Some notes about the Hassell deal…
Hassell has three guaranteed years remaining on his contract, while Buckner has only two. Buckner also makes less money than Trenton does…Greg will make $7.2 million over these next two seasons (Hassell, meanwhile, is due $4.35 million per season for the rest of his contract).
Taking these factors into consideration, Wolves fans should be pleased with this deal. When I was looking at the depth chart prior to this trade, I saw a potentially bad situation if Hassell remained on the roster…I know Trenton has always been a positive locker room guy, but his minutes were going to get a major decrease if he stayed in Minnesota. No player would be pleased with not only losing his starting spot, but also seeing his minutes drop considerably.
Hassell needed to go, and I think the Wolves did pretty well with getting Buckner in return. Greg’s a relatively cheap guy to buy out, so I’d suspect McHale would consider doing so.
While Buckner could prove valuable in the locker room if the Wolves do hang on to him, McHale made the trade almost exclusively for financial reasons. Best of luck to Trenton in Dallas…I’ve always enjoyed watching him play.
