The Trade
Spurs: get Ayton
Lakers: Get CP3, Otto porter Jr (out for the season), Juancho Hernangomez (crappy player but a real nba player for the lakers)
Raptors: Get Westbrook, Crowder, and Saric (AKA $68 Mil in expiring contracts) 4 suns firsts, 3 suns swaps, 2 or 3 spurs firsts (depending what we can negotiate for ayton), 1 lakers first. (7-8 firsts and 3 swaps total)
Suns: Get Jakob Poeltl (on an expiring contract), Doug McDermott, OG Anunoby, and Pascal Siakam
Explaining this out for each team.
Spurs: They are likely not resigning Poeltl and getting a young talented player like ayton to go with Vassall and Keldon Johnson is a good trio to put their rebuild around. Plus they have extra picks from the trade with ATL so they wouldn't even have to give up their picks and could still be set for the draft this year and next year. There were some rumors of spurs interest in ayton last summer. They could get their guy and I am sure Pop and Duncan believe they could maximize ayton. Doug McDermott is a 31 year old career journeyman role player who is solid but hasn't left a great impact anywhere he has gone. Easy guy to throw in to make money work and get their guy.
Lakers: They get off Westbrook without giving up 2 picks which most teams want from them. CP3 is an upgrade from Westbrook and Lebron would be very happy to play with him. In Lebron's mind (right or wrong) it's enough to get the lakers to playoff contention and gives him a shot to make a playoff run with CP3 himself and AD. Otto Porter Jr. while out the rest of this year is a solid player when healthy that could help the lakers next year as a shooter and floor spacer in what is likely lebron's last year with the lakers. Hernangomez sucks but he is a low end nba player which is an upgrade from a lot of guys on their roster. makes the lakers (if healthy) a much better team overall and Lebron happy. all for just 1 pick.
Raptors: Basically the raptors lean into full tank/Rebuild with this move as they make a run for a bottom 3 record the second half of the year. As mentioned they get nearly $70 mil in expiring contracts maximizing their flexibility going forward. They will get 7-8 first round picks and 3 swaps. to put that in perspective the jazz got a total of 7 picks and 3 swaps from the Mitchell and Gobert trades. And the raptors would still have FVV to trade for more assets. They would tank hard and have lots of future draft assets and build around Scotty barnes (21), Precious Achiuwa (23), Malachi Flynn (24), and Gary Trent Jr (24) along with whoever they draft.
Suns: We Get Pascal Siakam first and foremost as a legit #2 star to booker. While we would move back to Point booker, Siakam would handle the ball significantly and is a good passer and playmaker averaging 6.4 AST per game this year with a 2.5/1 AST/TO ratio. That's on one of the worst shooting teams in the league. I am sure he has a lot of potential AST that are bricking. So the ball handling would still be shared despite Booker at PG. Next we get OG Anunoby. Arguably the best wing defender in the league, him and mikal will give teams nightmares. That's not even to mention the OG can also handle the ball some and is shooting 37% from 3 this year. Next we get Jakob Poeltl who is averaging 12 10 3 with 1 block per game on 63% TS%. He's not gonna set the world on fire but we don't need him to. He will be a solid guy who gives effort and does the dirty work we need while finding some easy buckets here and there. While he is on an expiring contract if he does a good enough job James Jones and Ishbia should be willing to bring him back. Doug McDermott is shooting 42% from 3 this year and is a career 41% 3 point shooter. He moves well without the ball and can handle it some. He overall has a really good feel on the offensive end but he's not the greatest defender.
Highlights:
Pascal Siakam:
OG Anunoby:
Jakob Poeltl:
Doug McDermott:
Lineup Versatility and Depth:
While these 4 are all quality players in their own right the real special thing we gain from this Trade is depth and lineup versatility.
We can go lock down defense with Okogie, Mikal, OG, Siakam, Poeltl.
We can go crazy shooting with Booker, Lee, Cam, McDermott, Siakam.
We can run an elite 2 way small ball lineup with Booker, Mikal, Cam, OG, Siakam.
An example of something random we could throw out that would be a positive lineup is Payne, Lee, Cam, Craig, Siakam.
The Depth Chart would look something like this:
Booker, Mikal, OG, Siakam, Poeltl
Payne, Lee, Cam, Craig, Jock
Shamet, Okogie, McDermott, Ish, Biz
Washington jr.
Our options for quality lineups would be limitless.
Shooting:
The shooting on our team would be crazy.
Booker is shooting 37% from 3 this year
Cam 43%
Mikal 40%
Lee 48%
Craig 40%
Shamet 38%
Payne 38%
Ish 39%
OG 37%
Siakam 35%.
35.7% is the league average 3 point % this year. We would have 9 players blowing the league average away. and when Siakam plays small ball 5 the spacing on offense will be outrageous.
Booker, who has had defeated AST numbers since CP3 got here and is better than a 2/1 AST/TO ratio for the first time in his career this year will be going crazy with breaking down defenses with a 2nd star and all that shooting. Siakam will be doing the same with a team that can actually shoot the ball unlike the raptors. And Payne to a lesser extent will also be able to shred defenses with his career high 5.3 AST he has been averaging this year.
Playoffs:
Playoffs are all about matchups and we would have the versatility to play any style any team throws at us and force any team to be uncomfortable. Not to mention having the depth to go next man up if someone goes down unless it's booker or Siakam. But every team is screwed when stars go down.
