What is crack Lack and fellow thermonuclear a efforts. I am Dan for Valley,
coming at you solo to talk some blockbuster NBA trade assets before we get
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We heart you all. Let's really dig into this. So I wrote about
every NBA team's biggest or best blockbuster trade asset and It was a concept that
I had pitched to Bleacher Report. So I'll throw it up on the screen,
trying a different layout if people are on YouTube, but let me know
if it's it's like less clean looking. But I feel like, don't you
want to see my face? A little bit more than the actual article itself.
So I wrote about every NBA team's best blockbuster asset entering the twenty twenty
three deadline, and the concept here is and I end up writing like five
hundred words about how I went about this. Is the scenario that we're operating
under. Is that your favorite MBA team, I don't care whether they actually
would or not, but your favorite NBA team is choosing to aggressively pursue a
blockbuster trade ahead of the February ninth deadline that actively improves it's roster. They
are buyers, in other words, knowing this what is the most valuable player
or asset they should be willing to move in order to make that trade happen.
And it's an element of oh, would they have to move? But
I tried to create or maintain an element of realism here, and so the
process that goes into it is not every team is currently looking for that star
level player, like that's just something we know, and you're also just going
to be the determinations we're going to try and stay in characters since we're breaking
character for a lot of them anyway. And by this I mean the Orlando
Magic. They're not going to trade Palo Bank Caro, the Spurs are not
trading their own first rounder when they've already pre ordered the Victor when the Yama
Jerseys. But other calls are less obvious to make, and so some of
them that I ran into throughout this process. Would the King's trade Keegan Murray,
Would the Pacers trade ben Nick Mathrin? Would Orlando consider shipping out one
of its own first round or so on and so forth? And that's what's
the push and pull of trying to do this exercise, was what would realistically
be on the table if this is what teams were doing. And I might
have actually fallen too far on the conservative end, but because I was breaking
character for some many teams and saying, you know what, the magic,
we're going to operate as if they're trying to a star but comes available by
the deadline, and that's something you know, there's not really a readily star
available. People are watching the Raptors, they're wondering about Bradley Beal and Zach
Lavine. I'm not even endorsing that teams should be going after a blockbuster trade.
I just zoomed out and then zoomed in because I wanted to really go
in depth on it and try to decide, Okay, which which blockbuster assets
would teams give up. And so we're gonna praise ourselves for a lot of
draft pick talk as well. But the other note that I wanted to give
here because the other well two notes, is so we have to we have
to do this under the guise of what would selling teams be most interested in,
and so a lot of the times that is going to be draft picks.
However, I do think unless it's a last resort, we tend to
romanticize the value of long term first round picks. In Lakers case, we
only have long term first round picks to choose from. But we're not just
going to say at twenty twenty nine first round pick for every team, because
front offices who are making the trade for those picks are more likely than not
not going to be the front office that uses them. Whether it's draft them
the players there or trade them, and so you're going to value more immediacy.
And if it's part of a mega deal like we saw with the Jazz
twice where they were getting long term first round picks but also immediate assets and
players and more imminent picks, that's a different story. But those trades were
done because the whole macro of the packages. So yes, there will be
distant first round picks here, but I wanted to caution that, no,
you know, we can't just be like, oh, twenty twenty seven first
for every team that has one available, since I actually think those are not
as valuable as many people think. But with that, I think we can
get off to this And so we begin with a bang in the Atlanta Hawks,
very controversial, I've trade Young. I just think, no, would
I trade him? I wouldn't. But could this be their Donovan Mitchell Hall
where he has three years left on his deal after this one. He's young,
he's an All NBA type player, and you're looking to you know,
the Jazz, I feel like they're eventually going to go through a more thorough
rebuild, but maybe Atlanta just says, hey, we want to sort of
retool around Clint Capela, Janta Murray and DeAndre Hunter, and like Trey is
gonna give you back players end picks to do it. Now, if you're
not gonna go with Trey, I think you probably have to go with the
Hawks first round pick this year, which they can actually move. They are
such they did just beat the heat after I'm recording this, and they've kind
of turned things around. Trey's playing better, but like they're not a sure
thing, and so that could be a lottery pick in vain, and they've
traded away some distant first round picks to get de Jante Murray in the first
place, if it's not this year's first as Jante Murray. But I have
Trey Young listed. So if you're looking for a blockbuster trade, it would
be a buy in the sense of a divestiture divestiture and maybe there's a star
for star trade out there. It would sort of be like you know,
like I said, with the Donovan Mitchell all the Boston Celtics is there twenty
twenty five first round pick, just they can't trade this year's You're not gonna
trade Jalen Brown or Jason Tatum midseason or at all quite frankly, if you
wanted to go our W three, I kind of get it. But the
knees are a question and teams aren't gonna necessarily look to rebuild around that type
of a player. Marcus Smart not someone who's gonna intrigue teams. As you
know, his contract is fine. He's a really good player, solid fender,
solid passer, But you're not gonna look to rebuild your team around.
So you're looking to get a blockbuster trade done, it's twenty twenty five or
twenty twenty seven. I go with twenty twenty five. That's when it'll post
date Chalon Brown's current deal. You don't want to go to twenty twenty seven
because if anything catastrophic sort of happens, the somethings are getting a little older.
When you look at Smart and robed In and al Horford, it just
gives them so much time to retool. So I'm only twenty twenty five if
they were looking to trade for a star, which they probably are not at
the moment. Brooklyn, this was tough. It's not k D. It's
not Kyrie. I don't even know what his trade value would be. It's
not Simmons. So I think a lot of people might be using albatross right
now. It's it. Look, he's played, he's had some big moments.
