I swear I wasn’t lit last night.

We have to see how these guys develop the rest of the year also. Right now I would prioritize keeping Vonleh. If Mudiay continues to play well, I could see them wanting to keep him, but if they can get a second tier max guy, then you have to let him go and maybe look to draft Morant. If we get lucky in the draft and get Williamson, then keep Mudiay and forget about Harris or Middleton. I like Kemba, but not for max money.

I’ve always been about not signing a max free agent for the sake of signing a max free agent, but I can at least concede that once you max out KP, when you factor in the various raises to the first rounders (Frank, Knox and the 2019 first rounder) and the salaries of any guys you extend this offseason if you don’t sign a max free agent (Vonleh, Mudiay, Burke, etc.) then suddenly you’re stuck without any real way of getting max cap room the next offseason (even with the cap going up about $9 million), unless you somehow dump THJ on someone (or if he miraculously turns down his $19 million player option). So I think that is why they are making signing a max guy this offseason such a priority. I don’t love the process of it all, but I get where they’re coming from. That’s why there seems to be such a good chance of them trying to sign someone like, say, Kemba, if the other true max K’s are off the board (Kevin, Kawhi, Kyrie). Again, not saying that it is the right approach, per se, but I think that’s likely to be their approach and I get why they would think they are “stuck” doing that.

Yeah, but there’s no reason to not renounce him, right? So they do that, the cap hold goes away, and then they can still sign him. He can also sign with anyone else, but we never had an advantage there, did we?

They would have his full bird rights if they don’t renounce him. If they renounce him, they can’t go over the cap to re-sign him. They could use the room exception, but they need that for Vonleh (and the room is only $4 million a year, so it might not be enough for either one of them – more likely it would be enough for Vonleh, though, as teams like point guards more than guys like Vonleh).

They are not 10 year guys though, so their max would be lower. Keeping Vonleh and Mudiay and then adding a Harris or Middleton and a top 5 pick is attainable and very realistic to me.

They don’t currently have room for a 7-9 guy, either. They would have to trade Lee or waive him to have room to sign a 7-9 guy like Middleton or Harris or Kemba. On top of renouncing Mudiay.

Mudiay’s cap hold is over $10 million.

Yeah, but there’s no reason to not renounce him, right? So they do that, the cap hold goes away, and then they can still sign him. He can also sign with anyone else, but we never had an advantage there, did we?

Those guys likely aren’t getting less than the max, either, though.