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

[F Gump]

Brad Townsend
@townbrad
“We’re not done at all. This is just the beginning.” — Nico Harrison


At least they seem to know the current roster is still not close.

One possible route is to just fill in the open slots with free agents, in whatever way the CBA allows.

The current roster is
C - Holmes, Lively, McGee
PF - Maxi, Prosper
SF - Luka, THJ
SG - Green, Bullock
PG - Kyrie, Hardy

Assuming Kyrie at the same salary as Luka (a bit over 40M), and a cap that lands at the highest possible number ($136,0210,000 - a hair over the 136M just projected), we can calculate where the tax line will likely land, and also the other numbers like MLEs, BAE, minimums, rookie scale. The exact numbers get announced in early July, and some may be rounded (which is NBA's pattern).

But using the likely numbers, and assuming Mavs sign 14 (the minimum) rather than 15, the Mavs have 3 players left to sign, with the following money available:

NonTxMLE  approx  12.405M
1 One-Year Veteran Minimum  approx  2.0197M
BAE (maybe just missing a sliver)  4.515M  (Mavs may not quite have enough for all of this, or want to leave a bit of a cushion)

How would they fill in those blanks? Who might they target with MLE, BAE, minimum?

Of course, if they make a trade, the totals change, so these calculations may become irrelevant, and it may also change the number of slots being filled.

Or if they decide they want 15 players, then the BAE gets scrapped and they land at 171.5M with a small cushion under the 172M-or-so hard cap. In which case, it's MLE, minimum, minimum, minimum.

Or if some team wants Wood in a snt, then the player(s) in return will use that money and fill in those 3 slots to some degree.