FA: Kemba Walker to DAL | his knee is "not good"

[DanSchwartzgan]

This was likely about the buyout amount, or said another way, it was about how much Dallas would pay Walker to offset the amount Detroit would pay Kemba for the buyout. Dallas and Detroit were probably negotiating on this and the Mavs forced Detroit's hand by signing Facu for the minimum. With Dallas off the table, Detroit paid Walker the full amount and let him go. Fast forward a few weeks and Dallas now gets Kemba at the minimum, which was the price they were willing to pay all along. 

I could be wrong, but it sounds like Dallas won, at the cost of a 19 game delay.

I actually think Dallas and Detroit were negotiating a trade…maybe for months  The moment Kemba was traded the reporting was he would be waived.  That waiver didn’t happen and didn’t happen and didn’t happen.  So, Detroit decided to hold onto his salary with something in mind.  Dallas had the most obvious need and Kemba is a Schwartz guy (assuming that still means something).  

The timing of the waiver lends credence to the theory.  The whole “Dallas was on Facu for months” thing just seems like PR.  I don’t have a good explanation regarding why Kemba vs. Dragic other than the possibility that there was more to the trade and the chance to move another salary (probably a non-center) for expiring Kemba made a Kemba trade enticing enough to hold out hope for.  We all tend to treat reporting as the Gospel when it suits our narrative.  We’d probably all be better served to take all of the reporting (and even the actual statements) with a grain of salt as just about anything can be said with a purpose other than the one presumed when we here it.

Off topic, but I’d recommend the Ceiling is the Floor podcast from the last few days.  I’m only halfway through, but some really good analysis on why we have so much variability in our results (hint, we are more dependent on 3’s and no one other than SD and Green are hitting them).  Also some hints that something isn’t quite right inside the locker room (which meets the eye test for me).