06-03-2023, 04:49 PM
(06-03-2023, 10:03 AM)F Gump Wrote: Ok. But I still think ATL will be salary-sensitive (using the TE increases their payroll by 3M) and Johnson could make sense for the Mavs.
Oh, I’m not arguing against adding Johnson to the deal at all. He’d be a really nice addition (would love to see him and Green running the floor with Kyrie in the non-Luka minutes). It is really challenging to determine value here. I thought Cato’s deal needed Atlanta to do more (take on McGee). Then you added that plus us getting Johnson. Who knows what constitutes fair value for moving down 5 spots.
And you are right about Atlanta being ‘salary-sensitive’. They worked very hard to stay under the tax this last season. It will be difficult to do next season and then you have the Murray extension kicking in after that and we’ll be talking about which apron are they over at that point. I was just pointing out the method by which the trade was legal.
If we are really trying to be cost conscious for Atlanta, probably the best thing we could do is send them Maxi and guarantee enough of Reggie to salary March (then they could S/W that amount). In June, that would be just a bit above Reggie’s guarantee amount. Next season they’d be at Maxi (11) plus a $2mm S/W for Reggie instead of $20.6mm for Capella (save $7.6mm). Is Maxi plus some savings better than THJ for Atlanta? Is Maxi/Reggie for Capela enough to motivate Dallas to drop down 5 spots? What if we added back Johnson or Griffin Jr. Or, is the deal fair without exchanging picks? Capela seems a really logical player for Dallas to target. He fits what we need and there is a TE, draft picks to exchange and an over abundance of young wings on their side of the ledger. We just need to get the particulars right.