Trade & FA 2025-26: Free Agency Starts 5pm CST/6pm EST

[DanSchwartzgan]

Those rules look like a deal-killer to me. The Cavs are apparently over 13M above A2, and unless they end a trade UNDER that line, they can't combine salaries to take back a bigger one. But DAL can't take back more than they send.

MIL can do a deal w CLE, as they do have the ability to take back lots of extra salary (they are about 17M below A1 line). But do they have what MIL might want?

Is there any scenario in which AD/DAL is added to the mix and makes it more doable?

So here's the exercise for AD-to-CLE imo. Can someone create any version of DAL (AD), MIL (GA), and CLE (some package of really good players) doing a deal that includes those star players moving plus MIL absorbing a lot of added payroll that provides major salary reduction to CLE and maybe a bit to DAL?

I don't have the time to search for a deal that works with Milwaukee...or the time to plug all of this in right now.  But, from a methodology standpoint, I wonder if something like this would work:

Dallas would need to send out someone like Gafford to a team with space or a TPE to get below the first apron.  Cleveland needs to do something similar with Ball.  These probably need to be stand alone deals.  That won't get Cleveland under the second apron, but if Dallas is far enough below the first apron, maybe they can take back enough salary that Cleveland ends up below the second apron after the actual AD to Cleveland deal.