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

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Define star? Is the best defender in the league a star? Cause I think that is where McDaniels is headed, if he´s not already. Plus he shot 52/40/74 from the field last year while averaging 12/4, which is slightly superior to what Jaylen Brown did in his 3rd year. Made the huge leap in year 4. 

This deal a total no brainer for Minnesota. 

Only headache is their cap thanks to the massive overpays of KAT and Gobert. If I´m building that team, it´s around Edwards/McDaniels first. KAT/Gobert are the tradebait.  

If Gobert and especially KAT could play as well as they talk, they´d easily be a legit contender, cause they have everything else on paper.

Obviously the term star is subjective but I think I could create a few reasonable definitions:

The laziest one would be any player that's made an All-star game is a star.

I would also say a player who scores 20 ppg on a playoff team is considered a "star" for NBA salary purposes.

As for defensive specialists, I think it's harder to become a star.  I think if you're truly one of the best defensive players in the NBA and still useful on offense, then you're a star.  For example, Rudy Gobert until last season and Draymond Green.

I think McDaniels projects as more of an elite role player.  Other players in that tier are Alex Caruso, Derrick White and Cam Johnson.  I think those players are frankly more valuable to winning than second-tier "stars" like Cj McCollum and Kris Middleton.  However, being good at offense pays much better in the NBA than being great on defense.

So, Jaden McDaniels is unlikely to become a "star".  I'd still really like to have him on the Mavericks.  I'm just surprised he received an extension for that much money.  Great role players don't usually get that much money.