(07-19-2025, 08:01 PM)omahen Wrote: Here is a fun proposal. Hi Nico, Rob here, remember me? I am offering you Vincent for Martin straight up. Vincent is short, but he plays defense and I heard a very smart man say that defense wins championships. You could use a back-up PG until Kyrie returns and Vincent is expiring - you save 20 mil in next two seasons. We could take a gamble on a player like Martin, since we are already hoping for half our roster that they will return to their glory years from several seasons ago. Another one makes it only more certain that we will strike lucky on at least some. We could use him in our rotation and we save the two mil we need to complete the Smart deal. I know you lack just a little bit of space below the 2nd apron to do the deal, but you will do something to free a roster spot anyway. What do you say?
Edit: thinking more about it, Vincent is actually a better player and you could easily show you are fleecing us, so I think you should throw in a second rounder. Who values them anyway...
I'm very leery of the idea of Nico the Idiot trying to negotiate with Rob. For the Mavs, on that basis alone, I'd tend to pass, because who knows what stupid result the Mavs would get. But I'm taking it out of Nico's hands, and replying out of courtesy.
It's not cap legal as a trade as is. With both teams needing to clear salary, they make lousy trade partners. But since you asked ...
Trade issues for me would be:
Vincent's defense last year was mediocre at best.
How bad is his knee injury?
For trade to work for Mavs from a cap pov, LA would have to nominally take Martin and OMax to make it a legal trade (which means LA has to find a 3rd team to take OMax, which I would expect be done at their expense, not Mavs).
Picks should go to Mavs since Martin has far more utility, plays defense (which LA needs and Luka craves), and is locked up on a team-friendly below-MLE contract for several years.
Mavs don't really need this deal - they can simply find a taker for Omax plus cash to pay his salary (and can still hope to find someone who might pay a cheap price to get and develop him as an athletic player). So its desirability rises or falls on the margins of the proposed deal LA might make.
That's my initial thinking.