MAVS NEWS:

[ThisIStheYear]

The Mavs trade situation is not complicated. It's easy math. They have to send out as much (or more) salary than they take back, and if they send away more players than they get back, they have to send an extra $2M for each extra body they send away (since they will then have to fill that empty slot with a $2M minimum salary).

As for whether that's really something they might chase, imo it feels very unlikely.
1 Their entire roster is reasonable-to-good value for the salary, and assuming Luka & Kyrie are not up or discussion, their top salaries are 15.8, 15.5, 13.3, and 11.0 with each attached to a player they probably don't want to trade (Klay, PJW, Gafford, Maxi respectively).
2 So assembling a deal that you like for a player making more than say $20M is not really doable. It takes away needed talent, creating a hole or two, and also is unlikely to offer them better value-for-the-cap-dollar than they already have.
3 MOST IMPORTANTLY, do they even have a need that merits a change? It looks to me like their solutions, if they need one, are probably already on the team (such as Klay) and baked into their existing cap limits. It's just a matter of getting players they already have to play up to their skill level. Improvement works best when it's internal development.

Good stuff, but I’m pretty much out on Klay. The Mavs may want to keep him because they gave their word or to keep harmony with Kyrie, but he’s done as a consistent contributor. So, Klay plus Maxi equals 26.8 - 2= 24.8 coming back. You can work with that.