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

[SleepingHero]

There is some confusion about new CBA "aggregation" rules regarding Ayton on another board.  It was suggested that after 7/1/23, Ayton can't be traded with multiple players coming back.  This is not a concern for 2023.  It is a second apron thing, but it doesn't start until the 24/25 season.

In that season, if you are over the second apron, you can't aggregate up or down (can't turn two players into one in a trade and can't turn one into two).  That is a big deal because not only are you competitively punished for spending that much, but you have few avenues to fix your mistake.  But again, a 24 thing, not a 23 thing.  If they really were relatively close to an Ayton trade that included Holmes we know:

1. All the positioning about new coach looking forward to working with him is BS.
2. This was after the drafting of Lively (or we wouldn't have had Holmes to trade).

I did the match and with Irving at $40mm to start, we cross the first apron if we don't include McGee as outgoing (not by much though, so it could be fixed by fine tuning Kyrie down a bit more (though we don't even know if $40mm is a real thing or not).  If McGee is outgoing, then we can have the N-TP MLE.  In fact, there are a few extra dollars to give to Kyrie or use in a trade spread with Bullock outgoing or use to keep a 15th player on the roster.

Clock is ticking on Reggie.  If you don't pick up his guarantee, it has a similar impact to trading McGee if you don't S/W him.  You have to account for dead money and a minimum slot to replace him.  But with Irving at $40mm, 14 spots and Reggie just straight waived, I have us at $169mm.  We will have moved off of two wings in THJ and Reggie, but we only need one and the MLE can provide that.

Thanks for the clarification and I also wondered about that rule kicking in this year or not. 

Regarding our money, CBAMavs broke it down pretty thoroughly in his new article, with several avenues to open up the MLE+BAE even after trading for Ayton linked here: https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2023/6/27/...-exception

Taking a few screenshots, 


Kyrie at $40 mil and only going with 14 players vs. 15 should give them the Full MLE to work with.


Bullock being S/W and Kyrie at 44.7 which would give them the exact amount to have the full MLE and BAE. 





A nice summary at for all scenarios involving a Bullock S/W 



A 4 year deal for Kyrie starting at 44.7 is exactly 200 mil. I think he can get behind a slight 10 mil discount especially in this market.