They don't gain anything. They merely don't pay base salary to a player who isn't on the roster. They also avoid an option if they release him.
They are still on the hook for nearly 14M in restructured bonus which accelerates into the year of release which they may elect to spread out over two years. So they are still paying for a player not on the roster which was my point. You seem to always forget these points or present them in what you seem to think is a more palatable package.
When you push these bonuses down the road you often end up paying for a player no longer on the roster. That's a bad thing even if it's not uncommon. Generally it's a better business model not to pay past employees working for your competitors.
No, it's not a bad thing.
They push cap hits to future years where the overall cap is bigger and therefore the contracts are a smaller percentage of the total.
The dead money is not a problem at the end because they push other money into futute years again.
You can't compare the salary cap to the real world because it does not work the same way as real money in business.
When people see dead money they think it is bad but they don't understand the complete big picture.
The dead money was just part of money paid in the contract. If the player was worth the contract then it was good regardless of when the money hits the cap. If they sign a bunch of players that don't live up to their contracts then that is a bad thing even if they didn't have dead money remaining.
I don't know what you're referencing in regards to an option.
