MAVS 132, BLAZERS 117

[Mavs2021]

Some thoughts...

This was the second fewest shot attempts (12) from Brunson as a starter.  The game with fewer was a low minutes blowout of Charlotte.  You can kind of see the team giving him periods of "rest" where he's on the floor, but the O is run through other guards.  That way, when Brunson is really needed, he can "take over".  Unfortunately, "taking over" is a relative term.  He can't take great defenders (like Jrue Holiday) nor can he beat double teams the way Luka can.  So, as many have said, high floor, but limited ceiling.  Nothing wrong with that BTW.  Here's my question...The teams with money this summer that also need a PG are bad teams.  Pretend you are his dad and you know from experience he can go to one of those teams for $17mm/year and be overpaid/overmatched 82 nights a year (and not very successful) or take $12mm-$14mm here and be "the little engine that could".  What would you advise?

I advice to get rid of some of THJ, Bullock, Powell, WCS, Kleber, Burke or Boban instead. That´s an insane amount of salary, roughly 60M for guys that are all inferior to Brunson. Just give Brunson his $17M/year. Then it only becomes a question of whether Brunson is satisified with being the 2nd or 3rd best guard on the team, possibly the 6th man of the year or if he wants more.

Brunson is a 25 year old UFA. Right now he´s averaging 16/6/4. That´s right in the ball park of guys like N. Powell, Trent Jr., Rozier or Lavert. 17M seems a fair number for him. It´s not cheap, but we are paying THJ more for 15/2/4, so it´s very simple. You talk to Brunson´s agent right now. Lay out the plan/usage, lay out the contract and say you want to extend your deal or not. He says YES, you work the trade market for THJ. He says NO, you work the trade market for Brunson.

I´m pretty confident you can get Gary Harris or Jeremy Lamb for THJ with the old Mavs connections and those teams lack of FA options. Those are also two players that will probably be re-signed for less than the MLE next summer, so you actually get to keep them, but they are no threat for Brunson´s status.