I'm not great at the money stuff, but couldn't we release our cap holds on Johnson, Jerebko, and Olynyk and trade Zeller, Mickey and picks and absorb Melo's 24 million salary, which would create a huge TPE for NY?
Also isn't a max for Hayward somewhere around 30 million? So wouldn't absorbing Melo technically give us more wiggle room this offseason?
I'd love to get him here to play PF, see if Stevens can bring out Olympic Melo on the C's.