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

[SleepingHero]

I am not sure why you are assuming Boston didn't try everything you described. I think it is obvious it was Brown wanted nothing less than supermax. He is 26 and he is an elite two way player. Perhaps not the best on any end, but likely top 30 in each category. Not many players like that in the league. I think he is far from worst contract in the league. Beal, Lillard, Gobert, Towns are supermax (or near supermax) deals that are all far worse than Brown contract, imho. All offer much less than Brown either on offense or defense. All also much older. Brown is only entering his prime. 

I am also not sure trading him would be a better move. What chance there is to find a player nearly as good as him. Thinking more about it, it will be possible to build around 2 super max contracts. There just won't be place for 30 mil players. 6 or 7 guys paid on average some 12 or 13 mil can still be very good supporting cast.

I believe Boston didn't try everything I described because we're sitting here discussing the 304 million contract Brown just achieved. Had Boston done what I outlined they'd either be trading him to the highest bidder or talks would have stalled till next year.

A supermax was intended to be, and is practically reserved for, the best of the best players in the league getting paid commensurately to their talents. Guys who get such a deal and aren't one of the league's top 7 players are instantly destructive to building a team. Beal, Gobert, and Towns are all horrible contracts in their own right, and we can point to them as prime examples as to why you don't hand supermax deals to guys that are not top 7 in the league.  

Lillard's contract is the only one that is justifiable given how good he is but it should scare you that he will be getting paid 63 mil when he's 36.

Regardless just because there are other bad contracts to compare it to doesn't justify handing yet another one out. Again, I am not debating whether or not Brown is a good player. He IS good. I agree with you that he's entering his prime and has shown he can be a great 2nd option. He's one of the best SG's in the league, probably 5th at his position. But is that worth 60 mil a year...? Put it this way, is he worth 1.5 Luka's? More than Lebron? Curry? Durant? 

His contract may or not be an albatross in 4 years as the cap continues to increase and more and more extensions get kicked in. But I struggle to find an any scenario where Brown has ever shown he was worth 35% of the cap at any point in his career to justify the extension Boston just gave him. It was an overpay and Boston has hamstrung itself for the foreseeable future.