The passing is good, the defense is fine, he's looked more like
Ben Zimmons there lately. But the just the passivity on offense is an issue.
And then after that you're kind of out of options, and so you're
not gonna go with sort of the lower end first. It's not going to
be I thought about Nick Klaxton because one year left thumbs deal. If you
can get a twenty twenty eight NETS first round pick, you just you have
no idea what's gonna happen. They've mortgaged so much of their draft to Houston.
Is the first first round pick that they have control of is the twenty
twenty eight one, and Kevin Durant is still not gonna be there by twenty
He's not gonna be there by twenty twenty eight, and if he is gonna
be super old, you short the next I would I think teams would short
the Nets short and long term future, but you could really only short their
long term future at this point because they've traded away so much of their short
term. The Hornets this is uninspiring. You have Lamello, he's off limits,
like you're not going to trade them out for this and that for that.
It's all right, Well, what the fuck? It's their twenty twenty
seven first round pick. That's really the first one they can guarantee because of
the pick that they own a Denver. The way it's protected, you can
do conditional. But that's the challenge with these is you want to certify first
that you know can convey in the first first round pick. We know that
Charlie Kincovey is in twenty twenty seven long term. But if you're a team
and you see what the Hornets have done just their general body of work,
like you're gonna take that pick that has value to it. I just it's
not players. It's not PJ. Washington, it's not Mark Mark Williams,
it's not Kai Jones, it's not James Bay. Mark Williams is good,
looks like he's going to be a long time MBA player. He's not anchoring
a Blockbuster page, even if he ends up being involved with it. The
Chicago Bulls. This was tough. I couldn't go with Patrick Williams. I
just he hasn't shown enough. He's so low volume on offense, even though
he's hitting his threes. He's shown a little bit of a floor game at
points. I recognize it's not all of his fault because the Bulls aren't built
to let him experiment offensively, but it's just at some point he's extension knowledgable.
After this season, he's not shown enough to be considered this high end
asset. I went with the Marta Rosen. Lavine's deal is two sort of
squirrely or would make teams squirrely being owed so much money, having the knee
history. It's Tomarta Rosen and this is tough because he's aged thirty three,
has one more year left on his deal. He's still he rants first again
for the second year in a row. In in predictables Clutch win probability metric,
the dude is clutch, the driving force of what they do best on
offense as a playmaker and as a score and maybe they can find sort of
there like remember the Sabonis Haliburton trade. It'd be a more of an extreme.
I'm more or less of an extreme on one end, because you know
the extreme is okay. De Rosen's way older than Sabonis. You're probably not
going to get back a player and Tyrese Halibert, but maybe it's something like
Ahere, it's a a youthful player who's already really good, but you're giving
up Demarta Rosen to a team that wants him more of an immediate impact.
I just he's very clearly been their best player. I don't know else who
who to pick here. They've traded away so a few picks that or they've
traded away so many picks that we would have to go out into the distance
for I think one day even reasonably convey. They have their top ten protected
pick oh to San Antonio twenty twenty five, so and that like extends too
far into the future for me to pick it. Like if it doesn't convey
then and there's who knows, there's a chance it doesn't. I want it
to Marta Rosen, Cleveland Cavaliers, caroslav They can't trade picks. I don't
think Dean Wade or Isaac Okoro or Dylan Windler like Lamar Stevens, that's not
gonna They might be included in such a deal. But it's Caroslavert eighteen point
six million dollars spiring contract teams might value a shock creation. If you're looking
at Paul Off a blockbuster, it has to begin with him. It's just
we move on there. The Calves don't have draft equally had fun the Mavericks.
This is interesting. So they can't trade a first round pick until two
twenty five, and it techn the conditional. But let's say they're top ten
protected pick conveys to the next this year. I think you still prefer they're
twenty twenty seven first over twenty twenty five. That comes after Luca Dontech's deal
in twenty twenty seven, and so you're increasing the likelihood that he has either
left or that he is forced to trade. And that's just you roll the
dice on the map, because if you're giving them MAVs a good player,
they're probably gonna be good in twenty twenty five. I think what the MAVs
end up doing is they're not going to make a blockbuster trade at the deadline.
I know a lot of people want them to. And then they'll be
able to trade up to four first and three swaps over the off season,
and so it's four first three swaps matching money for that star, and then
that changes the calculus. It's all those picks are rolled in the one.
You're you're shorting their long term future, but you're operating also under the guys
that oh Luke is probably gonna be pretty happy since they're acquiring a star.
I don't know if they pulled off. I just think that that's where we
see but that's what we see them dangle out there. But if they were
to make a move right now, I'm trying to get that twenty twenty seven
first, just to up the variance in Dallas's future. And no, look,
the answer is not a player. It's not Dorian Finney Smith or Maxi
Kleiba, is not j Harvey Hardy. I'm sorry, like those guys are
not getting it done. Denver Nuggets, they don't really have a pick to
trade because that okay, see obligation, it can techually extend through two twenty
nine. They can give up a conditional twenty twenty nine first round pick,
but it would have to be unprotected basically and expire immediately or and it'd be
pending again. That okay, see obligation. It's bones Highland. I think
it's just maybe another year. I've been Jamal Murray or Michael Porter Junior.
Murray only has two years left on his contract. I think he's been really
good because these ACL injuries are two year process. It's you missed a year
and change in his case, and then you gotta go through an entire season
just to get your bearings back. I think he's been really good, but
I don't know that teams would be interested in him. I just think it's
sacrilegious to break up the Yoka Ja Murray game. It's not Michael Porter Junior.
The contracts just too huge. He's been good this year. Credit to
him for fitting into his role, but the back issues would make me nervous.
