We have to stop acting like these guys are bums
They SHOULD be good enough to at least be in play-in contention but completely blowing it up is the move for right now because they own a his years pick. This should drop them from #5 in the East to play-in or maybe even out of it which will be beneficial come the lottery time.
While I understand the benefit of trading KD first do you not think they deserve a break due to the fact this trade request from Kyrie was foisted on them 6-7 days before the deadline? I think it’s very possible they intended to keep KD but then after Myrie was out, he wanted out too which would only further screw them. Plus they might as well miss the playoffs since they own this years pick. The whole thing happened so fast that it is hard to make sense of it.
Could that have worked salary wise considering CP makes $30MM, Booker $34MM, Ayton $33MM and KD coming in at $43MM? Seems like they couldn’t afford to absorb Benjamin’s salary but you’re the cap expert so IDK.
Houston got BKN’s 2024/2026 FRP and Ben comes off the books in 2025. Houston has a pick swap in 2023/2025/2027 which is somewhat interesting. Houston needs to start upgrading their roster after this season because the swaps with the Thunder come back into play in 2025 so it makes sense to get better sooner rather than later.