2023 DRAFT: Mavs take Lively, OMP, sign Mike Miles to 2-way, sign Jordan Walker

[Mavs2021]

I don't expect the fan base to get the difference, but this isn't Plan Powder (if it happens).  You can keep the pick and either not get more than a 10% trade spread and not get the MLE (maybe both) and probably have to S/W someone and impact your cap for years to come.  These restrictions are daunting.

Or, you can find a way to sell this as an asset play that made the such-and-such trade and/or the such-and-such signing legal when it wouldn't have been otherwise.  Just a few million makes a huge difference.

Also makes a difference whether you draft the next Giannis or the next Shane Larkin.

Doesn´t make much of a difference whether you spend the MLE on the next Reggie Bullock, Delon Wright or Josh Richardson, when your team is in desperate need of more high end talent. When you have no assets the only way is the draft.

The only reason to trade down is that you are 100% convinced that your BPA will be available 4-5 spots later and you can extract extra value from a trade down. Doing it to gain some short-term financial flexibility is once again atrocious short-sighted decision-making.