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

[cjeter24]

The Paul to PHX story makes a ton of sense on multiple fronts. 

1. They can afford him. With 15 mill of cap space that's less big money contracts that you have to send back to OKC. An expiring Oubre and Rubio get it done with combined with cap space. The hardest part of moving Paul for OKC will be to not take back garbage and still get an asset for Paul. 

2. Bridges would be a natural replacement for Oubre for PHX. I already had suspected that with further improvement this year, Oubre may be odd man out by next summer anyways. 

3. Oubre is still a quality asset. Surely you aren't getting a lottery pick for Paul included in that deal. What about picks for Oubre from a 3rd team? 18 and 31 for Oubre is a solid get IMO. 

You could easily trade up for a lottery pick if you throw in one of your additional hoard of 1st rounders with 18 and 31.

If I’m Phoenix and I’m really going to step out of character and do this, I’d use my cap room for Gallinari (or some upgrade at PF over Saric and Frank the Tank) and then do the deal for Paul.  Rubio and Oubre combined make almost enough to trade match.  It wouldn’t take much more.  The trick is this would need to be done in the new season if draft compensation is included.  You could agree to the deal and swap picks and then consummate the deal after Phoenix uses its cap room.  Phoenix would be pretty competitive for the next couple of years.

Yeah that wouldn't be a bad move. The issue with that is they pretty much have to get the Paul trade done outside of any deal unless he is still not traded at the start of free agency. If a deal is done tho... It really doesn't matter if the deal is done in free agency for the the Mavs. It's going to be a post draft trade regardless so Mavs can include their draft picks. 

So all PHX has to do is say hey wait lets wait a second to finalize this deal. Use the cap space and then finish cap matching the last few mill for Paul's deal. I think Frank's expiring deal makes the money work. OKC could probably squeeze a 2nd or something out of them for their troubles. 

Really for OKC, Oubre doesn't make a lot of sense to just keep at least thru all the season. You risk losing him in FA and he may cost alot anyways. But I think Oubre has pretty solid tradable value and to be able to flip Paul for any other asset and not take bloated deals back will be a win. 

Of course OKC could just balk and say we got an all pro here. But I seriously doubt anyone is paying up that price at his age and price tag.