2025-26 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

1. wow
2. davonte graham is still in the league?
3. oh, this is from a while back; okc played miami last night.

 

ok, back on topic:

four guys i'm watching at the deadline are keon ellis (of course!), peyton watson, quentin grimes, and benedict mathurin. all because i think they're realistic FA targets AND deadline targets.

none of these teams wants to trade with us (mayyybe philly would be ok), but i feel like we can put it out there--to both teams and agents--that we plan to make offers larger than the mle to these guys using our space, and it might grease the wheels on one or more fronts. like, is dalton knecht, a second, or a lotto-protected first better than your player walking in FA or you paying them 20 million per?

i think we can simultaneously depress the trade market with our FA spending power on any guy we tag as a target, too. what are you going to give up if you know we're going to offer your new player a bunch of money? like gs wants ellis, too. ok. you've got three guys at his position (moody, podziemski, melton) under contract next year. if we show up with a declining 20m per offer are you going to beat that? is he going to want to fight for minutes over walking into playing time here? are you going to offer much for dealing with that?

watson and mathurin are RFAs, so trading for their rights has some value, but still--you better be in good cap position to match those offers.

grimes is a UFA and has some veto power on trades, so he's a great target. i tried a trade with gabe/knecht for grimes and one of philly's ancient vet mins (lowry or gordon), and it missed by 400k, salary-wise. if you sub kleber for gabe, it works, but i don't think philly goes for that. the selling point with gabe is that he's a playable backup guard, and philly is playoff-bound at this point. we could take both lowry and gordon (we have an extra spot), but that limits our ability to sign guys on the buyout market (though we do create 2 million in wiggle room, i think). anyway, i guess if philly thinks they can truly make noise this year, they won't touch this one. or if they think they'll sign grimes next year. but i don't see the latter as likely.

anyway, all of these four players fill needs for us, are in the right age range, and should be available either now or in the summer. i think we have paths to get two of the four, but the easiest way would be to secure one via trade at the deadline and the other using space.

 

Players I would pay an unprotected first for before the deadline:

(1) Dort: Addresses POA problem this season, team option for 18.2 million next season. Might able to sign Ellis and Richards in the offseason. Builds a defensive identity. Dort, elite defense against stronger wings. Ellis, elite ball hawk. Richards, elite rim-runner and good enough defense.

(2) Claxton: Helps indirectly addresses POA problem this season, under contract for 23.1 million next season. Might be able to sign Ellis, and maybe even Richards as a backup.

(3) Suggs: Most unrealistic and expensive on this list. Also, he is the most proven two-way player on this list. Under contract for 32.4 next season. Closes the door on signing Ellis as a free agent. Still could ad Richards in the offseason though. Helps deal with our lack of steals problem. He gets 2.7 per 36 minutes. Orlando does have money concerns.

(4) Gafford: I know, unprotected 1st seems a little much. But Dallas still would want to fleece us. Indirectly addresses POA problem, though not as much as Claxton. Contract only 17.3 million next season, so could still go after Ellis/Richards.

(5) Ellis: Highly unlikely due to Kings hate for us. Like Suggs, he helps directly deal with our POA defense and steals problem. 2.4 steals per 36. His minuscule 2.5 mil or so cap hold provides maximum flexibility. Could have cap space to also sign Grimes, Richards, and Mitchell Robinson.

(6) Watson is very intriguing, but i don't have enough information on him at this point to use the 1st on him. His cap hold is projected to be around 13 million. Also, Denver not likely to trade him to us. I could see it though. So, still provides good flexibility to go after Ellis and Richards. It will require great vision by Lakers. You need to project players and buy before they pop. He hasn't peaked yet.

Some of these deals, I also try to get a 2nd or two back to even out.

 

i'd give a first for anyone but gafford. he's only a marginal upgrade on hayes. the center market is just really tough, imo. not a lot of the guys we could use are available. ayton's slowed down considerably after a good start, but i really wonder if we can do much better without robbing peter to pay paul. also, watching guys like cisse (limited minutes) and queta have some success makes me think we need to be thinking about developing at this position rather than spending assets. we had jay huff just sitting here, and he's probably better than several guys we'd had to have spent a 1st to get.

i just want perimeter athleticism. 2 players there, and i think we're in business, even with just ayton/hayes at center.

i would be interested in a third big who can play pf and smallball c. again, kleber from three years ago is the one i'd want. not this kleber, though.