Fantasy Blogs  |  The Opening Tip  |  

"Let me tell you how it will be. There's one for you, nineteen for me."

- The Beatles, "Taxman"

There are two types of trades in today's NBA: trades based on basketball, and trades based exclusively on money. Sadly, the straight basketball variety seems to be nearing extinction.

Take, for example, Utah's trade of promising rookie Eric Maynor to Oklahoma City. That are the Jazz getting in return for an inexpensive guard who filled in admirably when Deron Williams was hurt?

A 2002 second-round draft pick who has about as much chance of appearing in an NBA game as I do.

Oh, and about $8 million dollars worth of luxury tax relief.

Fantasy Implications

Though this isn't a basketball trade in the strictest sense, it does have significant implications for fantasy owners.

Carlos Boozer threw a monkey wrench in Utah's salary structure when he decided to stick around through this season. Once that happened, the Trail Blazers made a run at restricted free agent Paul Millsap -- thinking the cost-conscious Jazz wouldn't be willing to pay big money to two power forwards. When Utah matched the offer, the conventional wisdom became, "They'll deal Boozer before the trade deadline to avoid paying the luxury tax."

But dealing Maynor -- and the contract of Matt Harpring, who is set to retire due to knee problems -- drops Utah's tax obligation from over $12 million to under $5 million, ESPN's Mark Stein reports. And that removes a lot of the urgency to deal Boozer.

Which means Millsap -- a player most fantasy owners thought would be starting as of the trade deadline -- as a bench player for the forseeable future. And if he's a bench player that only gets starter minutes if someone gets hurt, his percent-owned -- currently 84% in ESPN NBA.com leagues -- seems awfully high. I'm not saying he's an immediate must-drop... but if you're holding Millsap, and a guy like Marreese Speights (24% owned) is available on the wire, it might be time for immediate production to trump potential value.

The views expressed by RotoWire.com represent only the views of  the writers; they do not represent the views of the NBA or any NBA  team.