2019-2020 Mavs Trade Discussion + Salary Chart

[SleepingHero]

First of all, it is highly likely Giannis will resign with Milwaukee. GSW was never in 2021 free agency. However, they have excellent trading position if Milwaukee decides to trade Giannis before he leaves. Wiggins +2020 top 5 pick + high 2021 pick from Minesota (I bet they will still suck) + all the other possible picks.

You are forgetting - if salary cap reduces, Dallas will still need to drop plenty of players to create max cap space. More than planned, much more.

I agree that it's incredibly likely Giannis just stays. He seems to be the type of guy to see things through. However, he hasn't made it a secret that he wants to win. This year was shaping up to be a competitive year for the Bucks, but right now it's up in the air of what will happen. So it falls on next year to make something happen or else it's been 10 years in MIL with no winning. 

I can definitely see Giannis testing the waters if that occurs, and Dallas definitely is in a much more primed position than any other year of going to bat in free agency.

And given the Warriors cap situation, I believe they'd have to send more than just Wiggins to make the numbers work. They'd be close to 40 million over the cap and already in the tax. GSW would obviously trade Draymond in a heartbeat, but while the core of Steph, Klay, and Giannis might be one of the most powerful trio's ever, they can't play 48mpg every game. And the Warriors would be capped. 

All of this is purely conjecture. Just a fun thought experiment.

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It may require an offseason of standing pat (or worse) to take advantage of that. We would probably need to offload Wright for an expiring. Then we would have to avoid signing anyone, except this year's draft pick, to more than a 1 year deal. We also allow THJ to become a FA and potentially walk. That would likely get us a max slot and the chance to land a star.

The risk with going the S&T route is that the other team won't play ball, but that seems to happen less and less these days. Jimmy Butler to Miami is a good example. If Giannis tells Milwaukee he's not coming back, I doubt they will try to hold him hostage.

I don't think it'd be hard at all to offload Wright for an expiring contract. And it'd be pretty easy to offload the picks as well since more and more teams are looking for great players at a controlled cost. Perhaps the Mavs could swing for the fences and package them together to land a player that consolidates talent, something many have been advocating for this entire year.

If Giannis does make it known that he wants to sign with a specific team, then it behooves the Bucks to take the avenue that nets them the best possible haul in terms of assets and that would obviously be a sign and trade. That's why to me all these stars are getting SnT because its the orgs last ditch to pry some sort of value, even though they have no negotiating power.