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

[Jakeospikez]

Don't really care what the Spurs get out of this.  Just care about the Mav's building the best thing they can build.  

I think there is a huge overvaluation of the #10 lottery ticket here.  We know with near certainty that the player taken here won't be a significant playoff contributor for the next couple of years.  We don't know if this player will even be a starter in that period of time.

The point of the 'junk' from SA (and I don't disagree) is the opportunity to use the assets (mainly the pick) elsewhere.  I already showed how Draymond might be included in such a deal.  What if we sent both Bertans and McGee into SA's cap space and swapped #10 for 33 and Atlanta's 2025 (so, no junk returning).  We know from last year that #11 was worth 3 protected firsts.  Why not a second, an unprotected first and a salary dump (SA isn't at the floor for 2022/23 and needs to get to the floor for the upcoming season, so they will use their space in one form or another.

You don't do the SA deal unless you have something else lined up.  Such a deal with SA would provide a $21.4mm TE.  OG and either Koloko or Achiuwa would fit into that TE.  Toronto isn't going to get a better offer for OG than two unprotected firsts (25 Atl and 27 Dallas) and no returning salary (an important aspect of this).  OG is one of those guys who probably can't sign an extension and will reach UFA a year from now.  We solve our two biggest problems and Toronto can potentially keep whoever else they want from their current team.

I think some could care about the FO image from something like that heh. I think it'd be a really bad look if the Mavs/Spurs started having some consistent playoff battles again like the Dirk/Duncan days and a key piece was gifted to them like that. Nothin wrong with focusing on your own self above all though.

I don't think it's that crazy to think a rookie can contribute in the playoffs at a meaningful level unless you take someone super raw. Decent chance someone like Coulibaly is not doing jack for an entire rookie contract. 
This is a mega outlier but Kawhi's rookie year in the playoffs - 27mins, 8.6/5.9/.6/1.2/.4 on 50/45/81, lost in WCF. 2nd year - 37mins, 13.5/9/1/1.8/.5 on 54.5/39/63. Lost in finals cause of Ray Allen. 3rd year - 32mins, 14.3/6.7/1.7/1.7/.6 on 51/42/73.6. Guarded Lebron all the time and won Finals MVP. He was playing with some HoFers and all that but just sayin it's not impossible for a rookie to be a solid contributor in the playoffs early if they just need to be a role player. Playing off of Luka & Kyrie means a rookie just needs to be a solid role player.

My main concern is having to get some rookie scale deals on the books from rookies that are depth with upside to become starters. Using picks to trade for players that have high desirability from the entire league will leave the cap pretty rough. Maybe if the trade had some young players included, which I guess Koloko is, it can be alright but I'm not sure the Raps take that deal. Even if the handshake deal was there with the Raptors for all that, definitely do not want to be fleeced in the Spurs portion of the trade. The other deals are better, I just think this is the highest the Mavs should expect to be drafting in the near future so they need to capitalize with at least 1 lottery or at least very close to lottery talent. Barring injury, I don't think this tank job will be happening again anytime soon. I guess it's cool to have other teams picks sometimes so you can take joy in their downfall as they gift a lottery pick, but the Mavs have not been savvy with their recent deals and it's probably too late for that now. Luka is 24 though, this isn't like Steph Curry or Lebron here. No need to shove all in, need to have enough to be competitive and make playoff runs, but be on the rise and competitive for a long time. Shoving all in too hard and failing with assets that lose all their value and another broken capsheet is probably how Luka leaves, because going through a rebuild would not be in his interest.