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I'm watching the Kirilenko situation, and it brought me to a question. Right now, MIN is very close to the salary cap, and really has only four mechanisms to add talent above the cap besides trade:

1. Bird rights on Pekovic
2. Bird rights on Budinger
3. Mid-Level Exception
4. non-Bird Exception on Kirilenko.

Lately it's been sounding like Kirilenko will sign elsewhere, costing MIN one of it's mechanism to get it's payroll up to the luxury threshold. If Kirilenko's new deal is 3-4 years, and the first year is guaranteed, why wouldn't MIN do a sign-and-trade?

OTHER TEAM GETS:: Kirilenko + 2nd
MIN GETS: (lower) 2nd + TPE created

After this, it made me wonder why we don't see the same type of deals more often for many teams in similar payroll situations. A TPE has value - for one year it gives a team the flexibility to "trade" for other players if they choose, and it does not contain any drawbacks. The Players' Association is happy, because there is potentially more money in the system. The player gets the same deal, if it was 3-4 years to begin with. I don't see any losers if a team uses it's cap space in trade rather than free agency?

Good question, maybe the teams simply see one another as natural rivals? Prior team demanding more than a simple pick switch, and thus new team deciding to sign the player on their own? This in turn practically limits S&T to takers already buried in tax ("give us a zillion picks, or we'll send LeBron to Charlotte").

PS
And TPE, while adding flexibility, doesn't guarantee any useful way of using said flexibility. Long-term planning is not a strength of every NBA GM

1 Why would the team with cap space want to give Minny tools to improve? What's in it for them?
2 And since he's leaving, why would Kirilenko?

DBoys wrote:1 Why would the team with cap space want to give Minny tools to improve? What's in it for them?
2 And since he's leaving, why would Kirilenko?

1. A better second rounder? Cash? The cost to trade is virtually nothing - they get a small asset to give one of the 29 teams a TPE that they may or may not use. They get a guaranteed zero if they lose the player to free agency.

2. It's not costing Kirilenko anything, and his new team gains a small asset.

When Boozer signed with Chicago, the Jazz wanted to do it as a sign-and-trade in order to create a TPE. The Bulls received a 2nd rounder as incentive. (I think it was Malcolm Lee, 43rd pick of 2011.) I don't think anything came back to Utah other than one of those uber-protected second rounders which I don't think they ever received. The TPE allowed them to make the move for Big Al.

If Minnesota wants a TPE they'll have to pay for it. I think you're right on track.