MAVS NEWS:

[Smitty]

On Gaff for Mathurin, as much as we like to talk about it, after looking at the details for everyone else, I don't think it works. The problem is that Indy's willingness to trade Mathurin is for the same reason that people here want to talk about trading Gaff - as an avenue to lower payroll next season.

I think he WILL get traded, but the Mavs don't have what Indy almost certainly wants - which is a C with a very low salary + expiring filler, or perhaps expiring plus a pick.

Indy does not pay tax. Next year the tax line will be about 201M. So far not counting Mathurin, they are already at 180M for 11 players, and they will also land a very high FRP (currently they sit at seed 3, where the salary would be 13.3M). That leaves no room for Mathurin or Gafford, not even close.

With those numbers, they won't really be able to match an offer for Mathurin as a RFA, so why bother?

It also makes perfect sense that Missi is being discussed, because he will make about 3.5M next year with salary control another year after that, and he's only 21.

Thanks for doing the work on the Pacers side and sharing. It makes the reports of Indy’s interest in Gafford more confusing. On a personal note, I think Gafford would be an excellent fit there.