Trades need approval:
The best part is this trade would save Sarver $2.7 mil in cap. since we are over the tax he would be paying less in taxes too, saving even more money. So he is likely to approve it because he's a cheap. ass.
I also believe Ayton would approve it as he seems checked out and the idea of playing for Pop and Duncan while potentially getting to be the main guy would be appealing to him.
The Elephant in the Room: The Draft Picks
Sure the roster sounds great on paper and makes general sense form all 4 teams standpoint provided the raptors do make the decision to blow it up. But are we really going to give away all our first round picks through 2029? That seems risky. And honestly, it is risky but it's not really giving away all our picks for till 2029. 3 of the picks (2024, 2026, 2028) we are giving away will be swaps. Meaning we will still have a first round draft pick every other year. It won't be a top pick or a good pick. But the expectation is we are drafting at the end of the first round anyways. Having a major injury 1 year could also be a risk since we would have no draft pick safety net but if we are making legit runs at championships every other year except 1 and the raptors end up getting a great player that 1 year I personally could live with that. Whether or not everyone could that is a personal question. Secondly we are getting The Core of our roster for their primes over this stretch of years.
Here is the age of all the players the last year we don't have our picks (2029).
Booker: 32
Pascal Siakam 34
Mikal Bridges: 32
OG Anunoby: 31
Cam Johnson: 32
Jakob Poeltl: 33
Cam Payne: 34
Ish Wainright 34
Duane Washington Jr.: 28
Josh Okogie: 30
Laundry Shamet: 31
Jock Landale: 33 (long gone)
Bismarck Biyombo: 36 (long gone)
Torrey Craig: 38 (long gone)
Damion Lee: 36 (long gone)
Doug McDermott: 37 (long gone)
This isn't to say every player I didn't mark as long gone will still be on the roster but as you can see the core will still be in their early 30s the last year we give up picks. Meaning we should still be very good as tons of players are great or even in their peak in their early 30s. Siakam at 34 we might start to see a little decline but if we got a title in those 6 years or even went to the finals multiple times it won't bother anyone in 2029. Plus with a main core this good, and an owner who people don't hate we will always have veterans interested in joining us. Be it for a the mid level exception or league minimum. And we will have 3 younger players who we drafted in 2024, 2026, and 2028. And if any 2nd round drafted players hang around. Plus 1 thing James jones has proven to be good at is finding those minimum contract guys on the edges. Like how he picked up D Lee this year.
Hopefully Ishbia will get us a G-League team again and James jones can find more young edge guys to fill that team with and develop as well. Could find a Dimond in the rough to add to the roster at some point if we build that back up.
One last Saucy but separate all in move:
after making the above trade there would be 1 more bonus trade I would want to make.
Timberwolves: Get Jock Landale and 7 Suns 2nd round picks
Suns: get Naz Reid (on an expiring contract)
basically this is a move you make if Ishbia indicates he's willing to pay whatever to win. Naz makes $.3 mil less than Jock so sarver saves more money and he would approve. Naz is a starting level caliber versatile 2 way center who apparently isn't looking like he is going to resign with the wolves. There negotiations have been reported to not be going anywhere and they already have KAT and Gobert ahead of him. He is just 23 (29 in 2029) and will be an Unrestricted free agent. Meaning making the trade for him will give us his Bird rights Assuring we can make whatever financial offer we need to keep him in the offseason. without doing that we would not be able to afford him with anything but a mid-level exception. I don't see any team offing the TWolves a 1st round pick for him since he is expiring and he is as good if not better than we could hope to get with any of our 2nd round picks. So why not go for it if we are going all in. It really would be worth giving all 7 of them to just show the TWolves we are for real with the offer and not playing game. TWolves might say no but if they are really worried about not resigning him this offseason and don't want to lose him for nothing it could be their best offer and would be a great get for the Suns.
Naz Reid Highlights:
Keeping the Team together this Summer:
If all of this were to work out there would be some key off-season resigning we would need to make in order to keep this team together.
1st is Cam Johnsons contract extension
2nd is Ishbia deciding to spend the money to resign unrestricted Free agents, Jakob Poeltl and Naz Reid who we would have their bird rights. So we can pay them as much as we want to keep them as long as Ishbia is cool with spending that money. honestly to make any of these moves on the front end I would think James jones would have a conversation with Ishbia even before he officially takes over the team to make sure he is down to pay that amount of luxury tax. I would expect if these moves were made they would be resigned at whatever the market deems they are worth to keep them.
3rd is trying to bring Damion Lee back on the mid level exception. In all honesty D Lee is likely gone next year as he is on a 1 year deal, we have no Bird rights to him, and he is absolutely killing it and making himself valuable on the market. But we have to try to bring him back with how well he has played. The mid level exception is the best offer we can give him. Maybe we show we value him and we are a championship contender that he has a role on and he stays but ultimately we might lose him to money.
4th is to try resigning Okogie, Craig, a third string center (biz or someone else), Ish Wainright to a full time contract. We probably lose Craig if he continues to shoot as well as he has this year unless he gives the suns a discount. If we do lose him we should sign a PG. Whether that's giving Washington jr or Sabon Lee a full time contract or finding someone else.
That's how we be bold, take a calculated risks and make the all in moves in an attempt to win a title not just this year but every year for the next 6 years.
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