A couple of quick things before I start this off. I know that this doesn't work under the financial restrictions because the Mavs are over the cap and would need to cut salary. But for some reason Fanspo won't let me do the real trade which sees Dwight Powell go to the Spurs instead of Brandon Williams and with Dadiet going to the Spurs via the NTMLE. Not sure why that is, but it works in Spotrac but not on here. So please keep that in mind when you read the description below. But the basics of the trade are similar so here we go!

Mavs: This would probably only happen if there are some injuries to Kyrie or Davis, which frankly isn't out of the realm of possibility due to their injury records. But the Mavs are in a weird place with several win-now players but also Cooper Flagg, Dereck Lively and several other younger players who could dominate in the future. What they do here is lose Klay but gain a player that's 6 years younger, has been very durable and can add rebounding to the team as well. I also have them losing Powell but he's more of a break glass in case of emergency center and hasn't really ever played that well. This is mainly about getting a role player that younger and more durable while still being productive. Plus if they do decide to trade AD or Kyrie and pivot fully towards a rebuild, Hart is a great locker room guy and leader.

Spurs: The Spurs do this because they can afford to be patient and get to take on a player that's only 20, is under contract for 3 more seasons and has a lot of potential in Daidet. Powell is mainly here for salary reasons and he's on an expiring contract. Champagnie has been a solid role player but is 4 years older (only 24 but still) and has probably reached close to his ceiling as a player. While Dadiet is definitely not as good right now, his ceiling is higher and again, 4 years younger, with an extra year of his contract as well.

Knicks: This is going to be a controversial one, because Hart is a fan favorite, has played great for the Knicks and is close friends with Brunson, the unquestioned star of the team. However, this past season showed that while his role is valuable, the team was outscored when he was on the floor as a starter. Now some of that was due to Thibs, the way he played Hart an insane amount of minutes and how inflexible he was on offense. I do think that Mike Brown will be able to figure out that puzzle a bit better. Still, I wanted to build a framework of a trade that brought some more wing talent to the Knicks. Klay is not the player he was on the Warriors but he can still knock down 3s and be a solid (if not great) defender. I see him as more of a bench player with the Knicks going with the double big lineup (KAT & Mitch) or with Deuce in the starting lineup for a 5 out lineup for offense. Klay would be a solid backup wing in an area where the Knicks have less depth. Plus he's much more willing to shoot from 3 than Hart is and that would help meet Mike Brown's vision for the team. You'll notice a familiar last name here with Julian Champagnie as I've done a couple trades for his brother Justin. Julian gives them another wing who's farther along in being able to contribue than Dadiet but is still young and on a cheap contract. He can also shoot well from 3 and is a solid defender. The Knicks also reduce their payroll and would have more room to bring on a backup PG (Jared Butler or Dinwiddie?) or work the buyout market more (Beasley?). They also have more room to convert their two-way players (I really like Jemison and especially if there are injuries to KAT or Mitch, he could be helpful there). As the depth chart will show below, this makes the Knicks much deeper with arguably 10-12 players who could be contributing and help to manage minutes.

Depth Chart:

PG: Brunson, Kolek

SG: Deuce, Clarkson, Shamet

SF: Bridges, Thompson

PF: OG, Yabusuele, Champagnie, Diawara

C: KAT, Mitch, Hukporti

Thoughts?