Where are our three points? How well are the national team players doing? Who will be protected from the expansion draft? We ponder these and other questions as we enter the international break.
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Note: My bad on the pod – it WAS Dames, not Richie Burke, who went off on Orlando and the PRO.
Surviving Expansion…
(1) Portland secured $150K in Bairdbux from KCWoSo. Portland could send that money, or some portion of it, to Racing Louisville, for Tobin’s rights AND THEN make a separate deal with ACFC or San Diego for Tobin’s rights in exchange for immunity during the expansion draft. That seems about right — Press cost ACFC $75K plus their natural 1st round pick in this year’s draft plus giving Racing Louisville immunity in the expansion draft. Yes, $150K is a lot of clams, but Franch was expendable for us and I submit that we might be better off using it to protect our entire roster. We could also do Tobin a solid, which while it’s not needed it’s also not nothing. The Blazers didn’t have to trade Clyde Drexler back home to Houston at the end of his career so he could play with Hakeem and chase a ring, but they did! Just saying…
(2) Alternatively, Portland could flip that $150K (and probably something else) back to KCWoSo in exchange for KC’s roster immunity during the expansion draft. YES, KCWoSo’s roster immunity is in fact a tradeable asset. So Portland could actually get out of the expansion draft entirely. I suppose that asset could also be divided in two, as there are two expansion clubs coming into the league. KCWoSo could perhaps decide to trade immunity from ACFC to one team and from SD to another, for example.
(3) Finally, and perhaps less attractively, remember that Portland could strike its own direct deal to get out of the expansion draft, with both clubs or either one of them.
Lots of horsetrading options here. And probably going to be a mad scramble, this expansion draft and immediate aftermath.