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

Spot on

 

I wonder why he's not a great fit. Luka hits his guys rolling to the rim, and there may not be a better one. Talking about easy baskets. Plus, he'll grab and fight for rebounds, be a defensive presence, etc.

I see a strong potential fit.

 

for a second i thought this happened and i liked it.

i like the trade; i just think our problems are on defense, and this does nothing for that.

i'm not interested in trading rui, even if he's not part of the plan. he's useful this year, and there's no guarantee his market is 3 seconds anyway. if we could get a playable expiring backup forward and three seconds, i'm in. but if he goes out for dead wood and seconds, we've really punted on this year for something that doesn't have great future purchasing power (e.g., it took dillingham and 4 seconds to get an expiring ayo dosunmu).

think they traded terry for him. i prefer terry, tbh.

welcome! i don't think it would be as bad as westbrook, but i'm also just not interested. there are other ways to improve.

 

welp

 

The entire goal should be building for next year. Cap space, assets, etc. If Kennard is auditioning for a smaller contract next year that's fine, but outside of another Luka-esque miracle, no brainer trade, we have no shot of a title this year. There's no reason to negatively impact the seasons going forward for an expensive bandaid that'll yield the same result.

 

I too think Giannis and Luka would be a bad fit. And Giannis has been known to be a bit of a diva too.

 

as for any remaining move, my guess is we're looking to move knecht/kleber for expiring of slightly lower value. this would just be a kleber level player.

i was going to say nurkic, as he's not in utah's plans, but his salary is too high. someone on a 13-14 million dollar expiring would work.

actually kleber/knecht for thybulle saves us 3.5 million now, 5 in the summer, and a roster spot and buyout room. portland doesn't project to have space and is probably going to buy out thybulle anyway. i guess they just traded for krejci, though...

 

There isn’t one available 3and D player that would make a significant difference on this team this year.I would concentrate on more consistent shooters and better rebounding

 

also: has anyone traded one?

edit: 52 beat me to it. nobody's selling 3 and d wings.

 

He wasn't great with Lillard. He worked better with Holiday, a defensive specialist that holds the ball less. Giannis is a ball dominant forward. There's some red flags

It would be an incredible dynamic regardless, I'm curious to see as it could work very well but he's on a downtrend while Luka is going up.

If we are going all-in, I want a guy that can give us 5 years, which is the time to recoup the picks. Going for Giannis in a trade means we are not getting another star for at least 5 years, so we need to be really confident in his health and durability

I agree. Do you thinking with Wiggins instead of Rui we are beating OKC, Houston and Denver?

 

another important question is whether wiggins is even available at that price.

but rui/kleber/1st is tough for me, though, as it cuts cap space in half if wiggins opts in.

now, if we maybe knew that wiggins would opt out and take a 3/60 with us, preserving 40 million in space, i think i'd be in.

 

We could add Kawhi for free and I still don't think we'd win the title.

 

I think Smart is starting, Jake (and Rui) come off the bench. As it should

 

For a 1st, as Weezy suggested, maybe Miami bite.
But they probably prefer Wiggins expiring next year for a shot at Giannis

 

same. took half a season, but we got there and don't need to go back.

 

Part of why Giannis and Dame didn't work out in Milwaukee was that Giannis didn't want to run 50 P&Rs a game as the role guy. He fancies himself as the point forward. Is he okay with primarily being a role man now, because that's exactly what he'd have to be with Luka.

Giannis also does not like to play the 5 that much, similar to AD. They'd play some minutes with Portis nominally at the 5 which was really Giannis at the 5, but for the most part Giannis wanted to play with legitimate stretch centers like Lopez and Turner. We don't have one of those and there are only a handful of them in the league that are actually good players. Ayton can extend his range to like 15 feet, but that's not the same thing. Would we need to get one if we traded for Giannis? How are we doing that if we just traded everything for Giannis? I think Giannis, like AD, needs to embrace playing the 5 more in his 30s.

The reporting has been that Giannis didn't really want to go to Golden State in part because that's Steph's team. KD went there, won two FMVPs, and it was still Steph's team. Are we sure he's cool with being the #2, or at best #1B, to Luka? Luka's stature here isn't the same as Steph's in GS, but given Giannis' age it would clearly be "Luka's team" whatever that means.

There's a fantasy that we'd somehow be able to trade Vando/3 firsts/3 swaps for Giannis, but the more likely outcome is that AR is in the trade. We'd be left with Luka, Giannis, Jake, Hayes, maybe Smart and Ayton if they both opted in? No picks left to trade until the next summer. Would be really hard to make that a contender for the 2026-2027 season, so now we're looking at another "gap" year to build up a supporting cast to really compete in 2027-2028? When Luka is 29 and Giannis is 33?

 

his 30 million dollar cap slot is way more valuable in a summer trade for giannis. this is what worries me about us keeping the full 60 free...