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

[KillerLeft]

Honestly if I was Giannis, I'd be signing that supermax at free agency. Give them certainty for now and give them chances to make moves. If they flop again demand a trade a year from now. 

Too much uncertainty and money to be lost by skipping the deal. 

Of course, Bucks don't have to accept the trade request. But I'd be surprised if they didn't. You almost always see the guy get traded in the end.

Two sides to that coin:

1) You're right, and there are other benefits to signing, too. If he doesn't, Giannis's future is literally the only thing anyone will care about in Milwaukee, or any city the travel to for games, for the entire season. He and the team can THINK they're prepared for that, but I'm betting that's the type of distraction that's worse than imagined when you actually live through it.

2) BUT, I'm here to tell you that Milwaukee sports are and have always been in a BAD situation. I used to do some work out there, and it's not hyperbole to say that the owners for all of their teams are among the cheapest in all of pro sports. They're only 45 minutes away from Chicago (the Chicago public train system can literally take you to Milwaukee), so the real fans have options and the casual fans don't support the teams. I 100% promise you that all of this "we'll pay the luxury tax" BS is only about keeping him. The second he signs, the clock on that thinking starts to count down, and a year from now they'll be dumping someone to get under the LT. Giannis's agent understands this, I promise.

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That´s why I said, if the Hornets were interested in such a deal, I´d swap Wright, Jackson, Powell and maybe a couple future 2nd rounders for Batum right now.

Carlisle had no interest to play Wright or Jackson in the play-offs, when we were down to 8-9 players. He never will.

If swapping Powell for Batum saves us from trading future 1st rounders, Curry, Brunson, Kleber or hopefully some promising rookies we draft in 10 days, you do it.

There will be plenty of UFA bigs that you can pay 10M for a single season to be Powell:

Meyers-Leonard
Henson
Biyombo

I'm not too far off from your thinking, but A) I think there's a chance of moving those guys in a slightly more productive way, and B) if not, that same type of "just create space" deal should be available at the trade deadline. It almost always is. 

I agree that waiting until next summer is too late, despite all the talk about how teams can create space anytime they want. I don't think it's nearly as easy as people flippantly declare, especially when you're short on sweeteners to attach in such deals. 

If Giannis's future is still cloudy at the deadline and there are players here with guaranteed money past this season who aren't even in the rotation, then by all means, clear that space. Just my opinion. But, if you can turn them into guys who ARE going to be in your rotation NOW, that's even better, because then it won't hurt so much to have to move them, or Curry, Kleber, etc.