It's Bones Highland, two years left on his rookie scale deal. He
can hit threes off, the dribble off, the catch gets a little weird
when he's inside br cast of works on. It's finishing, tighten up his
passing. But it's just someone that I think could be. If you attach
money to Bones Highland, I think you get yourself into more interesting trade discussions
than people might realize. This one's gonna be controversial, but I don't know
what else you're supposed to pick. The pistons, the way that their pick
is protected into the like they're first of all, they're not giving up their
own first round pick this year. It's technically owed to the Knicks. It's
so protected that what was it? I denoted it in here, but it's
like it's protected through twenty and twenty nine. Would be techinically the first first
round pick they could give up. Like that's how long it is protected.
It's not protected through two and twenty nine. Think it's through twenty and twenty
seven. So it's not the pick that's just too far into the distance.
It could be Jalen Duran, who is just like he's more than a highlight
factory finisher. Like I think we've seen enough. There's there's an undisciplined to
him on defense, but like he's going to be super versatile. There not
a building block. If you want to pick him, that's fine. It's
not gonna be Beef stew Killian Hayes been a lot better this season, but
like he's extensional after this year? Is he going to anchor a blockbuster deal
when teams have to reinvest in him. It's Jay n Ivey because you're not
trading Kde and this doesn't matter the Pistons aren't gonna make a blockbuster trade,
but if they wanted to, he would have to be the asset that's on
the table, I would think, because you're not gonna get it done with
anything else and you just don't have the pick flexibility because might also becomes sort
of a reality for them if they wind up in the Weban Yama, Scoot
Henderson, river Nam and Thompson range, just because like, yeah, Weben
yamically more of a play finisher, but like you're gonna want to give him
on ball reff certainly with Scoot Henderson as well too. Just something fascinating to
watch, especially with Jay and Ivy being up and down all this year.
The Warriors Jonathan Comingga that this is easy. It could be Jordan Poole if
he wasn't on a poison pill right now, but I would still pick Comingga
anyway. He's been before he was dealing with a was he like a shin
injury right now or a calf injury, whatever, a right foot sprain.
He was just he was a regular part of the rotation. The thrust he
plays with this hyper valuable turned with lates to rim pressure, biting off ball
movement, regular doses of physical chutzpah on the defense that I think would probably
make Draymond Green beam on the inside. I think his offensive, like Q,
has gotten a lot better. He's improved his overall decision making while dabbling
in some more complex usage. There's actually a fun Jonathan Cominga stat roughly two
hundred players have finished at least one hundred drives this season. Comingga is one
of seven that's shooting better than fifty five percent and has an insist rate north
of ten. His company lukinan chich Iowa soon move Lebron James Nicoleokich, Malik
Monk shout him Beligue Monk, and then Domasamonis. If I'm if I'm a
seller and the Warriors, you're trying to get a star, it's Comingga that
you want. You could go after their twenty twenty six first, since they
owe the twenty twenty four to Memphis. I just think it's Comingga. This
is someone who I still believe sort of has that star upside, and I
would prefer him even if Jordan Pool was easier to move and I'm a seller.
Houston was interesting. You take Jalen Green and Jabar Smith junior off the
table. You take this year's first round pick off the table because there's no
line to them to immediate contention, and so if you're making a blockbuster trade,
it's for the long term. I went with their twenty twenty six first
rounder from Brooklyn just because they've traded so much of their future draft to Okay
See, and that's just, you know, I don't know what else you
really It could be Alpern Shane Goun, who deserves still in higher usage role,
but teams seem reticent to build their offenses around big man, especially one
where in Shangoon you still need to see more from him as a perimeter shot
creator and maker, and then his defense is certainly a problem. Brooklyn's twenty
twenty six first What the hell is going to happen in Brooklyn between now and
the like? If you're a team and you have a chance to get this
pick, why wouldn't you just get this pick? Kyrie probably won't be there,
he's a free agent for this season. What is gonna go on with
Ben Simmons in that time? Could Kevin Durant request another trade during that span?
And even if he doesn't, the Nets coming off twenty five, twenty
twenty six. That'll be Kevin Durant's age thirty seven season, age thirty four
now age thirty five next year, Yeah, that'll a twenty five twenty six,
so it'll be his age thirty six season. He could get older.
I'll be probably as well. He could have asked for a trade by that
point. That's their best, that's their best blockbuster asset. I don't expect
them, even though the Rockets need a consolidation trade, I don't expect them
to really look at it. But that would be that would be the asset
that needs to be on the table. The Pacers were interesting. It wouldn't
be Haliburton. You keep him. They're not a team you could go with
one of their own first round picks. They're not a team that's going to
trade those willy nilly. And also they kind of don't have a ton of
value because any clearly isn't going to be a team that just bottoms out.
Again, it was Benneedick. Mathron was on the table, and personally,
if I were the Pacers and it meant getting in O Giannaope, that type
of a close to a star player what I consider moving Benneedick Mathern, Yes,
but I'm trying to stay in character. I don't think the Pacers would.
And so that leaves you with Miles Turner. Yes, he's on an
expiring contract playing he was playing at a fringe all star level before he started
dealing with a back tightness I think, and he fits onto basically every single
team, and so you have to worry about his next deal. But if
you are willing to attach Chris Duarte maybe some of your first but protected to
Miles Turner, you can get in some pretty ambitious discussions. And so I
think even if you were willing to put your own picks on the table,
Miles Turner to me would be more appealing, still fairly young, just because
we don't expect those picks from the need to be like super high valuable at
this point. I mean maybe you do. Maybe you differ from me there
and you think that they're gonna fall off or something, but I wouldn't expect
them to move their own first round picks in that situation. The Los Angeles
Clipper is no brainer here, Kwai Paul George off the table. It's their
twenty twenty eight first round pick. You can go twenty twenty nine if you
really want to. But I don't know why you would thought about Terrence Man
for a second. His extension hasn't kicked in, and the two year,
twenty two million dollar deal looks like a fucking steal. But is that someone
age twenty six that they're gonna another team's gonna view as a building block.
