VCoug wrote:Chris Paul in a NYK uniform next year is nearly impossible. The main reason is the new CBA which has a provision that teams that are approx. $4M over the luxury tax threshold can't take part in sign-and-trades; we won't know for sure where we stand until the new salary cap is announced but I'd be very surprised if we weren't over that threshold.Assuming that we can make sign-and-trades then we have the problem of putting together a package for CP3. Our only realistic assets are our 1st rounder this year in what's supposed to be a terrible draft, future 1st rounders starting in 2018, Shumpert, JR if he opts out and we resign him, a couple of players with $1M non-guaranteed contracts next year, 3M cash, and maybe Felton. Any combination of those assets would be a terrible return for Chris Paul. Terrible.
There's also the problem of matching salaries for any trade for Paul. I believe the max contract that he can sign this Summer will start at around $19M/year; even if he was willing to take a paycut I highly doubt we would sacrifice enough money where we wouldn't have to send back a large salary of our own. That means we'd have to include one of Melo, Tyson, or Amare in a trade. Throw Melo's name out because we're obviously not going to trade him. That leaves Tyson and Amare, two players that the Clippers would have no use for. Oh, and Amare is completely untradable until the Summer of 2015.
Our only realistic scenario would be a multi-team trade where LA gets Shumpert, our 1st rounder, and Felton; we get back CP3 plus cap-filler; and a 3rd team takes Tyson. And we'd have to be giving that up at minimum, there are definitely other teams that could put together a better package than that.
No doubt, that move would be entirely contingent on Paul WANTING to come to the Knicks, which I feel could be a distinct possibility. We don't have any leverage to force the Clippers hand (e.g. cap space we could use to threaten to sign him outright), which makes it all unlikely but not impossible. We've got some solid assets in Tyson Chandler, Iman Shumpert and Raymond Felton that if LAC doesn't want outright, could parlay into assets they do want from a 3rd or 4th team. Just a stab in the dark scenario (on draft night) I thought of:
NYK trades: Amar'e Stoudemire, Raymond Felton, Iman Shumpert, 24th pick(whoever that may be), and $3 million
NYK receives: Chris Paul and a $5 million trade exception
LAC trades: Chris Paul
LAC receives: Kris Humphries, Iman Shumpert, Raymond Felton, Ekpe Udoh, $3 million (from the Knicks)
MIL trades: Ersan Ilyasova, Drew Gooden and Ekpe Udoh
MIL receives: Amar'e Stoudemire, 24th pick, $3 million (from the Nets)
BKN trades: Kris Humphries and $3 million
BKN receives: Ersan Ilyasova and Drew Gooden
The Bucks actually gain financial flexibility by trading for Amare since his contract is shorter than Ilyasova's and Gooden's. They also have the depth at the 4/5 spot between Saunders, Henson, Dalembert, Ayon Przybilla, etc. to absorb Amare's minutes if injuried. I can see this happening if they go all in and re-sign Jennings, Ellis and Redick. Meanwhile, the Nets have shown interest in Ilyasova in the past and have made their desire to trade Humphries public. I also think Gooden is still serviceable and fills the backup 4 void they've had on the team (assuming Blatche is the 5). LAC gets shafted but if Paul is determined to leave, its better than nothing especially since they'd get back two bonafide starters in Shumpert and Felton that are young enough to grow with the youth they already have on the team.
5/9/2013 6:09 PM
