(02-14-2021, 09:08 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: Here's an addendum to what I wrote yesterday (also posted in the Brunson thread):
The somewhat unusual thing about Brunson is he has a super-cheap non-guaranteed 4th year next season. If Dallas elects to pay him that amount, he is UFA the summer of 22 and we have no control. One way of mitigating that is to give him an extension, but that is limited to 120% of the average salary or about $12 million. We have examples of similar PG's making more than that. So, probably not a solution.
Your post reminded me of another possible solution. I need to look this up, but I think we could make Jalen free this summer by foregoing our option. That would make Jalen RFA this summer with a small hold and we can pay him whatever we want. This doesn't happen often (four year deals for 2nd rounders aren't the norm). Houston and Chandler Parsons went through this back in 2014. The choice was to pay him his small non-guaranteed 4th year and probably lose him the next season as a UFA. Or, Houston could make him RFA that summer and presumably retain him after doing a bunch of other free agent signings. We all know how that worked out.
That would potentially solve the 22 UFA issue. It would just cost Cuban some extra money in the 21-22 season. As you point out, we don't have to have cap room in 21 to do this. Brunson's cap hold it just a little bit more than his 2021 non-guaranteed salary.
I cant recall when the Mavs resigned a backup PG. Seams like they have always let them go in free agency, Barea, Yogi - just to name a few. They have Brunson on the vary cheep and Terry as vary cheep insurance. So I see Brunson as either being traded or he plays out his contract and not resigned. It's the MBT's MO.