He's probably in any blockbuster trade anyway, But you want the twenty twenty eight
first round pick when you're looking at oh Okay, Chris, Paul up Kawai
Leonard and Paul George, both their current deals will be up, and even
if they're still around, they're gonna be deep into their thirties and they've already
shown that they're not going to be on the floor every single night. So
that pick, again, it's going to take some imagination, since if you're
getting Terrence Man as part of the deal, there's your immediate asset. It's
look, we have this fairly young player, gonna give us some rim pressure,
some energy. I don't think the Clippers want to move in, to
be clear, but if you're again blockbuster trade talks, maybe that's how you
rationalize this where even with the Lakers you're not going to get a player that's
intriguing as Terrence Man and accompanied with those picks. So maybe it gets the
Clippers tack some more money to that package and some interesting discussions. They're also
a team that I could see absolutely moving that pick and making it unprotected the
Lakers. It's the twenty twenty seven or twenty twenty nine first round picks,
which would you choose, And so I think a lot of people would choose
twenty twenty nine. I'm just sort of the mind like we're gonna see free
agency change, I think by twenty twenty six, and it'll probably last a
couple of years. I don't personally think players should want to play for the
Lakers, and I do think they're probably looking more closely at front office competence
than ever. But I just feel like the Lakers could stumble into somebody if
they keep their cap sheet right, and so I want to get that pick
as soon as possible. I don't want, you know, this year's pick
might be nice, but like I don't want to leave open the door the
next couple of years twenty four, twenty five, even though New Orleans has
that option, like you could still have Lebron ad might stay healthy. Like,
do they actually make a trade by trading these picks? I don't know.
I think twenty twenty seven I want to get it as soon as possible
because two twenty nine I feel it gives them way too much time who stumble
in to someone? And maybe I'm wrong there, but I think twenty twenty
seven has more value for that reason than twenty twenty nine For Grizzlies. This
is semi challenging, but it's not we're in character or the Grizzlies are not
going to trade John Morant. They're not going to trade Jarred Jackson junior.
And now Desmond Bayane has entered that level of building block, and so Zayer
Williams I might have picked last year, hasn't shown enough this year coming back
from injury for me, And so it's the Golden State pick. It's top
four protected in twenty four, top three protected in twenty five, and unprotected
I think in twenty twenty six. And so like that's a pretty valuable first
round pick. You don't necessarily want to bet against a team that has Steph
Curry, but they're getting older. Draymond's a free agent this summer. Who
knows what happens like they could be like they could they could bottom out,
or that could be a lottery pick. We don't. We don't know.
I wouldn't predict it, but that's something to consider. You start to attach
that asset to other players, other money. If you're Memphis, I think
it could get you. Do I think here's the question. Do I think
Memphis using their own picks this cold state pick some of their younger players other
salaries? Do I think they can trade for a star without giving up Desmond
Vane and then of course keeping John Morant and Jared Jackson junior. I Do
I think that's the type of trade versatility they have. Do I expect them
too? No? But they could Miami. This was tough, So it
can't be Tyler Hero because the poison pillet will be Tyler Hero after this season.
I think you could argue that maybe it shouldn't be Tyler Hero because he's
been so good. But it's just the poison pill. That's why he's not
here. Is it their twenty twenty three first round pick. They've shown some
combustibility, They've had a lot of players in miss time. Bench has not
been great. Depot has been up and down. They've kind of struggled to
fill the fourth spot outside of Kala Martin. Their top end units are good,
but they've just their offense has not been great. Defense is still intact?
Half court offense will I worry about. I still think it's two and
twenty seven. Can't trade two twenty five. It's old to the thunder,
but I think it's two and twenty seven. By that point, it's like,
Okay, well, how old is Jimmy Butler? Is he still there?
Yes, they still have Bam, they could still a Hero, and
so there's the open endedness there. But I look, these are the assets
they have to trade. It's nobody else, it's no player. If it's
not Tyler Hero, it's not a player. And then if it's not this
year's firt round pick and see us in the twenty seven. So I don't
know if you want to be spicy and say it should be Bam he's been
too valuable to trade this year, or ditto for Jimmy Butler. BAM's just
been quiet, I don't want to say quietly, but he's been dominant at
both ends. I don't think he's getting enough credit for it. The Minnesota
Timberwolves do they even have one bankrupt of draft equity. Karl Anthony Towns cannot
be traded this season. Rudy Gobert's value is just in the toilet, not
because he's been exceptionally bad, but like dude is over thirty. Look at
the money he's owed over one hundred plus million for the next three years.
His trade value is just. I would argue that teams would probably use contract
as a net negative right now after what's happened with the Wolves, not his
fault specifically, That's where I'm coming from. I thought, if you're not
gonna trade Anthy Edwards, I thought about the ends of the Russell the money's
big. I think like as a shock creator and even just his orchestration how
to pick and roll, that is someone that might intrigue teams. And he's
still kind of young, but he's also going to be a free age and
so I'd rather have Jade McDaniels, after sort of an uneven start, showing
a lot defensively again, he's hitting his three ball above thirty nine percent,
which still like to see him take more, but he's also shown the ability
now to make some just more complicated decisions and open space has another year left
on his rookie scale. I don't think him plus Russell and seconds or whatever
or Nazri gets you in any splashy discussions. But if teams make a deal
with you, it's going to be because of Jane McDaniels. The Milwaukee Bucks.
