All this said, I think the Pelicans want Henderson, so a theoretical Zion trade would have to go through Charlotte or possibly Portland. NO doesn’t want future darts, they want a specific draft asset which kind of takes the dice out of Leon’s hands anyway.

By the time the extension kicks in the salary cap will have increased by ~20%.

The cap will continue to increase at a rate higher than IQs deal.

$20-$25M is perfectly reasonable for IQ. If he has even a decent playoffs next year he’s going to cost a lot more.

Seems like an incredibly safe assumption to me?

You’re probably right, but consider the following. Harden voluntarily signed for significantly less so that Philly would have the money to acquire mid priced role players and be more competitive. Also, generally when someone extends a max player at the max, they are paying more than anyone else could because the CBA gives a player’s existing team a financial advantage. There is financial space there where they could sign for less than the absolute max and still be paying more than anyone else can. It doesn’t have to happen that max players take less, but this new CBA is fundamentally different from the previous one in that going over the aprons significantly affects your ability to build a team instead of just taking lots of money out of high spending owner’s pockets. Players were not motivated to take less just to save their owner some money, but players do want to play on the best team possible. I can see some players making the trade off.

I ask that only partly in jest. I’ve barely watched him, but in those few scattered games he never seemed to exert his will on the game. Very peripheral. Barely notice him.

On the other hand, Mitch can absolutely wreck games (I mean on D when players shy away from the paint and won’t even challenge him, and with his Oreb, although with his foul shooting there’s always the possibility…).

it seems like quik started the year off slow and finished poorly…

honestly, if we go back at it with the same group, I’ll be a bit disappointed, but – I really believe a lot in jalen brunson…

whatever the right combo is to have around him, fill the roster in…

silly thinking, I just wish we had a JJJ on our team…I know there just aren’t very many of those…

it’s funny – the guy we seem most sure of going – seems to have played really well in the playoffs…

I wish obi well…

I do believe that, like Brunson, IQ will make a leap and we’re going to have a great player. But he failed to do it in time. Sucks for him, great for us.

there’s an argument that to the extent this happens it would merely partly mitigate the artificial price constraints that have long transferred economics from the elite players and young players to all other non minimum veterans.

then the new CBA sounds like a good thing…or, is it just a thing…

so, you can have one 40 to 50 million player, and one more player making 20 to 30 million, but everyone else is below 20?

are the penalties: “significant” – outside of money, if you don’t stay within lines, do you forget any draft picks?

yeah, I don’t think I have the science of roster construction in terms of nba payroll and all the freaking rules – quite sorted out…