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

[SleepingHero]

WHAT AN AYTON-CP3 TRADE MIGHT LOOK LIKE

Dallas doesn't want to increase their payroll, so they will want to send out matching 62.2M in salaries. That's right at the total for Hardaway, Bertans, Kleber, Bullock, McGee.

PHX can (and would) s-w Bertans, leaving them with 49.5M in cap cost along with Hardaway, Kleber, Bullock, McGee, which is about $1M below where they would be with Ayton-CP3 (on a minimum after being waived). After you factor in the gain of filling fewer empty roster slots, they are about $5M lower in salary.

In essence, PHX trades Ayton for Hardaway, Kleber, Bullock, McGee and their cap situation looks like this:

KD  47.6
Booker  36.0
Shamet  10.3
Payne  6.5
Hardaway, Kleber, Bullock, McGee   49.5
minimums (7)  14.0
TOTAL = 163.9
MLE spendable room = est 7M, or TxMLE 5M plus freedom up to Apron 2 at 180M

DAL ends up here
Luka 40.1
Kyrie  40.1
Ayton  32.5
CP   30.8
Green  4.8
Hardy  1.7
#10 Pick  5.2
minimums (8)  16.0
TOTAL = 171.0
Over Apron 1, TxMLE (5M) could be used without passing Apron 2

Observation --
A. That's a really thin team for DAL. But if you're a player who is looking for minutes and getting minimum salary offers, there's lots of opportunity.
B. If I was DAL, I would pass on the idea. Seems like paying CP 30.8M is a killer. But I could instead target Ayton by trade (THJ, Bullock, McGee) and CP as a FA signing (using either minimum, BAE, or part of MLE), which gives me better room to fill out the roster.

Thank you for breaking it down. 

I agree that is an incredibly thin team top to bottom. I would argue that Maxi is worth the cap hit and shouldn't be included, and the trade should still work with everyone sans Maxi.  Your second option is obviously way more preferable but does PHX really get motivated for THJ, Bullock, Mcgee? I want to say yes, but my opinion wavers each day.

With that, Luka/Kyrie/Green/Maxi/Ayton bench CP3, Hardy, #10 is a solid top 8 rotation. Add in Powell on a minimum deal, and the obvious Theo Pinson Locker Room Min Deal, and the Mavs have 5 spots for people who want to play a lot of minutes.