FanPost

An overly ambitious trade proposal if we fall out of top 3 in the draft lottery

I have been thinking of who we should pick if we have no luck in the draft lottery and land outside the top 3 picks (assuming #4 pick).

With Markelle Fultz, Josh Jackson and Lonzo Ball all off the board by the time we pick, there are still enough talent left in a deep draft but not really anyone that can create an immediate impact to the team.

I start to look at possible trade scenarios and Free Agents market, and come up with this proposal that is probably a bit too ambitious, will like to hear your opinion on whether this is feasible.

Step 1: Trade Eric Bledsoe, TJ Warren, Phx Suns 2017 #4 pick to Indiana Pacers for Paul George.

The salaries should matches quite well. The rationale for Pacers is the high likelihood that they will lost PG after next season and it's unlikely that any other team will be able and willing to offer a better package for a possible one year rental of Paul George. For Suns, the trade make sense because Bledsoe's contract has 2 years remaining while Warren only 1 year, not a huge difference compare to Paul George's contract. The real cost will be the 4th pick. We hope that Paul George will be convinced to stay with us if the team chemistry works.

Step 2: Pursue Chris Paul in the Free Agent Market.

If we waived the cap hold for Alex Len and Alan William, theoretically we can offer Chris Paul the 35% max salary. It will be hard to imagine CP3 even bother to consider a move to Phoenix if we didn't bring Paul George here in the first place. CP3 can get more money if he stays with Clippers but I certainly not seeing that team getting anywhere with their current roster and salary cap condition. With both Blake Griffin and Chris Paul exercising their player option this off season, their hands are tight and there won't be any room to upgrade their current roster. That roster just lost to Utah Jazz and team chemistry of the big three just doesn't seem great. However, if CP3 signed with Suns, he will re-unite with his old-time PnR buddy Tyson Chandler, and I honestly believed that along with Paul George and Devin Booker, this team could offer him a better chance for contention than sticking with Griffin and Jordan. Perhaps Chandler can provide some help to do some talking.

Step 3: Draft a back-up center with our second round pick and attach the toronto pick with Knight and try to get rid of him to clear cap space for flexibility. Another option is to use the cap space savings from dealing Knight to re-sign Alan Williams.

Rosterbation after the trade:

Starting line-up: Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Paul George, Marquese Chriss, Tyson Chandler

Off the bench: Tyler Ulis, Leandro Barbosa, Derrick Jones Jr, Jared Dudley, Dragan Bender

Stand-by: Alan Williams (assuming we re-sign him via step 3), Ronnie Price, second round pick

I think the above squad is probably good enough for some serious conference contention, what do you think?