NBA TRADE TALK: TDL over

[omahen]

Imho, the only deal that makes Mavs better is to trade THJ with assets for a better player, so basically change his contract for a better one and then pay the tax by resigning DFS and Brunson. All of the rest is imho making Mavs worse. Dumping THJ for nothing is just saving money, they are not better for it. Adding cheap contracts of Brunson and/or DFS with "salary match players" like THJ for a good but not all star player is likely just a marginal improvement. Resigning existing team puts them deep in tax but we all doubt this team is a contender. You can't really get something of value for DFS and/or Brunson straight up. Letting DFS and/or Brunson walk is worst.  

One area where Mavs can certainly save money is that group of overpaid vet min players in Burke, Brown, Bobi - you could easily save at least a million per each of them by replacing them with vet min guys. One other option - Kleber is not guaranteed and will be 30 years old. Would he agree to sign a new, lets say, 20/4 deal instead of that 9 million for next season? Certainly areas I would explore that would save 10 mil in total without really affecting quality of the roster.