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

[KillerLeft]

While i agree with that last bit about a team getting desperate and overpaying, your points 1-3 i disagree. Indy takes on risk by keeping a disgruntled player into the season(reports he wanted out last year). That’s cancer on a team going nowhere(similar situation to Jimmy Butler on MIN). Mavs ONLY want to pay the rental price. Any extension trade would likely cost too much. We would also want the ability to let him walk if he turns out to be fraud. Everything works perfect then we re-sign him

Hey, I am just telling you what the experts are saying. 

Indiana wants a good offer for him, and Oladipo wants a new contract. They are working together to get him somewhere (maybe somewhere he wants, specifically) but there's no market for him AT THAT LEVEL because the teams in question aren't willing to give him a new contract. So, why would they offer trade assets for a player who they aren't sure they want to keep?

Indiana COULD have lowered their trade cost ask to the level that would entice someone to take a chance and hope it works out, as you suggest, but they DID NOT. Instead, they decided to start the season with him, hoping that when he plays, if he plays well, the offers they want might be there. This actually might be successful, and it might actually be in Oladipo's best interest. I suspect this is why the "I am committed to Indiana" article came out exactly when it did. 

Really, we're talking about Miami, Dallas and Toronto. Those are the teams who've been planning around 2021, and all three have been linked to Oladipo. It's possible, now that Giannis is off the board, that one of those teams will rethink their reluctance to gamble, agreeing to trade for him, extend him, call him their guy, etc. But, I don't think it's possible that Indiana backs off of their plan to hold firm and wait until a REAL market forms. I don't think there's a scenario, unfortunately, where you get him for junk and then get a year to evaluate whether he fits long term. 

Again, I didn't just dream this up. THIS IS THE WORD ON THE STREET from people who know. And, it makes perfect sense.