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[SleepingHero]

I buy all of this in the ilk of "So you're saying there's a chance??"

How much leverage is there really, when neither party wants each other? It's not really a threat. As DS indicated, that purely hypothetical leverage is just about numbers that work, and nothing more, in a situation where HOU's cap room is being used as money that may be there for EVERY free agent, but whose threat goes away when players and teams actually start talking and HOU has specific targets they are pursuing.

I don't think Kyrie would have even minimal interest in a team full of youngsters who aren't much of a team. He wants to be on a team with a running mate, like Lebron, KD, or Luka. And as for HOU, they have possible interest in Harden (and vice versa) because of experience, but that doesn't have anything to do with Kyrie.

Given that HOU does have the cap space and are desperate to start winning (the Udoka hire is the biggest piece of this to me), I see HOU as a very real threat, regardless  of lack of fit/history. Kyrie wants to get paid. It's his only goal. Kyrie doesn't care for "good" basketball situations. If that was the case he'd have never forced his way off of CLE in 2016 right after the championship. He'd have never forced his way out of BOS. Nets are more complicated, but again he truly did not care for the basketball situation. 

I can be convinced of a scenario where the Mavs try and lowball Kyrie (something to the tune of ~35 a year) and HOU comes on in and offers the full max that they can. And I am sure Kyrie would take the max from HOU, play nice till the TDL, then force a trade to either PHX or LA so he can play with Lebron or KD. We'd all say the Mavs were correct in trying to get Kyrie at a lower contract and that they were unlucky that HOU swept in. It'd be the same song and dance we've seen for 13 years. 

Thankfully this is all just speculation and that HOU doesn't seem to be all that interested in Kyrie, nor does there seem to be any apparent interest either from Kyrie's side. But the incentive (and threat) is there for both HOU and Kyrie to work together should the Mavs come in and play games with Kyrie.