(06-05-2023, 11:11 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: This also makes me wonder about the value of some of our trade assets. THJ is clearly a better player than Bertans. But, is Bertans the better trade asset? Is a S/W really a wise use of an asset that might help one of these teams erase some salary a year from now?
I understand your point, and you are right that DB may be the better trade asset than THJ because of his potential for salary savings (17M on the cap becomes 4.4M with a s-w, which is huge). RB may have as much value too (10.8M on the cap can become 1.8M with a S-W). If you can work a buyout where they take a small reduction, you might increase the savings even more.
But the Mavs have salary issues of their own that a Bertans s-w might have to solve. And they might want to use Wood in a SNT if some team emerges where a trade including Wood moves the needle. And they might want to have a full MLE.
It's a complex equation, and they can't do it all. But somewhere in all of it is the question of how they assemble the best roster possible, I would hope. Maybe Cuban's working "hard cap" may be Apron 2 rather than Apron 1?