This just comes down to, Okay, do you think they're gonna trade
any of their big three Jannis no, Drew, no Middleton with the injuries
and then the player option, your team's even view as a blockbuster asset were
Goalpez isn't gonna get there. Probably Portis isn't splashy enough. This just comes
down to Marjean Bouchamp or the twenty twenty nine first. I like Marjan bow
Champ. I think he's going to be an excellent offensive player when it comes
to fanning out the floor in transition, very complimentary one day. I don't
see him as just sort of this future on ball diamond in the rough.
I don't think that's ever gonna come about. I don't think he's ever gonna
be this lockdown one on one stopper, although I think that he's want to
be able to be a disruptive, even maybe just a team defender or someone
that you can throw against, just some more clicker quicker athletic ball handlers.
I think he's intriguing regardless in a blockbuster deal. You're looking at salary,
the twenty twenty nine first round pick and mar Jan bow Champ, and I
think just the twenty twenty nine first round pick is going to be most valuable.
You can default to, Well, they're gonna have Jannese like, They'll
still be good Jana like. Janna is gonna be in his thirties by then,
and his prime a little bit shorter, just because when you look at
the physiology of what he does, I'm not predicting it, but unless the
jumper really comes along, we've seen him have hot stretches of counter. He
has the counters, but like the mid range jumper, doesn't fall consistently enough.
The free free throws are all over the place, same with the three
point shooting. If his athleticism wanes, it's a fair question. So if
you can get your hand on that pick, in addition to maybe something more
immediate like a Marjan bow Champ, they can enter someone striguing. Trenking talks
the Pelicans. This is just like talk about fucking options, Tyson Daniels,
Trey Murphy, even Herb Jones probably still qualifies. I think that you could
talk about the Lakers to twenty four first round pick, because it could be
deferred to twenty twenty five. You could talk about some of the Bucks first
round picks of a go off into the distance. You can talk about someone
new war leads his own first round picks. Maybe you're thinking, hey,
like Zion could crash and burn, or his prime just not gonna last really
long. I think some people would argue that you should put Brandon Ingram into
this discussion. I just think Brandon Ingram, who's been out for so long,
and I'm starting to just believe that, like he's dealing with more than
a coe injury or finger injury, whatever it is, he's on the table.
If like five to ten players are available, that's not a wide enough
scope. That's like like we're talking any old blockbuster here. I settled on
the Lakers first round pick. It's a swap this year, and that's like
Women Yama's available, Scoot Henderson's available, Like the Lakers could be a lottery
team, like a higher lottery team. Maybe it kind of perked up of
late. Andy Davis might come back soon. But if they're not going to
trade the picks this year, like this team has the potential will be really
bad by season's end. So I think it's that pick I get if you
would go Dyson Daniels or Trey Murphy or even the next year's Lakers, pick
I didn't, and I don't think that's the case. I'm trying to capitalize
on the Lakers incompetence right now. The Knicks Quentin Grimes. I'm kind of
wondering if this is controversial. I don't think it is RJ. Barrett poison
pill. It's not him IQ and Obie Top and I think have both become
underrated nationally. Maybe both are a little underrated within Knicks circles, so there's
got to be an in between. They're both extension knowledgeable this season, and
Obie Top and the Knicks are gonna wind up getting hosed in any trade for
him, just because he was injured this year. They never ever featured him
enough, and that was sort of a function of the roster. Julius Randall's
playing well enough, Like, yeah, what were you gonna do with Obie
now when he's coming back and he's healthy. So it's not those two.
They have a ton of first round picks. But let's break this down.
Do you want a Knicks pick right now? Honestly a future Knicks pick?
Maybe you do, And I would if you wanted twenty twenty seven Knicks unprotected
first, all right, I get it, like they're so ambitious when it
comes to making the playoffs, are being in that discussion. There's a chance
that those picks, even if they're in the lottery aren't great. And so
they have Jalen Brunson, Julius Randalls playing like a borderline All star there.
They have good players, they're incentivized to continue going after good players. I
just feel like they'll be locked into mediocrity if not better moving forward, and
so those picks aren't as valuable. They have all these other teams first Trump
picks that Dallas pick top ten protective this year, I don't it's not gonna
be a lot O pick. Then you have all these conditional picks from they
have Detroit Washington, Like there's a chance those two just like they don't even
convey, and so they're not valuable and just like that, we're at Quentin
Grimes and so three and D prospect who can do a little bit more off
the dribble. I don't know. We saw him do some initiation in Summer
League. I think he's shown that he can do a lot in sort of
open space with them in his hands. But as a creator for others,
I wouldn't buy into that two years left on his rookie scale, rookie scale,
energetic defender, it's him for me. Maybe maybe if you want it
to be spicy, you just go ahead and say Jalen Brunson, because twenty
six, twenty seven year old playing like an All Star fits onto any team,
and there's just value in okay, if we think we're gonna get the
guy, or we think we have one of them and a younger guy,
but we're trading this star because we don't want to pay him, or he
wants out, or we don't think he's a good fit, like a Washington.
Let's just let's just say Washington. I'm not saying Jim Bruns will be
on the table for Bradley Beale like even a Chicago I Zack Lavine's on the
table even the Toronto off Siakam's on the table or something. I could see
teams targeting him. If I'm the Knicks, I'm not giving him up.
Just because he simplifies everything for everyone doesn't mean he's better than some of the
players that might be available. I just don't think he would be on the
table. Plus the familial ties within the organization for him. The Oklahoma Simmy
Thunder, Oklahoma City Thunder. This was tough. It's not going to be
Shay, It's not gonna be Chet. He's injured. I don't think they
would trade him. They're not gonna the Thunder. I'm gonna make a block
quest or trade anyway. But let's let's get in the Sam Presty mindset.
