Sure, but that's a huge "but" (no pun intended) that another team is going to do either of those things. There may be a large number of teams having cap space next season because they've been positioning themselves to take part in one of the biggest free agent markets in recent years. I think it's pretty doubtful that the teams that are doing that are necessarily aiming for a mid-level talent like Joel when there will be some major stars on the unrestricted FA list in 2010. Even excluding the top talent, there could be quite a few other centers available, including Shaq, Ilgauskas, Brad Miller, Jermaine O'Neal, Okur, Camby, and potentially Yao and Tyson Chandler. Given the large number of quality FAs available, I'm not even sure it's a given that Joel will decide to opt out of his final year on his current contract. You can bet that KP, Joel, and his agent are already having talks about Joel's future with the team. If it's certain that Joel is looking for other opportunities, then probably something happens before the deadline. Seems to me that it's way too early to be making any predictions about what's going to happen on this one.
