Klay Thompson and the Mavericks agreed to a buyout Saturday, ending an eight-month stay that started with the trade nobody in Dallas has stopped explaining. He signs with Miami next, a fourth franchise for a shooter who once needed only one. Dallas waived him into cap flexibility it may or may not use wisely, which given the Luka Doncic trade is now the organization's whole personality. The Heat get a 36-year-old who still bends defenses by standing still, on what will be a fraction of his old max money.

Look past the box score and Dallas just paid to make Klay someone else's problem, the actual currency of the modern buyout: not talent, but cap sheet real estate. The Mavericks front office that traded away a generational point guard is now optimizing around what Klay Thompson costs them not to play, and Miami picked up a Finals-tested shooter for what amounts to a rounding error against the cap. Pat Riley has built a whole front-office identity out of collecting exactly this kind of player at exactly this kind of discount. Dallas fans are still owed an explanation for February. This was never going to be it.