Adrian Wojnarowski
@wojespn
Sources: Boston's showing interest in a 3-team sign-and-trade w/ Kyrie Irving (Nets), Kemba Walker (Celtics) and Terry Rozier (Hornets). Boston wants to create a full MLE and would likely need to surrender at least a first-round pick to Nets. So far, talks are exploratory.
3:09 PM · Jun 30, 2019
https://mobile.twitter.com/wojespn/status/1145409029151363072
MLE — or Al Horford!
Question - couldn't it be both? Could we resign Horford and then afterwards complete the three-way S&T deal sending Kemba to the C's, Kyrie to the Nets, and Rozier to the Hornets while getting us the MLE, too? Or at that point would we be in the tax and getting the taxpayer MLE (which would still be higher than the Room exception anyways)?
Yes, the MLE would still be in play, depending a little on how much Horford would get paid in this scenario. But I was mostly referring to Woj’s stated motivation. I don’t know that you trade a 1st just to acquire access to the MLE (or Marcus Morris’ Bird rights, or the BAE).
What if it’s the Milwaukee pick?
A bottom-25 pick for multiple good players (and building block salaries potentially for use in future deals).
That's a bit of a gamble given how dynamic Milwaukee's roster is this summer. While I think they keep Middleton at all costs, they could lose Lopez, Brogdon, and Mirotic all this summer, which would dramatically shake up their team. Won't be lottery or anything, but they could end up a middle of the first round team.
If it meant keeping Al and getting the full MLE, just give them one of our own, with either lottery protections or top-10 protection. I think that's a gamble that you take to get the S&T possibility.