Ron Swanson wrote:If the idea is that you need a true 2nd-tier star to win a title, and neither Bledsoe or Middleton are that while Jabari at least has the potential to be, then what are you trading him for that possibly gets you that 2nd-tier star? People just think that having cap room means that you're in contention to sign or acquire someone like that when the reality is less likely than people want to admit.
So say that you let all your contracts expire after next season (lose Bledsoe and Middleton for nothing in UFA) and you have max cap room to play with. Who you targeting? How are you building the rest of your roster? You prepared to pony up huge salary for mid-tier FA's like JJ Reddick, Enes Kanter, Nikola Vucevic, or Danny Green when the super-max guys re-up or sign elsewhere? Put all your eggs in the "pay 30-year old Kemba Walker a max contract" basket? Keep in mind that I'm not even opposed to trading Jabari, but "Sacrifice Jabari for cap relief" isn't really much of a plan at all, because salary cap room itself isn't inherently valuable. I'm looking well beyond 2019 to form the next superteam when Giannis is only 23 (Anthony Davis in 2021 says hi).
http://www.spotrac.com/nba/free-agents/2019/
Maybe Jimmy Butler gets warm fuzzies about coming back to Milwaukee (doubt it)