I thought about Jay Gubb a little bit more than I was going to,
and it was just kind of like, all right, is he gonna end
up having the on ball juice to where teams actually want to build around him?
Or is this just going to be someone who's a gap filler at both
ends of the floor, maybe in all defense type player, and that's that's
really good. I'd still prefer Josh Giddy. Then he's been shooting over forty
percent on a good volume number of three since the start of December. Defense
has ticked up this year. Good rebounder can make plays in the open floor,
trusting his floater a little bit more this year. I like what I've
seen him move off the ball from Shay, and so that proves that this
isn't someone who needs to play or serve one function two years left on his
rookie scale only twenty. That's the player you ask for if you're trading.
Okay, see a star and maybe that stars a guard, which is why,
like, right, Giddy has to be in there. That's what you
go after. I don't think i'd want any of the thunder Oh, I
mean, you'd want the Thunder's own picks, but like, are those the
most valuable thing they could give up? Their picks already? Kind of looking
at them, are like, well, where's it gonna be this year?
They're not gonna be in the webon yamaste. You say, It's like,
yeah, they might finish in the lottery and then get super lucky end up
in the top four, but they're not gonna have top lottery odds. And
you scale that forward to more development from Shay and Jay Dubb. They still
have lou Dort and then Chet Holmer's gonna play. They have cap space.
You're sending them a star in a blockbuster trade. You don't want their own
picks, and so do you want the Clippers or Rockets picks? Maybe I
thought about Houston's twenty twenty four pick because they should still be pretty bad.
It's top four protected, so I don't really know how to feel about that.
I just went with Giddy, and I think it's more of a compliment
to just how good he's been this season. The Orlando Magic this was tough
too. You're not gonna trade Polo. You're not gonna trade Franz Wagner.
Jail and Sucks is not a blockbuster trade asset right now. Do not sell
your jail and Suck stock. But he is not a blockbuster trade asset.
If you're the Magic, you're also you look kind of close to playoff proximity,
and so if you're I don't know what player becomes available again, but
if you could trade your first round pick this year, I guess you think
about it. I wouldn't do it, Like right now, you're close enough
to where, oh, we could have a bottom five record, Like I'm
not pumping on the chance to end up with Amen Thompson or Scoot Henderson Victor
like, I'm just not doing it. So with their twenty twenty four first
round pick, they do have the Bulls pick this year, that might be
something interesting. You put that on the table, and so you're saying to
yourself, yeah, you hamstring some of the other moves you could do because
you're trading it now rather than after the twenty three draft. But you attach
that to just money some of these other players. You having your roster future
picks, the Bulls picks, you can get in some splashy discussions while then
still having this year's first round pick. So that's big time. I don't
expect the Magic to be like super aggressive buyers. I wouldn't rule it out
though over the summer, adding another high end lottery prospect to a core with
Paolo and Suggs and friends Bockinger already it makes some of those other guys expendable
and maybe including Sugs plus their future draft equity. Philly Tyris Maxie is the
only answer. It's not a first round pick. It's not going to be
Joel Beater, James Harden, Tobias Harris's salary at get it, he has
to be as part of any blockbuster deal. But any team that's making the
deal is like, oh, you gave us basically Tobias Harris and Tyres Maxie.
And look, Tyris Maxie, I think he should be better on defense
by now, but lightning quick speed going in a straight line is shown that
he can play on or off the ball like he's and the three point shooting
is just real. Has he's extensionws well after this year. He's not someone
you're afraid to pay though, Like this isn't in a I'm gonna saying in
a manual quickly situation, but he's just like a little way lower end than
Maxie at this point. So it's just like that's not someone that you're going
to be concerned about paying. It's it would be like if the Heat had
never again he given Hero and extension. That's yes, he's gonna be expensively
live up to it. Like you're not going to be afraid to extend Tyler
Hero and clearly the Heat weren't. So if the Sixers want to pull off
a blockbuster trade, they offer Harris and Maxie and see what they could get
and look, I think you'd be surprised at who they could get. The
Suns, the Phoenix Suns. What is their most valuable trade asset? The
things that were on the table were a vast man. I thought about distance
first round picks, just like because it's you know, CP three is always
on the down swings, already on the down swing. But as we're talking
about future first round picks, I'm like, well, what if they just
traded this year or unprotected pick. They've kind of sucked lately. Injuries are
just incredibly behind that, So like, could they turn it around? And
if you are getting them, let's say they're training for Pascal Siakam. This
is just they're training for Pascal Siakam. They're gonna get better, and so
that would diminish the value of this year's pick. But the fact of the
twenty twenty three, if they dangled it unprotected, it's probably more valuable than
it was. And that I even considered it seasons going off the rails the
distant first round picks, I get it. But they do have Michael Bridges,
who is my ultimate selection. And I know people are gonna say DeAndre
Ayton, he's I don't want to say, I'm gonna be like, I'm
like in the moment and in my field, so I'm gonna say he sucks.
He doesn't suck, but he's been not great on defense this year,
and just there's still that, you know, he's the keith Man Horne of
big men on offense, where it's just like he has like talent and skills
to put all this shit together, but he doesn't do it enough consistently.
He's underwhelming. If you're gonna put him on the ball and then he just
comes off, it's like really timid or soft. If you need him to
be more aggressive, and now you've maxed him out, teams will be interested
and they will run more stuff for him on offense. But like, there's
a chance that Phoenix just gave a slightly above average center a max contract that's
not a cap slocked trade asset. I'm sorry, it's Michael Bridges. He's
still whatever he is twenty six scales to every single team. I think he's
been overstretched with the amount of on ball work this Sun's deed him to do.
