vincecarter4pres wrote:Cleveland may go down with the ship.
And really the first thing is, why is it so outlandish he just re-signs with them for a full max?
Tbh with Atlanta, it’s easy to see a world where they send Trae packing somewhere for a monster haul, find a way to ship out Hunter, or Bogie, etc. for ‘25 cap space, and keep it moving with Murray, Johnson and a ton of picks and try and nab one of the top 2nd tier FA’s.
Atlanta has always been a FA destination for the fringe All Star level guys looking for big money and a bigger role.
re-signing is not outlandish, just so far not in line with what's been reported. but that could totally change, especially if they go on some sort of run this postseason.
realistically i think this offseason mitchell is plan A, maybe Trae is plan B, and Murray is probably plan C. none of those plans stop a future pursuit of Luka which would likely be a 2025/2026 thing.
knowing mitchells future availability is unknown, giving up more than 1 FRP (and even CamT) for murray right now probably didn't make sense because if CLE gets bounced early and mitchell hits the market, now you are down assets and have a less flexible contract to trade that CLE probably doesn't want. murray wasnt meaningfully changing the trajectory of this team for the next 30 games. the difference between him and schroder rest of year is probably 1-2 extra wins, maybe a slightly better showing in play in. like i said schroder's added benefit (beyond obviously being a big positive over dinwhiny) is that as a similar style player they almost get to test out how murray's impact would fit this group.
and now the nets offer this summer is pretty simple. DFS (15m) + schroder (13m) + camT or dayron or both ($4m or $8m) = $32-36m that can match trae (43m) or mitchell (35m) or murray (28m with kicker i think). plus obviously however many picks it takes. i think mitchell or trae probably take 3 good ones, whereas murray is more in the 1 good one or 2 meh protected FRPs category. and obviously if cleveland preferred simmons or camj that would work too. so plenty of options.
im not sure what a preferred knick salary match would be for mitchell from either perspective. randle's 30m could match it and get routed to a 3rd team if CLE doesnt want him but i get the feeling randle has kind of become an important enough piece for NYK they wouldnt want to do that AND give up a ton of draft capital (but maybe im wrong). also doesnt seem a fit in CLE with their frontcourt depth. a bogdonovic exp + divincenzo could do it. or divincenzo + hart. then obviously a bunch of picks. i think nets having more unprotecteds gives them an edge along with more combinations of salary match. 2 of the knicks 4 firsts this year are going to end up not conveying and they have protections that could turn either of them into 2nd round picks down the line.
