NBA TRADE TALK: TDL over

[DanSchwartzgan]

For the sake of discussion, lets assume Brunson is gone after this season, because he wants to go and it is not about money. Philly would actually be a good place for him to run a team, as long as they don't bring in someone like Lillard. In this light I find the Philly "proposal" intriguing. Two young guys on cheap contracts for one more season. Milton is capable of being a good Luka back-up. Reed has upside to his game but just can't get minutes in Philly. Extremely high energy guy with a motor that doesn't stop. Only 22 years old. I would have Philly eat Burke contract and try to squeeze a protected FRP from them instead of those second rounders mentioned. Perhaps swap that FRP for our pick from NY. Unfortunately I don't think Brunson can bring much more due to his unrestricted status. Mavs would lose talent this season (I don't think they are contenders anyway) but would have better position next season and in future.

For the sake of discussion…

This feels like a discount to NAV.  Do we want to take any kind of a discount from a team that doesn’t have cap space this summer?  Let’s set Brunson at THJ money…$18mm.  Philly has no path.  Heck, BYC will make even a S&T difficult unless the trade is expanded significantly.

I haven’t studied this, but the teams Spotrac lists as having the most “practical space” this summer are Det, Orl, OKC, SA and Memphis.  Does Brunson really want to go to any of those?  Plus, they all have pretty good PG’s already (unless they want to send one back to us).  

Before we do something, I’d like to identify who the true threat is to steal Brunson rather than dwelling in the abstract fear that we might lose him for nothing.  Maybe there is something obvious that I’m not thinking of. Who besides Philly and NY have been mentioned as having interest?  Who besides the teams above have a shot at cap space?   The biggest concern I see is someone doing something unexpected (like OKC trading SGA for a player at another position and then using space for Brunson).  But, like I said, I haven’t spent much time studying this as I want to just pay Brunson and keep him (since it isn’t my money).