But he is now someone who gives you rim pressure and shooting, of
course, but rim pressure outside of transition like you can work mcaal bridges for
more of a standstill and he will get going downhill. Whether that's gonna work,
is a setup man for others in higher volume, or if you want
to slow it down, haven't run more pick and rolls. I have a
beholder of you there, but like he has more value than just as a
specialist, and he's shown it. His defense has slipped to this year.
I think he's just shouldering too much responsibility at both ends. He's also probably
trying to keep his streak alive and it's just super banged up at this point.
So if you're going a blockbuster trade with the Phoenix Hunde, you want
to get McCall bridges I think more than anyone else, even though he's not
a start. Look, his contract is probably below market at this point,
under lock and key for another three years after this one. That's the pick.
And if it's not going to be him, I think you go with
probably a distant first, even one of their distant first over eight and still
that's how not out on eighton. I just don't like he's not this blockbuster
magnet to me, the Blazers. I've wanted to pick Anthony Simons. My
friend, colleague editor Brian Knox Bryant Knox over at Bleacher Report said it probably
needs to be Shade Sharp because of just the mystery box potential here. And
I think he's right. Just yeah, there's the there's the just Moons shot
hops that he has and he's you know, disproving and defying gravity. There's
also just he shown the ability hit some really difficult jumpers. The physical tools
you have might be someone who could really work on defense. So three years
left on his rookie scale, still a teenager if you want to acquire a
star in your Portland. Also, given the way that you're encumbered with your
pick obligations, you go Shaden Sharp plus money plus other stuff, and that
gets you into some pretty I would say, nuclear discussions. Like I think
there are teams that I think even if Simons is on the table, I
get you into some nuclear discussions. But Shaden Sharp is still in the could
be anything camp, And I think every times sort of graduated there to fringe.
All Star knows we're he's not gonna be good on defense, knows that
his passing sort of has a ceiling on its creativity and complexity. But he's
also a better ball mover than he was. It still might be him for
me, and I think he's really good, but it's if you're trying to
make a blockbuster happen at Shayden Sharp the Sacramento Kings, it's Key and Murray.
They don't like it can't really be anyone else. It's not gonna be
Fox or some bonus, because the whole idea would be, Okay, let's
get his higher end player for to play with the Aaron foxon's a bonus.
Barnes isn't gonna be, like yeah, as a salary anchor, maybe,
but it's not gonna be Davion Mitchell just too much of a question mark on
offense, even though he was just splashing jumpers the other night. I can't
remember I was watching the game, whoever they were playing, it's Keegan Murray.
Like he's just been great moving off the ball. He's sixth this year,
sixth in the entire league in spot up three pointers made, catching shoot
three pointers. And that's gonna scale every single team a little bit older for
a rookie three cost controls years for like this combo forward that just plugs and
plays into any sort of offensive system. I don't know what you could get
for him. He's not getting you a capstock superstar on his own. But
like if you were a dangle Kegan Murray plus money and your first the first
pick you could trade is not until two twenty eight, so you could trade.
I want to make that clear. You can trade a conditional first round
pick before then. The first first round pick Sacramino can guarantee is not till
twenty twenty. That's that's why I didn't pick it. Maybe there would be
teams that are more entranced by that, but that's why I didn't pick it.
Let's just say Keegan Murray and like, if you floated, do you
need both these players? I don't think it's something you do. But if
you needy Kegan Murray and if you traded Key Murray Harrison, BR's like,
who does that get you? Is that like ogn a Noobi material? They
talked about that on the low Post the other day. I mean maybe like
would that get you into I'm trying to think of, like would that get
even like the Pascal Siakam discussion if you were willing to attach some other first
there? And so I think the answer is Keigy Murray. Would they be
willing to move him if the right opportunity presents itself. We have to see.
But I think this is, if anything, taken as a compliments,
how good Kegan Murray has been, Spurs were tough. Kelvin Johnson, poison
pill could be him if we move the poison pill parameters from here. I
thought about Devin Missel, just so many more on ball skills. I just
don't think the Spurs would move him. And it's like, okay, well
a few years of his rookie scale are gone. And if you don't think
he's gonna be a primary creator, do you prioritize him? We know the
Spurs aren't gonna trade their own first round pick, so those are just off
the table. Is it Chicago's twenty twenty five pick? No, it's top
ten protected. Jeremy so On I thought about and as me, it's specifically
I might made it him, but just he's so raw offensively you can see
the florid navigation on and off the ball. With him, we're just a
free throw shooting. What's his jumper gonna become? Can even pull up off
the dribble? Ever, and how much are you going to trust his facilitation
when you don't actively suck and you're looking for silver linings, like as hard
as you can. It's Atlanta's twenty twenty five ft round pick. That team
is a dumpster fire behind the scene. This is unprotected. This pick conveys
after a dejahn Ty Murray's current contract. So is he gone? Has Trey
Young made a trade demand? It's in Atlanta's twenty twenty five pick. It
could technically be the Spurs his own, but I think that I think that
what you're gonna do is you're going to prioritize that that Atlanta pick. That
would be the smartest way to go rolling into the final stretch. Here we
have the Raptors, who are the hardest team for me. It's gonna be
o g you could go with their future picks, It's not. It's not
gonna be Fred van Fleet. Maybe. I mean, I guess they made
everybody else off limits, but I don't know who needs to be off limits.
