NBA Trade Rumors |

[Tyler]

From Shams Charania inside pass:

Rival teams say that the Mavericks are aiming to clear a roster spot for flexibility, first via trade. Dallas has opened up talks in the market place to acquire a wing player and a center, the latter of which could come in the free-agent space.

Do you interpret that to mean Trade for a wing and sign a center off the street or after players are waived?

Without the full context, I could read this two ways.  

1) Dallas wants to make a trade to clear a roster spot first, which would give them the flexibility to bring back more players than they send out.  

2) Dallas wants to also create an extra roster spot in any trade they're considering, which would give them the flexibility to make some other move (dabble in the buyout market, bring in an overseas player, etc).  

The main point I'm getting is that they want to clear a roster spot but prefer to do it via trade than to simply cut a guy.  Maybe they're looking at some deals that get them close to the luxury tax and they need to carefully manage the payroll.