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

[Okstate819]

Is this in print or audio ?

id like to hear/read it.

Stein’s substack.

The Mavericks, league sources, have interest in two restricted free agents as they seek to address their significant need for a good defender on the wing: Portland's Matisse Thybulle and Boston's Grant Williams.
Neither can be formally signed to an offer sheet before July 6 (Thursday), so the Mavericks have been limited to smaller free agent expenditures in the interim, agreeing to terms with guards Seth Curry and Dante Exum and re-upping Dallas frontcourt fixture Dwight Powell.
Word is Powell fielded serious interest from Houston on Saturday before committing to a three-year, $12 million deal with the Mavericks. The Rockets, I’m told, had interest in signing Powell before pivoting to the former Suns center Jock Landale.
Of course, even if the Mavericks ultimately manage to acquire Thybulle or Williams, that will realize only one of their two remaining primary offseason objectives after coming to terms with Kyrie Irving on a three-year, $126 million deal … which includes a player option rather than team option in Year 3 that certainly came as a surprise to many leaguewide.
As much as it needs a wing defender, Dallas wants to acquire a clear-cut new starting center this summer. Recent trade bids for top choices Clint Capela (Atlanta) and Deandre Ayton (Phoenix) have fallen short and a third potential target — Minnesota's Naz Reid — signed a contract extension at the start of the week without even testing free agency.
As the roster currently stands, Powell and Richaun Holmes would likely be competing for the starting center spot so Dallas can bring prized rookie Dereck Lively II along slowly.
? Reminder: The waiting period for teams to match offers on restricted free agents has been reduced to 24 hours in the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement after offer sheets can signed July 6.
The Blazers and Celtics have been sending behind-the-scenes signals to interested teams that they intend to match any offer sheet for Thybulle or Williams, respectively. How binding, however, are such whispered claims? The wait to find out how prepared Portland and Boston are to stick to those stances is ticking down.
In Boston's case, matching a theoretical offer from the Mavericks or any other team constructed with their $12.4 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception would push the Celtics more than $20 million beyond the tax line for the upcoming season.
? Why were the Cavaliers willing to pay an annual salary of nearly $16 million to acquire Max Strus in a sign-and-trade with Miami?
Cleveland believes that Strus' sturdy play during the first three rounds of the playoffs — before he shot 6-for-32 on 3-pointers during the NBA Finals — is evidence that he can bring a level of postseason toughness and readiness to the Cavaliers that was clearly lacking in their first-round exit to lower-seeded New York in the first round.
On the same subject, there have been some whispers this week that the Cavaliers are more open to trading Jarrett Allen than advertised for the opposite reason: He appeared to struggle with the moment at various points of the Cavaliers' five-game exit to the Knicks.