Siakam is a little bit too old, and so if you're if the
Raptors aren't making blockbuster trades because they want to win with Siakam still, so
he's off the table, it's Barnes around it, Noby, and it comes
down to whether it's Scottie Barnes untouchable. We know that he was untouchable and
Kevin Durant discussions. How serious were those discussions. The Raptors weren't on Katie's
public list to prefer trade destinations, so like that could have impacted whether they
had Scottie on the table. I also think that all of us, I
mean, and I'll speak only for myself, but many of us. Then,
let's say, overthought the entire situation with kemn Urran over the summer.
You trade Scotty Barnes if it means getting Kevin Durant. I'm like, that
should have just been the stance, and that's going to be my stance I
take here. If you're going to acquire a top even fifteen to twenty player,
I would trade Scotty Barnes. He's been better of late, and I'm
sort of running as a point center making plays out of the short role.
Screening has been better. Looks like really more engaged on defense, but he
hasn't really moved the needle on defense or improved there this season. And he
could be such like a niche fit on offense. That would teams be scared
of sort of trying to make him their their pole prospect moving toward the basis
around everything they're they're building. Maybe, but I think from the Rappers perspective,
you put them on the table more so if you were going after those
talks and it's not him, it's Ogianna. No, we just to end
up story. But I think also do both have to be involved if you're
acquiring a star depends on the player. The other thing you could say,
though, is like if it's Scotty Barnes picks and salary and you get to
keep o giannaob Witziakam and Van Fleet while acquiring a star, you're gonna have
the more attractive championship window right now. The Utah Jazz, who this is
hard Larry marketing, I think would be a lot of people's picks because they
don't view him as a star. Dude, it's about to make an All
Star team. He's going to be in the conversation as a starter now given
all the other injuries that have happened in the West front court. So it's
like, if you're making a blockbuster trade, you're doing it to pay Larry
marketing with that star, so I moved him off the table. Now we
get into the picks. It's not one of the Cleveland picks, Like,
yes, you shorted their long term future, but they're young and good,
so you did things go wrong and Dona Mitchell leaves or eventually request a trade
like or Evan Mobley's and as good as we expect that they just they have
so much like reinforcement because they have like a big four essentially right now,
it's not one of their picks, So is it a jazz pick maybe,
but like they're still too good at the moment they've dropped below five hundred.
I think they will be sellers at the deadline and probably should be, we're
being honest. Or maybe they'll just be opportunistic buyers, but like their pick
is not going to be as valuable as Minnesota's pick this year. Maybe possibly,
but let's look forward because maybe Minnesota figures it out. Or if you're
a team that's trading a star or a big name of the Utah Jazz,
you want to think bigger and kind of roll the dice. I would imagine
just because Minnesota is they're bad, but they're not bad enough. If Towns
come When Towns comes back, they should be better. Let's move forward,
and I'm looking at is it the twenty twenty seven pick. It's not twenty
twenty nine, that's top five protected. I went with twenty twenty five just
because Rudy Gobert well into his thirties. What does this team look like?
If the Timberwolves missed the playoffs this year, we're gonna start to hear about
Karl Anthony Towns trades. It's just a matter of fact. Could Andy Edwards
even become disenchanted by that point by twenty twenty five? There's just so much
variability combustibility in Minnesota that twenty five it's close enough. We're talking three drafts
away, so where it's like, all right, I can see it,
and the Jats have other stuff to give us. And then it's also like
it's far enough away. This ship could go wrong. This ship could go
sideways. It's already gone sideways, and we're gonna try and capitalize on that
final team, the Washington Wizards. They just have no options here. You're
not Bill is not your blockbuster trade asset if you're making a blockbuster trades,
because you're trying to win within his window your own first round picks. If
I'm a team, yeah, I want them. When can I get them
their pick protection to the Knicks, it's for eternity this year. It can
leak out all the way until two twenty six. Could you trade a conditional
first round pick? Yes? If you're another team, how much do you
value the idea of the Wizards reaching the playoffs this season next season so that
you can get a pick in twenty six like you did. I don't know
their first guaranteed first round pick that they could trade at this moment would be
two and twenty eight. That's just too far if you want to wait that
long. Yale, Okay, Bradley Beal is gonna be ancient, might be
traded by then. I didn't go with it. You could go with Denny
Avdia. That's my that's my guy. It's that Ruby's entering different agency even
better this year. Looks a little bit more fluid on offense, like a
player who sort of coming into his own just you have to pay him and
he's not a he's not center piece material. Denny Abby is not high volume
enough for me on offense, even though he's really showing some moxy off his
dribil penetration this year. It's both a pastor and an efficient score. But
again, it is he high volume eno of his score in those situations.
And so is it Daniel Gafford, it's not Christops Porzingis. You're still gonna
be worried about his lower body injuries his next contract. So it's like,
who is it? Is it Corey Kissbert, No, it's not Corey Kissbert,
it's you. They don't even like, does Washington know that Johnny Davis
exists? He's injured right now, he'd barely seen the floor beforehand. No,
it's Kyle Kuzma. He's an expiring contract player option next season. But
but he's really good and he fits onto so many different teams, And so
maybe this is a situation where ye, okay, can you step ladder Kyle
Kuzma plus literally every other attractive thing that we have, Denny Avdia, Corey
Kissburt. We're gonna give you that twenty twenty eight first round pick. What
kind of discussion does that get you into? Is it a sleeper package for
like an og Hana Nobi if he becomes available. I'm just throwing shit out
there. So it's Kyle Kuzma to me, just because he's really good.
He's affordable, getting his bird rights matters, because he's not super ancient.
He's twenty seven, so his next deal is gonna take him through his prime.
If you can keep him, you have to know that you're going to
keep him. Though. Let me hope you disagree with any of these picks.
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Love seeing the conversation happening without me until next time. End as always,
even chat to bild one feel only the indelible. The person who started
on Sunday night against the Portland Trailblazers friend heal him