2020-2021 ROSTER TALK: Archived

[DanSchwartzgan]

Didn't nearly see THT enough to judge him, but 20 mil per year seems like huge risk for still relatively unproven player, jumping into much bigger role. One thing is certain though - Lakers would certainly be willing to listen to SnT. So why not instead of money whipping them, go for JRich-THT double SnT? I guess everyone could see a benefit there. JRich remains on a contender in an important role, Lakers get proven player they need short term (and can't sign any other way), Mavs get THT at more reasonable salary. I doubt there will be teams waiting in line throwing 20 per offers to him. Something in the range of 10-13 mil per should be more than enough, imho.

Edit: Strike double SnT, Lakers can't afford SnT JRich as they will be way over hard cap. He would have to opt in and then sign extension with Lakers. Not really that unrealistic, imho.

Very reasonable if JRich will play along.  Duffy is helping client JRich and client Luka by giving him a young running buddy who is theoretically a better fit that the previous attempts of DWright and JRich.  BTW, THT and Brunson can play just fine together and because of the size of THT and Luka, you can easily play all three together.

For what LA needs from its center position, they might value WCS as an inexpensive ST solution...especially if Harrell finds greener pastures.  Even with both players outgoing from Dallas, you can keep THT in the same area you suggest.  Dallas would be subject to the hard cap, but I don’t see that as an issue in 2021.  You aren’t limited in what you can pay THJ in this scenario and you have the big MLE.  The other thing you have in your negotiations with LA is a credible threat to do serious damage to their salary structure.

I will repeat something I said earlier.  I think Dallas has an archetype that that it likes in the guard role next to Luka.  Defending the point of attack is critical.  If upgrading JRich is a priority, and I think it should be and is more likely than upgrading DFS or Maxi, then Lonzo is the only guard that fulfills the archetype better than THT.