This all looks pretty bleak. I kinda hope that they somehow manage to make a 4th year in Kyrie’s deal contingent on accepting a lower salary to give us some relief, so that we can keep Bertans as a trade asset instead of the waive and stretch move suggested. Bullock I would keep for sure, imho he is tradable enough (maybe even someone takes him into a trade exception).
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And this is why the Mavs should’ve offered Brunson whatever contract it would’ve taken him to stay.
The Heat’s success this year with undrafted players has absolutely reinforced my view that building though scouting is the only way forward for the Mavs. The only situation we shouldn’t pick a player at 10 is if we can somehow turn pick 10 into a mid and late first rounder this year. And we should fill out the last couple roster spots with well scouted undrafted players.
Thats never going to happen… full max for 4 yrs is the only way Kyrie stays.
Just imagine if we signed Brunson for 16 million a year. what an amazing position we would be in right now. We could be the team to take somebody’s star high salaried player that’s going to be in cap hell. Or in a year or two we would be in position to sign a star free agent (lol).
the salary cap issues will only be for this season, which is why even if they resign irving I doubt they make any major moves outside of the #10 pick and the tax payer mid-level exception. I expect irving to be resigned and Powell at a veteran minimum. the main concern would be the hard cap but I think you have to drop below it by the end of the season or trade deadline before it actually affects you. using the mid-level would get them a decent bench piece but it would leave them close to the hard cap so the final 3 slots would need to be filled in by minimum contracts. they can trade a player like THJ for the player they want to sign for the mid-level vs using the mid-level. in my example I think Eubanks would be a great target for the mid-level so offering THJ for Eubanks around (11 million to start) and another role player making about 5-7 million they add a targeted player, they still trigger the hard apron but instead of being at the apron they will be about 9 million below. or they can simply trade for a player who is already signed and not trigger the hard cap at all. THJ can get an ok rotation piece like Eubanks and only works because the mavericks are deep at guard with luka, irving, green, and hardy. they need to shift some of the depth to centers and forwards.
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the benefit of struggling with the cap room this season is that they shed 21 million in cap next offseason and this cap mess becomes a non issue. they can even trade bertans next offseason and include about 7 million in the trade without giving up any draft picks so another team can release him. this would free up 26 million in cap to take the team from 170 million in cap to 144 with the core pretty much signed minus the green extension.