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[michaeltex]

I can actually see ways he might be useful.  Every player on the team doesn't have to be 19 years old.  Middleton, Kyrie and maybe Klay and Powell make for a nice grouping of vets who can not only still play, but can be good teaching influences to the young guys (Flagg, 2026, Lively and Christie).  As long as Kyrie is here and as long as we don't control our future picks, Dallas will try to be good next season.  Middleton isn't the worst guy I can imagine taking up a slot for the next couple of years with the right contract.  

I will say that if I kept him, I'd want trading PJ to be part of the equation.  I'm keeping an eye on 2028 cap space as a team building asset.  Middleton on a three year deal with a TO on the third year with PJ sent out would help that scenario (same with trading Gafford).  Flagg, PJ, Naji, Middleton and Martin is just too much investment at the forward position.  But, if you send out PJ for something, it starts to make sense (unless you also draft a forward).  

I'd like to see us work toward Flagg, 2026, Lively, Christie and Naji (with the latter 3 on reasonable extensions) be the main salary commitments we have heading into the summer of 28.  If we trade the longer contracts of PJ and Gafford, I could see it going two ways.  One would be for a younger player or RFA (like Ivey or Mathurin or similar).  The other approach might be an overpaid Vet who expires in 28 (Grant and Dejounte Murray come to mind as you might get an asset in a trade like that).

I think the most likely outcome is we S&T him somewhere using his Bird rights this summer and get a second for our trouble.  But, I think "insane" is an overstatement.  He's a useful guy in the near term and if you can structure a deal in a way that keeps possibilities open, then he's actually someone it makes sense to hang onto.

I was just about to write something similar when I got to your post, although without the excellent salary cap projections.

My thought is that Middleton can provide a useful role going forward and provide a tradeable asset in the future. The problem with a lottery-bound team having him, Bagley and the other new guys, is that most of them are playing for their next contract. Playing soft on a tanking team doesn't help their future earnings and may make it difficult to move up in the draft. 

Maybe I'm naive, but we have Flagg, a lottery pick in the '26 deep draft, FRPs through '31 (mostly), and a salary cap that isn't a hindrance on making deals. Throw in tradeable assets and a competent GM to complete the equation. I'd say we have paths to build a contender, especially if Kyrie is anything like he was.

FWIW, before the trade, I would have said NFW do I want Bagley on this team, but I've seen enough to spark an interest. He's not ashamed to score and seems to be efficient in rebounding. IDK if his defense is enough rim protection, but I do like the energy he brings (He was #2 pick for a reason). He's on a VM contract, Middleton is going to take a big cut from his $33M salary, Jones isn't wow-ing anyone and all are expiring. So I think there is cap space to re-sign a couple guys if we want this summer (there is sooo much $$ coming off the books this summer.)