Grade the Trade: Raptors make Klay signing possible in blockbuster 3-team proposal

Laying out the 3-team trade

The Dallas Mavericks have two mid-sized contracts in Josh Green and Maxi Kleber and will need to trade one of them to be able to add Klay Thompson and stay under the $178 million first luxury tax apron, a requirement due to them signing Naji Marshall to the MLE and also adding a player in a sign-and-trade.

Josh Green is the more superfluous player on the Mavericks' roster with Marshall and Thompson coming in, and he also makes $1.6 million more than Kleber, opening up more room if he is moved. The Warriors, however, already have Jonathan Kuminga and Andrew Wiggins, and adding Green would not be the cleanest fit. They may just do it, but what if they could bring in a player with a different skill set?

Here is one such construction where the Raptors could step in to help facillitate a deal and add some value in the process:

The Warriors are the weakest part of this deal because they may just prefer to add Green and the first-round pick. The theory here is that they will value Bruce Brown's skill set as a fit next to Stephen Curry and to operate as a reserve ball-handler in the absence of Chris Paul. They also get a contract in Brown's expiring $23 million deal they can flip by the trade deadline for an upgrade. Salary matching rules allow the Warriors to take back $7.25 million more in a deal than they send out, so in this scenario Klay signs for $16 million and allows Brown's $23 million to slide back to the Warriors.

For the Mavericks, giving up their 2031 first-round pick is painful, but they are pushing chips into the middle for a run right now with Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving flanking Luka Doncic. They also lost a fair bit of leverage in trade negotiations when they agreed to terms with Naji Marshall, ensuring they need the Warriors' help in a sign-and-trade to land Thompson. They get back a Toronto second in the near-future to provide another asset to use elsewhere. In this construction, they sign Klay to a three-year deal starting at $16 million and totaling $52 million.

If the Warriors like this version of a deal and the Mavericks are willing to pay up to land their guy, does this deal make sense for the Raptors?