THE The Dallas Mavericks made the necessary gesture to get rid of Tim Hardaway Jr.contract this offseason, sending him and three future second-round picks to the Detroit Pistons for Quentin GrimesEven though he’s entering the final year of his contract, taking away that $16 million freed up the Mavs to sign Naji Marshall And Klay Thompson.
While this was a huge change for the Mavericks and was widely praised, the opposite was true for the Pistons. Detroit received a vote for having the worst offseason in history. ESPNa survey of executives and recruiters and they gave more details about it on the “Hoop Collective” podcast with Brian Windhorst, Tim Bontemps and Tim McMahon.
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“I also think the Pistons had a confusing offseason,” Windhorst began. “They had a ton of wiggle room… They took Tim Hardaway Jr. from the Mavs. They got three second-round picks in that deal for taking that money.” McMahon chimes in. “And they gave up Quentin Grimes,” which baffled Windhorst. “Yeah, that’s the problem, they gave up Quentin Grimes. Quite frankly, I’d rather keep Quentin Grimes.”
They discussed Reggie Jackson’s salary cut Denver Nuggets to the Charlotte Hornets, which also cost the Nuggets three second-round picks despite his $5.2 million salary.
“I applaud Nico Harrison and the Mavericks for being able to do that,” McMahon continued. “I didn’t understand the Pistons’ point of view.”
The Pistons would also use their salary cap space to acquire Tobias Harris and Malik Beasley, two veterans who likely won’t do much to help this team in the short term. Meanwhile, Dallas got a player who should be in their rotation this season while freeing up salary space for their biggest moves. Detroit fans probably didn’t understand that, even though Hardaway Jr. returned to the state where he played college basketball.
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