The yr is 2021. I’m running a blog concerning the Lakers. The group has didn’t defend its title and is buying and selling Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma whereas letting Alex Caruso stroll for nothing, and changing them with Russell Westbrook.
The yr is 2024. I’m running a blog concerning the NBA. The Denver Nuggets have didn’t defend their title, and are letting Kentavious Caldwell-Pope depart for the Orlando Magic, and should add Russell Westbrook to their backcourt in his stead:
Additional proving that NBA time might transfer in patterns relatively than a sequence of distinctive occasions, this may even be the second time in two seasons {that a} group has salary-dumped Reggie Jackson to the Hornets with a view to make room so as to add Russell Westbrook.
Now, clearly the context of those conditions is totally different. The Lakers didn’t ship out Caldwell-Pope and Kuzma for Westbrook due to second apron concerns (they’re low-cost and can doubtless by no means cross the second apron, however it didn’t exist but). They only made a dumb commerce.
The Nuggets are cheaping out on KCP not only for monetary causes or as a result of they suppose Westbrook is pretty much as good or higher, but additionally to keep away from the myriad of precise roster penalties that may come from extending him at his market worth, as my buddy Ryan Blackburn summarized effectively lately at Mile Excessive Sports activities:
Sadly, writing a clean verify, whereas actually interesting to Caldwell-Pope, will not be in the perfect curiosity of the Nuggets competitively. The second tax apron, a brand new stipulation agreed upon within the Collective Bargaining Settlement, isn’t only a monetary burden, however a aggressive one. The Nuggets will be unable to make aggressive trades if they’re over the second apron. They will be unable to make use of the Taxpayer Mid-Stage Exception in free company. Even their first spherical draft decide in 2032 might be “frozen” in the event that they end the top of the 2024-25 season over the second apron, which means they can’t use it in future trades. In the event that they keep above the second apron in three of the subsequent 5 seasons, that 2032 first spherical draft decide might be mechanically despatched to the top of the primary spherical, no matter Denver’s report.
Nonetheless, whereas the context could also be totally different, it’s nonetheless exhausting to not really feel like Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen right here whereas watching the Nuggets echo the Lakers’ earlier mistake. Changing the final word 3-and-D wing with the final word… effectively, reverse of these two qualities didn’t work out for the Lakers. Perhaps Jokic making Westbrook a champion is the ultimate approach he can extra completely defeat LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers… however it’s troublesome to not be skeptical which may be past even his skills.
So we’ll see if this works out higher for Denver than it did the Lakers, however for now, it’s exhausting to not be uninterested in Earth. These individuals. Uninterested in being caught within the tangle of their lives.
