreement.
According to Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link), veteran guard Russell Westbrook forfeited precisely $1.7MM as part of a buyout deal with the Jazz. Westbrook was waived by Utah on Saturday.
With the buyout, Utah’s cap charge on Westbrook drops from $4,027,525 to $2,327,525; this gives the organization some additional salary cap flexibility. With over $33MM in remaining cap space, the Jazz are the team with the most space right now.
The Jazz will come out ahead financially even though they will be responsible for only around $2.33MM of Westbrook’s salary because they also reportedly received $4.3MM in cash from the Clippers in exchange for the guard.
Since Westbrook is expected to sign a minimum-salary contract with the Nuggets, he will also benefit. He will receive $3,303,771 from the Denver contract, bringing his 2024–2025 season earnings total to $5,631,296—more than he would have if he had stuck with his $4.03MM contract.
Regarding the Clippers, they probably could have worked out a similar buyout deal with Westbrook; however, by moving him to Utah, they were able to offer Kris Dunn a more lucrative contract than they would have been able to without him. L.A. signed Dunn as a sign-and-trade, using Westbrook’s $4MM+ outgoing salary as a match. Dunn will start at $5,168,000 on his new three-year contract.
Westbrook is expected to be Jamal Murray’s main backup and contribute significantly to Denver this year. It has been claimed that Nikola Jokic pushed for the former MVP’s inclusion.
