Bad deal I’d say

You got to pay to offload that contract imo

I really think a team will jump on the possibility of trading for Seth Jones if Chicago Will retains 1-2 Million.
Edit. He's fixable and even tho people hate him he's great offensively.
I only think Chicago does retain if they get picks tho. I See them really looking at a 5 Year Rebuild.

Seth Jones at 7.5 would be incredibly valuable. The problem is they have to wait until his NMC is in place to be able to retain salary on it which hamstrings the Hawks position badly. On the other hand, if they were to trade him before that contract starts they may not get another player buying in on a long term contract in Chicago this decade.

Seth Jones isn't a cap dump. He was very very good last year by the raw numbers of assists and points and his metrics of controlled zone exits via passing and skating and more. If Chicago retains $1M I'd still want some draft picks and I'll take some bad cap coming back but Seth Jones is an elite defender, you can't just trade him for dead cap space. The hawks are near the cap basement. They can afford to keep Seth Jones and not think about it.

Jones’s cap it is too high but it would take a lot for any team to retain for 8 years. If Chicago is rebuilding why would they try to dump a player that will help keep them above the cap floor?

I doubt CHI would retain anything on Jones for 8 years. But after seeing the return on DeBrincat, I guess anything is possible.