08-23-2026, 10:36 AM
I don’t think it coincidence that the space under the tax now sits just tens of thousands over the MLE value we have left. It doesn’t mean we have to use the MLE right now. It could happen much later in the season to sign someone who gets cut. Dallas has left itself in position to be flexible as it already has a 15 man roster in place while also having options regarding Cisse.
As we learned a couple of seasons ago, they won’t take themselves to just under the tax and hope to stay under it. Using the full $12mm on someone would take us just under the tax. But, our salary totals include the full $2mm for Cisse. One million of that guarantees on 9/1 and the rest on 10/1. We don’t have to decide this by 9/1 as a $1.0mm cushion would be enough. But if the intention is to use the MLE to sign an extra player, doing so by 9/1 saves a million dollars that they really don’t need to spend.
Not my theory, but I read somewhere that having the MLE might be leverage to try to get LAC to do something we want them to do. They have their SG/SF position well covered at this point. It isn’t a lock they would match a $52mm offer sheet for Mathurin. The question is whether they would rather have something in a negotiation versus a binary decision with an offer sheet.
I think Masai has surpassed expectations at every turn so far. Maybe it is Martin instead of Gafford as the outgoing. Or, maybe he wants an asset with Mathurin for Gafford.
It is reasonable to ask why this hasn’t happened yet if it was going to happen. The obvious answer is LAC is waiting for the Kawhi deal to finalize or there is something about what they want to do that requires a larger deal to complete. That was the theory when they were seemingly pursuing Watson. We will also get to the point where some players who have restrictions will start to see those restrictions expire. So, if this were more that a one-for-one deal, that could come into play also.
As we learned a couple of seasons ago, they won’t take themselves to just under the tax and hope to stay under it. Using the full $12mm on someone would take us just under the tax. But, our salary totals include the full $2mm for Cisse. One million of that guarantees on 9/1 and the rest on 10/1. We don’t have to decide this by 9/1 as a $1.0mm cushion would be enough. But if the intention is to use the MLE to sign an extra player, doing so by 9/1 saves a million dollars that they really don’t need to spend.
Not my theory, but I read somewhere that having the MLE might be leverage to try to get LAC to do something we want them to do. They have their SG/SF position well covered at this point. It isn’t a lock they would match a $52mm offer sheet for Mathurin. The question is whether they would rather have something in a negotiation versus a binary decision with an offer sheet.
I think Masai has surpassed expectations at every turn so far. Maybe it is Martin instead of Gafford as the outgoing. Or, maybe he wants an asset with Mathurin for Gafford.
It is reasonable to ask why this hasn’t happened yet if it was going to happen. The obvious answer is LAC is waiting for the Kawhi deal to finalize or there is something about what they want to do that requires a larger deal to complete. That was the theory when they were seemingly pursuing Watson. We will also get to the point where some players who have restrictions will start to see those restrictions expire. So, if this were more that a one-for-one deal, that could come into play also.
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