Trade & FA 2024-25:

[Hooper21]

As bad as the Grimes trade is, I could sort of accept it as a maneuver to help with the salary structure. Even then, it turns out Grimes is actually really good and it was a dumb trade. But teams trade better role players away all the time to maneuver around the salary cap and aprons. I get it. But to just throw in a good pick is asinine. I can’t get over the sheer stupidity.  Nico must be the biggest dolt anyone has ever met. Was he successful at Nike because of some schmoozing ability? He was kind of effective here when he had Lindsey keeping him in check. Maybe he just needs a lot more oversight — like he can make something happen if given a mission but if he’s the one determining what should happen, you’re screwed. The insanity of his recent moves are just impossible to comprehend.

At Nike, all he had to to was find a high profile player he wanted to sign to a shoe deal and throw money at them.  Cuban wanted to capitalize on Nico's relationships with players to draw FA's to Dallas.  Seems he's looking at Nike guys - AD, KD - and using his old M.O. of throwing enough capital at the deal to get it done.  Nike didn't have a salary cap...