Is Charlotte Trading Emeka Okafor to Help Sell the Team?

On balance, most agree the Bobcats would come out as the losers in the talent portion of the trade of Emeka Okafor to New Orleans for Tyson Chandler. Both are keystone defenders, but 'Meka is more well-rounded and (lately) more healthy. On offense, Chandler is completely single-minded, whereas Okafor holds some modicum of control over his talents in the post.

So the angle for Charlotte in making this trade would be financial. But the Bobcats take on a minor amount of extra salary the next two seasons in the deal, and now have only $25 million in salary locked up in 2011-12. Okafor wasn't exactly putting the Bobcats on the brink of the luxury tax, in other words.

But there's one more financial angle: the idea Okafor long contract presented a problem in Robert Johnson's sale of the team.

ESPN's Marc Stein mentioned the possibility in his trade story, but the Charlotte media has seemingly ignored the angle in the immediate fall-out. They'd do well to remember the Michael Heisley Experience. The Grizzlies haven't always avoid spending like the plague -- not until Heisley announced intentions to unload his majority share of the team did he order executives to slash payroll. On the Grizzlies' road to the bottom, Heisley realized you can actually make money in last place, provided you're under the cap and willing to serve as the lubricant in trades between teams which matter.

Johnson seems far more active in his attempted sale of the Bobcats. The Charlotte Business Journal recently reported that Johnson has tapped an investment banker to help the search for a new owner. There hasn't been much more on the Michael Jordan tip in this matter, but I suppose we'll hear more about His Airness's interest before all is settled.

The trade isn't quite an admission Okafor's massive contract ($72 million for six years) was a mistake last season -- the Bobcats couldn't very well have let the original Bobcat escape for nothing, and Chandler is a good player -- but it's as close to a statement of regret you'll ever see with a player of this quality and age.