Pass or pursue on wild hypothetical trades to improve Dallas Mavericks starting 5?

Pass or pursue on trade to improve Dallas Mavericks starting 5: 2. Sign-and-trade

Collin Sexton is the best free agent left on the market, and things are a bit complicated. The 23-year-old guard wants $20 million per season coming off season-ending knee surgery that limited him to just 11 games. So far, no team has been willing to meet that price, and cap space has virtually dried up across the league.

Sexton’s options are re-signing with the Cavaliers for significantly less money than he desires or convincing some team to acquire him via a sign-and-trade. Bleacher Report proposed the hypothetical deal below.

Dallas Mavericks acquire: Collin Sexton

Cleveland Cavaliers receive: Reggie Bullock, Josh Green, top-5 protected first-round pick

Acquiring Sexton via a sign-and-trade hard caps the Mavericks, which makes working out a deal all but impossible. Dallas would need to get below the tax apron of $156.9 million. They are projected to spend $163.1 million without adding Sexton’s new deal, so Dallas would have to trim additional salary just to make this deal work.

That goes without mentioning the base year compensation rule that will complicate making this trade even further.

Should Dallas Mavericks pass or pursue a Collin Sexton trade: Pass

Sexton gets buckets, but paying him $20 million per season at the cost of Reggie Bullock and a first-round pick is already a lot. Then consider, that Dallas would have to further trim salary with another team, which would cost additional draft capital, and they would have to move enough to sign a few minimum salaries to round out their roster. The cost to acquire Sexton is just too much.