2022-23 Team Developments: News / Trades / Free Agents / Rumors

Cam Reddish has effectively played himself out of two teams now. The guy has all the tools in the world and shows some nice glimpses. But that’s about it.

I save Nunn and Bev’s salaries for a joint deal to bring back a proper piece. Which means you have to come up with around 5m to match salaries for a Cam Reddish trade.

You could send out Walker but he is a better piece than Cam.

So it would be have to be a 3-1 trade from our side. Something like Damian Jones, JTA and one of Brown/Gabriel plus two seconds for Cam. Those kind of 3 for 1 trades don’t actually really happen often for small pieces. It’s just too much effort for the GMs to cut players and open up roster spots etc unless it’s a deal for a star.

 

Maybe this is a precursor to a Bogdanovic trade with Detroit where we also get Noel?

 

NO to giving up Max! Not for a player we will only get use out of for a couple of seasons.

 

facts. but sometimes it takes guys a while to figure things out. it's possible reddish is josh jackson. it's also possible that he puts it together, and with those raw materials, there's a high ceiling. a 2nd and nunn isn't much to pay to look into it, imo.

walker could also be used in other trades if necessary. we don't own any rights to him. i like him, but i'm not attached.

i've said repeatedly that i think reddish is the back pocket deal. we're probably one of only a handful of teams interested, and if we don't make a bigger deal--or if we make a bigger deal and still have nunn sitting there behind three better guards--we'll pull the trigger.

 

if reports are to be believed--we've already seen some bs re: bogdanovic trades once--then the ask is a promising young player + a pick.

our promising young players: christie and reaves. i guess lonnie, brown, bryant, and even gabriel could qualify, too.

anyway, not sure i do that deal, either.

 

I really do not want to give up Max either. He is a rare player that actually provides three-point shooting and defense. He is just kind of raw. I think I would rather trade Reaves than Max.

 

It seems maybe we should focus on upgrading our backcourt, since our front court might be James/Davis/Bryant. I wonder how much it would cost to just get Hield by himself? I wonder if Indy would do Westbrook/Jones/2027 1st (top 4 protected) for Hield/Thiess?

 

I’m not giving up either. You have to have young, cost controlled players on your team. You don’t get rid of them, unless they are packaged with others and picks for a near All Star level player. Austin will be worth every penny on his new deal this summer.

 

Sorry, can't support holding out for a star who can't count to 3

 

Would y’all do 1 unprotected 1st, 1 protected (top 10) first, Westbrook, and Lonnie for Saddiq Bey, Bogdanovich, and nerlens Noel?!

 

Ugh I hope Portland blows it up. We could give the farm for lillard (and then sign harkless for wing defence) or give a first for Grant

 

They won't and Dame will go down with the Titanic.

He's loyal to a fault. He's my favorite non Laker. We don't have enough to force their hand and he's not going to ask out. He's a defensive liability but holy s*** balls Batman! He's a dying breed of assassins and he's electrified Staples/Crypto more than any local since Mamba.

Don't think we can get Grant because that skill set is the most desirable in the league and we'll get outbid if he hits the market. They're only 1.5 back from 6th. If they can't get playoff revenue, then maybe they move him but with the play in, we probably won't know that until April.

 

Saddiq Bey really intrigues me. His shooting percentages haven’t been great, but he’s still been putting up points. I’d have to imagine some of his inefficiencies are from being on a bad Pistons team. Most importantly, physically he looks to be the type of wing player we could really use. Still only 23 years old, 6’7” 215 pound SF. Under contract for only $4.5 million next year, we’d have his bird rights. He has a 50 point game in his career already.

Trading both picks for that package would be a tough pill to swallow, but with the lottery protection on one of them I’d have to seriously consider it.

I’d put the ball in the hands of our scouting department. If they had good intel on Bey, I might pull the trigger.

 

Pistons want an unprotected FRP for Bey. So right off the bat, he's a no. They aren’t compelled to move Bey and don’t have to if the price isn’t ridiculous. Lakers are not a taker. Non topic.

 

just a reminder of how much cap we're wasting if we make no trades.

 

Absolutely not. Bogdanovic probably isn’t worth one of our unprotected 1st - they’re probably top 10.

And you think Saddiq Bey or Noel is worth another one?

 

We ain't trading Lonnie tho

 

That's awful. From 2025 to 2030 we would be missing the playoffs without owning a pick every odd year and solely relying on the FA market

There's 2 things everyone should have in mind by now:
- Stepien rule states that we can only trade 1st round picks every odd year. So if we trade both now, we can't trade any (only swaps) until ours 2031. You also can only trade picks for 7 years, so we only get an additional pick to trade in 2026 (we get 2033), 2028 and so on

- NBA extension rules completely changed the landscape of Free Agency. Combined with the power players have today to demand trades (we got AD because of that) means that best players rarely go to the open market. Not only because players now get the bag and then request a trade a couple years later, but also because teams often sign extensions with their best players so cap space is a rarity nowadays.

Take a look at this year's market. Which star players in his prime is there? Kyrie is the probably the biggest name and he has tons of question marks. Than look at the teams who have cap space? Apart from Indiana, you have all the worst teams in OKC, Spurs, Orlando, Detroit, Houston...
Players know this too and they rather sign extensions than test a slim market and end up in a tanking team
Also, you only have cap space and are a playoff team if you have stars outperforming in rookie contracts. We are very unlikely to be that type of team, so FA shouldn't be a target for us moving forward considering the current market dynamics.

That means that the ONLY way we can get a top 10 or even top 20 player is through trades, and the current market is AT LEAST 3 picks. If we trade our 2, we have to wait for 2028 to have 3 again.
So any trade you do for the picks, you have to say to yourself - this means we won't make any substantial move until 2028.

Then, there's additional factors to consider too:
- LeBron is going to be on a massive contract until 2025 and won't get us any player for him
- if AD is healthy, he's staying. If he isn't healthy, his market value declines substantially and he may also let his contract expire
- the above 2 points mean we won't have other tradeable assets, on top of being without picks
- finally, trading to win now is understandable and something we should pursue. We should always try to win. But our success is 100% DEPENDENT of LeBron and AD's health, which hasn't happened for 3 years now. We should think very hard before giving up a pick, they are a huge asset nowadays

Bottom line is, those 2 picks are basically a guarantee we don't completely suck from at least 2025 to 2028 and our BEST way to be in contention from 2025 to 2030/2032 (getting a superstar in his prime).
So, please, don't trade them for Bojan and Bey.

 

we didn't trade them for turner and hield, so i don't think you need to fear trading them for bojan and bey. we already turned down a first for bojan once (as did everyone else, despite the bluster he was traded for kelly olynyk).

this is why i've been on the "do not operate under the cap" team for a long time now. when we're bad again, we can operate under the cap again. but when you're good, you can't compete this way, imo. the top teams have huge payrolls that allow for depth and continuity that you can't touch if you get under the cap.

to me, an SA trade is possibly the best of all worlds, because it preserves flexibility, at least for a year. moving russ there slashes salary big-time, and you don't take on anyone who extends past next year in the process. meanwhile, you create a big TE that can be deployed if you find yourself a contender.

however, i don't think this is what lebron has in mind when he keeps pushing for a trade.

only a few more weeks until we find out what all's been going on...

 

Yeah. Things will start happening across the league in a bit. I expect a couple of smaller moves but we will see soon.