And if a team still covets Lillard enough to give us a young up and comer with a high star probability you got to pull the trigger.
that is a fictional trade. Any team who has an "up and comer with a high star probability" won't trade him
They have before. Whether it be Rasheed Wallace, Jermaine O’Neal, Jimmy Butler.. Depends on how desperate a team is to win now
There is no second deal. This is the deal. The goal here is to clear cap space so we can get under the luxury tax this year and then resign Ant without going over the luxury tax. Mission accomplished.
I don't either. I think CJ's on the move, and there seems to be plenty of smoke of him going to the Pels for spare parts, which makes a lot more sense in the context of the Powell/RoCo trade. How they expect to replenish talent on this team with what they seem to be doing is beyond me, but I'm not a GM or a magician.
My only thought to this is he is gonna be fully healthy and RESTED for the first time in years... He's still got 3-4 years of his prime IMO
Is the 'next move' hindered by the fact we now have no open roster spot? How does it work cap/roster wise to just cut players to take on additional players? For example: Any proposed CJ to the Pelicans trade, requires more players coming back than going out. Except, by taking in 3 players for 2 in the Powell/RoCo giveaway, the Blazers now no longer have a free roster spot. So to make any move, we have to cut 1 (or possibly 2) players to be able to trade CJ unless it is a 1-1. Need some capologist help with this. Either you move players like Zeller for nothing to a team who has cap room, or you cut a player, i.e. Zeller to make additional roster space. He still counts against the cap so the players coming in have to fit under the Lux Tax they just gave away players to get under, yes?
Like 6 different trade threads all just pretty much got completely shut down. Now you are all at it again. I got to admit it’s entertaining.
In most deals, the other team will need players back as roster fillers to meet their minimims as well. For example, in the Pelicans deal. If they send out 3 players for CJ, they need 2 more guys back in the deal, or need to sign 2 guys after. Portland likely says that as a part of the deal, the Pelicans need to take back 2 roster fillers in the deal. They could send 2 minimum deals (snell, zeller) along with CJ and the deal would still work financially. It would cost them about an extra 3.2 million, and if that would be a sticking point, Portland could offer cash to offset the remaining salaries for the year
You throw in filler like Snell or Zeller to open a spot. Or you do a multi team trade so that the team getting CJ can send out matching contracts to other teams and you take a player and a first. Or you pull a trade bringing in three for one and then do another trade immediately sending out two players. Bledsoe is basically an open roster spot waiting to happen, though the Blazers could trade him for an equal value player.
