08-04-2021, 12:09 PM
(08-04-2021, 12:05 PM)F Gump Wrote: "Mavs don't want to pay $19M" is one of the "obstacles" to a Dragic deal we've heard mentioned.
Also
"Mavs don't want to give up Powell and WCS"
"Mavs don't want to give up Green, Brunson, Terry"
"Mavs just want to sign Dragic after he's bought out"
"Raps would not buy out Dragic, they'd rather keep him"
"Raps just want a team that will take Dragic into space"
"Raps don't want Powell's contract"
"Raps want lots of value because Dragic is valuable"
And on and on we go.
Meanwhile, Dragic is commenting on how he loves the idea of playing with Luka, and how he's not sure where he will be playing, and how he's waiting on a "third team" to be included in the MIA-TOR trade.
My observation? None of the "obstacles" are The One Big Thing to be taken at face value. They are all just negotiating items by one side or the other, a bunch of negotiating through the media, as everyone is jockeying to get an outcome more to their preference. I'm sure there's some truth in some of those items (for example, it's probably true that the Mavs wouldn't want to give up BOTH Powell and WCS, and leave the roster so thin at center) but there's a lot of BS-ery too.
I think they'll figure it out. And I'm glad to see the Mavs are not just rolling over and giving TOR whatever they happen to demand.
My personal take on it is that the Mavs dont' really want Dragic all that bad.
They want to swap Powell for Dragic for the obvious reasons of too many centers, and a lack of playmaking guards. And to make Luka happy of course.
But they don't value him in any sort of way. The value in the deal is offloading Powell which has been what the Mavs have been rumored to be trying to do the last few days.
That sets them up to be opportunistic in trades this year and free agency next year because they would have all their contracts easy tradable good players. They all sort of have some value.