Which means basically for a year, or whenever draft day is next summer. No surprise here, Jazz brass (Trader Danny) never really “dangled” LM, they just never said he was off limits. If you play for a team with Ainge as the GM you should probably know, or gain the knowledge, that any player can be had…for the right over-prince.
When that deal didn’t emerge this was the smartest path. Lock him up for 5 years, $238 mil and start building. After this season, depending on how he actually plays (and how much) it will be interesting to see what his market is. $40+ mil for a guy who hasn’t even taken a team to the playoffs is steep. Even LaVine has at least been the key player on playoff rosters. Yes, he’s technically an All-Star…once. So this should be interesting to see unfold.
What doesn’t change is how far under the minimum salary floor the Jazz or that they need to sign at least 2 players in order to meet the minimum roster requirements. Still something brewing over there just hard to discern what it could be.