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[Chicagojk]

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.

If Middleton stays healthy and there is interest in both sides to come back, I think the salary is the tricky part.  Especially at his age and injury history.   It feels like the minimum is too low and the MLE or higher is too high.  We just saw how hard it was to get off guys making 6 million in Hardy and DLO.    No one is touching martin who has more years left at around 10 million.   Give him a too high contract and you are right back in the same spot.

A lot of time left in the season but whether he is back or not, the more important thing is what he salary would look like.