08-02-2021, 08:00 AM
(08-02-2021, 07:18 AM)Kammrath Wrote: https://twitter.com/johnhollinger/status...1688471553
"Dallas’s move to trade Richardson’s $11 million salary, meanwhile, while still picking up the $4 million player option on Willie Cauley-Stein, looked an awful lot like the type of move a team makes when it knows exactly what dollar figure it needs to get to for a certain player or players.
Finally, the Heat picking up a $19.4 million option for The Dragon likely sets them up to executive a sign-and-trade for Kyle Lowry. (the Heat could pay him $87 million over three years in a sign-and-trade for Dragic and Precious Achiuwa, for instance), or to execute a swap for another player contract if they can’t succeed with Plan A.
Let’s go back to the Mavs for a minute, who now start free agency with $32 million in cap space. That’s not enough to sign Kawhi Leonard, but should be plenty for Plan B. Again, actions and not words. We heard chatter about the Mavs being a legitimate player for Leonard earlier in the summer, but that talk has died down of late. The Clippers will maintain an appropriate level of paranoia until the ink dries on the contract. Trust me on this, having been through it: your own players’ free agency is absolutely nerve-wracking, even when the odds are in your favor. But the expectation is that Leonard will be back in L.A.
As for Dallas, if that $32 million can’t nab Lowry, it should be more than enough to retain Tim Hardaway, Jr. and nab at least one other high-profile free agent in a deep point guard crop. The Mavs are also interested in Mike Conley (whom they tried to wrest from us in Memphis five years ago), but indications are that he will return to Utah."
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