Only Fantasy Traders in the Building (The Mitchell Case)

[DanSchwartzgan]

I think expiring Powell may play a role.
 

Getting back to the OP (kind of), I was reading Tim Cato’s Q&A piece from a few days ago.  He reasserts Powell is the most likely Mav to be gone before the season begins.  He also points out Dallas isn’t trying to land a star with the poo poo platter it has to offer.  Instead, the idea is for Dallas to insert itself (and presumably Powell) into a deal that helps teams complete something they wouldn’t be able to do otherwise.  

I’ve already spoken about using Powell in a larger deal where NY is getting Mitchell, but doesn’t want non-expiring players like Fournier or Randle.  I note that Miami is pretty light on expiring deals also which would make it difficult to complete a deal if the other team wanted young cheap talent and expiring veterans.

The natural question is why Powell?  Why not just pay SA or Indy for their space?  Well that word “pay” obviously.  Dallas is motivated to swap him for something while SA and Indy are motivated to get picks for the use of their room.  Also, Powell can eat some innings for the right team.  I’ll note that Utah and Philly are both a bit thin at backup center.

Another place I think Powell may make sense is helping to facilitate Sexton’s eventual move to a new team.  His BYC status and asking price make a direct two-team deal challenging.  As a for instance, let’s use his reported asking price of $20-$22mm and the rumor that Utah is interested once Mitchell is done.  That means the Cleveland outgoing is $10mm-$11mm.  Cleveland can only take back one of Utah’s low teens guys like Clarkson or Beverley, but neither matches the full incoming of $20+ million.  However, if the deal is Clarkson to Cleveland and Beverley for Powell, Utah is sending out $26.3mm and that is enough to match Sexton in his range plus Powell.  Cleveland gets the bench scoring lost in cheaper Clarkson on a shorter contract.  Dallas gets a third ball handler who joins Maxi as a bench defender also.  Utah gets their Mitchell replacement and a one year center in Powell.