Baynes opted into his deal believing he could be on a contender and have a role on this team. Obviously things changed after that, and I'm sure there was mutual agreement that Baynes could get traded later since it didn't look like we'd be a true title threat ourselves, and he preferred it to be with a contender.
And yet, they essentially salary dump him to the Suns??
Yikes. That just adds another dimension to the idea that Ainge is cold-blooded and that future FA's will become even more wary of coming to Boston. I think if Baynes opted-out, he could have gotten slightly more money elsehwere, even on a contending team.
According to a handful of local Suns reporters/sources, it doesn't look like Baynes will get bought out and he'll have a role on that Suns team. This goes against what Keith Smith had tweeted last night.
We may have 35M+ in cap space but this latest trade kind of makes recruiting a bit tougher IMO.