MAVS NEWS:

[KillerLeft]

My preference is to keep both at good numbers and shed some of the bench excess between Martin or Naji plus Powell, Hardy and OMax.  I would put draft capital with that for the right player, but would probably prefer a band-aid until Kyrie gets back over paying too much for someone who isn't in our long term plans.

All the ideas I'm seeing are "my favorite of all the bad choices" type of opinions. 

Maybe I'm crazy, but with this team within striking distance of being a true contender, having great depth (some of which needs to be handled a certain way to avoid luxury tax hell) and some teams already finding themselves IN said luxury tax hell...my hopes are set on an actual good player. The kind they'd want to keep and integrate AFTER Kyrie gets healthy (if he ever does). 

I believe they have enough to acquire a guard like that, if the right one becomes available, and to my way of thinking it has never been more plausible that names we assume aren't available might be over the summer. 

IDK, maybe I'm crazy, but I feel there might be an off the wall triple of a deal out there this summer for the taking. If there's not and it's a matter of the criteria you suggest and nothing more, and IF PJW is willing to take a deal like that, then absolutely, he's the one you keep. In other words, if salary structure is the only real concern, then I prioritize PJW over Gafford, Naji Marshall and even Klay Thompson, personally. 

I do think people's expectations of maintaining this type of depth are fairly unrealistic. AD is EXPENSIVE, and Kyrie will be pretty expensive, too, despite being injured. Flagg won't be cheap, even on his rookie deal, given he'll go #1. I think "depth" is about to mean Caleb Martin and Dwight Powell, not Naji Marshall and Daniel Gafford. But, we'll see how it plays out.