TDL Archived: The 2nd Rnd Pick Yankee Swap

[DanSchwartzgan]

Having Lavert available certainly is an avenue to making ATL happy, maybe. But other players can provide the same salary-match, so they might be even happier by getting whatever is being sent to Dallas.

And it's also possible a Collins-to-Indy deal might NOT include much of a salary match, depending on what Indy decides with Turner -- Indy could send Duarte for Collins and still have over $8M in room to renegotiate a raise-and-extend with Turner. If my math and CBA is right, they could offer 5 years including this one, with something like $150M total (with 4 years/$142M of it being new). When I think about who Turner is and what I'd want to pay, that actually seems like too much, not too little, and I doubt Turner would be getting bigger offers in the summer. (It would take a deal starting at over $33M.)

If you want to give Indy access to all possible avenues you mentioned earlier with Turner, you do the deal that is listed above this post.  J Smith, Duarte and Bitadze outgoing for Collins gets Indy to Turner's Max renegotiation amount for the current season (if my math is right).

If we agree that Indy needs to get Turner to that number to keep open all possibilities, the question you are asking is whether Atlanta would prefer Bitadze/Duarte vs. LeVert (since I already have Smith going to Atlanta in the post I'm referencing).  Given the centers they have, I don't see Atlanta wanting Bitadze.  With Hunter moving to PF, they probably want LeVert more than Duarte from a size standpoint.

To your point, it doesn't have to be that combo of players to get Turner's renegotiation to $37mm.  But, that combo of players works and kind of makes sense for both teams.  Thanks to you and 2021 for helping me clarify my thinking.  Indy just has so many PF types that it was hard to come up with a combo I like.  I agree with 2021's evaluation of Bitadze's potential.  GS reportedly prioritized Duarte over Moody in that draft.  I get that this is a step back in 22/23, but it adds to the youngsters that could be used in the NEXT trade.  What is the word I'm looking for.....oh yeah, flexibility.