White has been pretty bad since the trade but he'll likely be better next year. Solid dude and player. Still not worth that contract we gave him though. Spurs definitely made the right move on this one.
Owners will never reduce the schedule because that's just lost revenue. They would probably play 100 games in the regular season if NBA would allow it.
No way the NBA passes on the chance to put a team in Vegas, especially with gambling on games suddenly being acceptable (hell, ESPN runs the spreads and stuff now)