DAL OFFSEASON: Trade & FA | Mavs "mostly done...but you never know."

[DanSchwartzgan]

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Does @"DanSchwartzman" or anyone else remember:

Can the Mavs do a sign and trade this offseason or are they hard capped and unable to do that?


I was just wondering if those Jerami Grant fans might be able to get him that way if you could send DEN a friendly contract or so that helps fill his void for them.

They are hard capped until the end of the 19-20 cycle but any Sign and Trade will have to be after that point. However, a S&T to acquire a player is one of the triggers to a hard cap. My recollection is that the Porzingas extension + Wright S&T were the triggers for the 19-20 HC.

The problem with the hard cap is that it takes Dallas out of the primary market on players under contract when they have draft capital. Waiting until after the draft for the Hard Cap to lift means Dallas is looking at having to make a deal with nothing but the '25 pick as the primary sweetener.

In my estimation Dallas can only make a significant money move if they have an arrangement with a team to do a deal IF a player they like is still on the board and they are willingly patient in consumating that deal AFTER the 2020 equivalent of July 1st.

If I’m understanding you, and it is possible I’m missing what you are saying, I think you are conflating two separate problems.

Yes, we are had capped.  But, that doesn’t keep us from trading Wright + 18 for a player making $5 million more than Wright.  The restriction we face is we just can’’t go over the apron.  Under the apron, we are fine to trade as we wish.

What keeps us from doing a S&T in the current season isn’t being hard-capped.  It is the fact that no one is a free agent until after the current season is over (at that point we will no longer be hard capped).  You are right that it is hard to imagine using a pick to trade for a free agent.  Team A can’t say “draft so and so and I’ll get Joe Free Agent to do a S&T”.  They don’t control Joe Free Agent and there would be a very real possibility of Team A getting stuck with a draftee they don’t want.  

Now, it is certainly possible Team B happens to covet someone Team A drafted and the market for their free agent is getting too rich.  The two teams could certainly work something out using the drafted player (unsigned or you have to wait) as part of the package for the S&T player.  The pick, if still unsigned, would count zero in the deal and so there would have to be other salary involved.

BTW, using the BAE on Bobi was another trigger for the hard cap.