https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/265633/It-Would-Take-A-Major-Offer-To-Get-Jalen-Brunson-In-Trade
sounds like unless something crazy happens Brunson will be staying in Dallas at least past the trade deadline. Taking Brunson out of the trade pool should only help the Celtics market for Schroder.
And Brunson not being traded increases the chances the Celtics could get him in free agency.
How? The Celtics still don't have the cap room that is likely going to be needed (he is more then an MLE player)
S&T using the Fournier exception. They can get up to 4 years, $74 million. That’s got a decent chance of being the best offer he gets in free agency given how little cap room there is.
Do you think Dallas would match that? What would they have to do to make it work from their own financial perspective in relation to the cap?
And do you think the Knicks (who supposedly really want Brunson) wouldn't just bump the offer to 4 years and $80 million? Effectively knocking the Celts out of contention?
I don’t think Dallas wants to pay Brunson that much, no. That’s why they’re entertaining trades because they expect he will be offered more than they want to pay. If they cut Maxi Kleber (unguaranteed) and let Finney-Smith walk in free agency, paying Brunson that much would still make them a tax team by a couple million, with two starting spots to replace in their lineup. In other words, I think keeping Brunson would require the Mavs to go $15-20 million into the tax, and he’s not worth that to them. Maybe they could pay draft picks to dump a contract and keep him, but again, that raises the cost of retaining Brunson.
The Knicks could try to offer him a big deal, but they’d have to either move about $22 million in salaries to create cap space or work out a S&T with Dallas, but again, Dallas won’t want those incoming salaries, because if they did they’d just keep Brunson. (Not to mention, matching salaries in a trade would be abnormally difficult because Brunson's new deal would only count as half for outgoing due to base-year compensation rules, so a third team would have to step in and help). If, on the other hand, the Knicks were to acquire Brunson at the trade deadline, then they’d have Bird rights and would absolutely have the ability to resign him, which is why I think the idea that Brunson is likely to stay in Dallas beyond the deadline is good news for the Celtics if they have him as a feee agency target. The Knicks are much less likely to be a competitor for his services without those Bird rights. Not impossible, but much less likely.
EDIT: As an aside, if the Mavs do indeed waive Kleber to make room for Brunson, he conveniently fits into the Tristan Thompson TPE, and I'd hope the Celtics put in a claim.
Topic: Report: Cavs interested in Schroder; Mavs aren’t (Read 17849 times)