04-07-2021, 12:59 PM
(04-07-2021, 12:19 PM)loki Wrote: The only way Collins can choose his destination is if he's willing to take the qualifying offer and become a UFA in 2022. Atlanta is not obligated to cooperate with him in a SnT. They can make their best offer, then sit back and wait to see if another team maxes him. If they do, it's an easy match. If not, he likely takes the cheaper long term deal.
I think what's going to happen is that Dallas and other teams will be negotiating with ATL first and then John Collins second. Also they can talk to ATL to set up a framework without wasting FA time.
The Bucks did this last year and screwed it up bc they put some cart before the horse with actually getting Bog on board with their Kings deal. Maybe he was on board until he knew he could get more money. At any rate that deal fell apart but if the team does its due diligence they can line up something like that.
The Mavs have leverage bc they can threaten a max offer sheet on Collins which ATL might not be crazy ab matching. ATL with their RFA rights have a lot of leverage bc they can simply match all offers. Collins leverage is he can have influence over which team he would agree to go to in a S&T situation (see Bog situation).
I expect the Mavs to take a crack at Collins even if its pre-FA negotiation w/ATL and potentially a third team to see if they can send ATL enough compensation for a S&T. If they get a deal there then getting Collins to sign a large deal (max or near max) shouldn't be too hard.
I wouldn't dismiss the Mavs pursuing this path *very* aggressively. They did a poison-pill contract on Parsons, they did an RFA max on Barnes who was a 10 ppg career scorer at the time! That deal was done solely on potential and was an indication of how desperate the Mavs were to find a foundational player.
Collins has shown way more already than Barnes ever did so the Mavs going all in on him would not be a surprise given what we've heard so far.