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

[omahen]

I do agree that division of minutes can be a bit of a challenge when you have many good role players, but THJ outgoing for Caruso opens up over 2000 minutes (that's how many THJ has played this year), which is a bit larger than Caruso had in CHI. So nothing changes other than the player filling the minutes. I do envision in my Caruso idea that DJJ keeps his same role of defense and rebounding and super-athleticism, and Caruso becomes the 6th man to replace THJ/Hardy and provide offense -- but a much smarter player with some defensive skill. 

As for Paul George, I don't think he is a practical pursuit for the Mavs. I'd like to have him - he's a star, not a role player, albeit one whose ongoing injury limits might create real problems. It sounds like a Mark Cuban type of pursuit, to be honest. But I think it would be a mistake to make that the focus, and the size of his contract is the issue. First, matching 49M takes so much of your team. Second, salary matching rules are prohibitive for teams over Apron 2 (LAC) that make it very hard for a team close to Apron 1 to do a swap with them. And if PG is a FA, they can't SNT him at all.

THJ minutes were drastically reduced after the trade, even with Green missing half of games. With team as it is, I doubt THJ comes anywhere near 2000 minutes. He was playing almost 30 mpg before all star break and that was reduced to some 21 minutes (with Green playing only half of games). Besides, as I said in another answer, Mavs need to imho make a decision about Hardy. Either increase his minutes or move on. 

I think George is in any case a very unlikely option. Not having a SnT option is another big obstacle making it far less likely to happen. Mavs would also get over the second apron. Other than that, THJ, Maxi, Green and Powell would be the salary needed to match his player option. George replaces THJ and Green. We would need to hope OMax can replace Maxi. Powell is a third string center and would be replaced by a vet min guy.