Yup, that is why you have to take advantage of stupid teams. It would be stupid for the Nets to trade a 1st round pick that is only protected 3 spots for Gerald Wallace, or 47 1st round picks for an aging Pierce and Garnett but they did both of those things. Just last summer both the Clippers and the Raptors attached 1st round picks for other teams to take on contracts. Teams do stupid shit all the time.
I will say though that us trading Leonard and the 24th pick doesn't really do much for us unless we were trying to avoid the tax again. However, in Denver's case it does actually put them under the cap. I don't think that is significant enough but you never know what other teams are thinking.