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Mike Conley Sign-and-Trade Possibilities

Elizah Huge

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I have seen the idea of sign-and-trading Mike Conley thrown around so I wanted to make a thread to clear some things up about it.

We can most definitely sign-and-trade Conley but there are some restrictions and limitations.

- The expected luxury tax for 2021-22 is 136.6M

- Without Conley our salary’s are at 130.4M

- The luxury tax apron is 4M over the luxury tax cap

- In essence the luxury tax apron for 2021-22 is 140.6M

We can not be over the luxury tax apron after a sign-and-trade. So that obviously limits the amount of salary we could take back in a deal which would be 10.2M at max.

Now you can’t add a player with Conley in a sign-and-trade but you can do simultaneous deals at the same time but both have to work within the cap.

For example, we could agree to trade Conley, Bogdanovic and pick 30 to the Pistons for Jerami Grant and Mason Plumlee. They would have to be two separate transactions happening simultaneously though.

As long as the Pistons have enough cap space to absorb Conley’s salary without giving back more than 10.2M. Plumlee is right at 8M so it works for both sides.

Conley would be signed and traded to the Pistons for Mason Plumlee. Then simultaneously we would then send Bogdanovic and 30 to the Pistons for Grant.

I am really thinking outside of the box here but these are some real possibilities if the front office wanted to get creative.

TL/DR

We can sign-and-trade Conley but only can take back a max of 10.2M in salary in a one for one trade.

We can sign-and-trade Conley as part of a bigger deal that would be two separate deals happening simultaneously as long as both deals work under the cap by themselves.
 
I’ve asked this in a few threads now so sorry if I am just missing something obvious, but I am having a hard time finding in the rules that the team trading a player in a sign and trade must stay below the Apron. I see the team receiving the player must, but haven’t seen that the trading team must.
 
You forgot one pretty important limitation.

Mike Conley would have to agree to a sign and trade.

Why the **** would he go to Detroit?

He already made his money - dude is 100% going to go exactly where he wants to.

It was just an example of something we could do.
 
So we have to hope someone that doesn’t currently have cap space wants Conley (if there’s cap space, they can just offer Conley) and that Conley would agree to the trade right? Failing either of those things, a sign and trade would never happen.
 
I’ve asked this in a few threads now so sorry if I am just missing something obvious, but I am having a hard time finding in the rules that the team trading a player in a sign and trade must stay below the Apron. I see the team receiving the player must, but haven’t seen that the trading team must.

I think it applies to both teams. If not it would essentially allow the Jazz to get a max contact back for Conley as long as they were willing to pay the huge luxury tax bill.
 
So we have to hope someone that doesn’t currently have cap space wants Conley (if there’s cap space, they can just offer Conley) and that Conley would agree to the trade right? Failing either of those things, a sign and trade would never happen.

Pretty much. Or if they have some cap space but not enough to sign him.

For example... If a team had 10M in cap space and Conley signs for 20M they could send us 10M in salary and get him.
 
My prediction based on DL’s and Conley’s comments yesterday is that Smith is likely not willing to go into the tax to the extent needed to re-sign Conley, and everyone involved already knows it.

The tone of both DL’s and Conley’s comments was that “we appreciated our time together, but it probably isn’t gonna happen.” At least that was my takeaway.

Conley’s comments in particular were a marked departure from just a few months ago. DL also made it sound like Conley wasn’t playing in this series because Conley didn’t want to play.

We’ll know in a little more than a month, I guess.
 
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It is just an example but I would trade Conley, Bogey and 30 for Grant all day every day.
How about if instead you make Conley signing contingent on a Gobert, and Niang for Grant, Corey Joseph and Isaiah Stewart deal. I think that could work and be highly beneficial to both sides. Convince me otherwise.
 
How many sign and trades have there even been in the last dozen or so years? 1? 2? I thought since the Suns signed and traded Joe Johnson (I think I’m remembering this correctly), it’s basically never happened.
 
I'll be shocked if Conley doesn't end up in LA, NY, Miami, or somewhere like Philly. He's going to chase a ring in the sunshine, or where the talent is overwhelming. Really doubt we have any chance to do anything with him let alone sign him, and I doubt he will agree to a sign and trade.
 
How many sign and trades have there even been in the last dozen or so years? 1? 2? I thought since the Suns signed and traded Joe Johnson (I think I’m remembering this correctly), it’s basically never happened.

It has caught on a lot recently. The Warriors and Nets did it with Durant/Russell. The Pistons signed and traded Wood to the Rockets last year. Brogdon to the Pacers was one too. Hayward to the Hornets. They are becoming increasingly popular.
 
I'll be shocked if Conley doesn't end up in LA, NY, Miami, or somewhere like Philly. He's going to chase a ring in the sunshine, or where the talent is overwhelming. Really doubt we have any chance to do anything with him let alone sign him, and I doubt he will agree to a sign and trade.
Agree with this.
Any sign and trade scenarios to places Conley would want to go are pretty much fatally flawed from the get go.

Also, some of the places Conley would want to go may either not want Conley or would be begging him to sign on for the vet min due to already problematic cap situations. While Conley had made his money and wants a ring, the dude isn’t gonna play for vet minimum.

So if we read the tea leaves: The contending team that can pay Mike the most money while giving him at least what he sees as a viable chance to win a ring is……….. THE UTAH JAZZ.

We’re running it back kids. Sure, there will be some moves around the edges, but not much is gonna change.
 
For Conley, I think the Lakers, Heat, Celtics, and possibly the 76ers and Clippers (depending on how they finish this year) are all potential contenders next year that could use an upgrade at point guard and therefore possible sign and trade partners. The heat may have cap space but I don’t think any of them others will.

The Pacers could be an option if for some reason they wanted to move on from Brodgon. The Bulls are an interesting team if they don’t view White as a PG, though may not be far enough along to entice Mike.
 
I thought somebody said we can't sign and trade Conley because you can't either be or go into the luxury to sign the player then trade them.

So can we sign and trade him or not?

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