Trade & FA 2023-24: Stein-Ingram Trade Inevitable| LAL Want Lebron Back On Any Terms

[DanSchwartzgan]

My concern would be that the asking price for an impact player under contract may still be sky high. Teams were apparently offering 3 1sts for OG and 4 1sts for Bridges at the deadline and that wasn't enough to close the deal. Dallas can't match an offer like that unless they put Green on the table.

The Kyrie discount idea is interesting but a little scary. Unless they are 100% sure he's on board, I wouldn't do anything that makes him feel my commitment is wavering. After all, they've got a title to win before the implosion can happen.

All firsts are not created equally.  The four for Bridges are thought to be from NY.  Some of those are crap Firsts's.  Dallas would have to offer unprotected picks if they go the 25/27 route.  If they go 24/26, then 26 could have a protection in 26, but would have to go unprotected in 27 or convert to something other than a first after that (like pick swaps since we don't have seconds).  Toronto is going to have a problem on their hands if Siakam makes All NBA and they don't want to pay him the Super-Max.  I think that creates an opportunity with Poeltl being insurance.

Kyrie would certainly have to sign off in advance in such a move.  We have a history of this kind of thing.  He'd be in on the plan from the go and would even know the target(s) he'd be giving up money for.  I said I wasn't going to get into worlds where Kyrie doesn't return, but more than LAL, I fear a Phoenix attempt to get Kyrie using Ayton.  If it was a straight up deal, then Kyrie has to take a discount.  There are ways to add a little salary from Phoenix to get him to his number, but they don't have a ton of options for trades or S&T's to add to the deal.