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

Sit all three of them and maybe Marcus too tbh. Let Kennard handle the ball and give Ayton a bunch of post touches.

 

I get it. We have recency bias about Eason right now. Heck, I'm ready to sign up Lebron for another season, pay Smart up to full MLE money, Ayton 12 million or so, and Kennard the room exception. But, it would be sensible to keep options open.

 

Yeah, I'm not out on Tari Eason personally, so long as we can get him at a good price. Dude's crazy athletic, he'd bring genuine size to the team standing at 6'8" with a 7'2" wingspan and has some genuinely great defensive playmaking to his game.

Everyone has bad shooting spells and I think Eason would probably benefit being on a roster where he doesn't have to try and self-create his own shot, since Houston's so playmaker deprived this year. Eason would likely have a much easier time playing next to Luka and Austin, by comparison.

The bigger holdup for me about Eason that makes me prefer Peyton Watson overall is Eason's previous health problems, but again, it's not a dealbreaker currently. Obviously I'd prefer Watson over Eason, but I wouldn't be upset at all if we did a S&T for him this summer.

 

i was never in or out on eason because, as i've repeated, i don't understand the world in which he ends up playing here next year. it would be bad asset management by houston. they can afford to sign him to a deal that could be considered unreasonable, so they won't have to. kinda like when reaves was RFA with us.

 

Houston's cap situation looks clean in 26-27, but it gets messy the following season (if they want to keep FVV for 25 m +), even with opting out of DFS. Combine that with his shootung woes and they might not really like what they have, as a bench role player. But don't get me wrong I would prefer the same team coming back and we live happily ever after, and go on a championship run.

 

i'm under no illusions about bringing this team back. i'm also under no illusions that a) the rockets wouldn't match our RFA offer to eason or b) sign and trade him for a guard to replace fvv going forward (which we don't have to offer).

i'm not sure how "eason's not going to play here" is being equated with "we love this team and it will win a ring". there's likely to be major roster changes this summer; eason just is highly unlikely to be involved.

 

I've provided an argument for why we could get Eason multiple times over, but I'll expand on it a bit here. At the end of the day, Eason is expendable to Houston due to the breadth of young talents they already have and a big part of why contract negotiations fell through between them and Eason this season was over Eason wanting a guaranteed salary in his contract extension, which Houston wouldn't provide him.

So why wouldn't Houston be open to moving Eason for what would likely be a very valuable First Round pick from a rival conference team that's actually willing pay him the guaranteed salary that they weren't comfortable offering him?

Does that mean we'd absolutely get Eason? No, not necessarily. But I think you're severely underplaying the likelihood of Houston being open to the idea of moving off of Eason in exchange for some rather valuable draft capital.

 

If Lebron has truly bought in, and we got on a respectable playoff run, why not bring him back? This version of Lebron is better than the current versions of most power forward replacements that might come available, outside of Giannis, but Lakers likely out in Giannis and vice versa. Smart is mostly the 3D player we been looking for. On the market, how much would we pay for that type of player? Ayton is a lot more risky. We don't know of he melts down again once he gets paid. And players like Kennard are more common. Rui probably gone though. But I'm definitely in favor of bringing Lebron back, and not low-balling Smart. I'm thinking maybe 25 million is respectable for Lebron. In the past he has agreed to take less money for very specific outcomes. For example, to get under the apron or to sign a specific choice of players supposedly. I mean obviously the better we do this year the better chance we could bring back keu players for fair deals.

 

They also know their fanbase will not hold moving him against the FO. I just am not sold on him being a major difference making piece for us.

 

yes, i've heard it--i just think in a world where 31 year old DFS had an asking price of 3 1sts before we got him (check the reporting), houston probably feels like paying eason 25 per is better than a single first--especially if that first is coming from a conference rival that employs luka doncic.

moreover, if they don't think he's worth that, they'd probably prefer a player at a position of need more than our first rounder.

and once again, i don't think their financial situation is like, say, denver's. they can carry some cost in the short-term without much trouble.

ah, guess i misunderstood your comments as kind of gently mocking people who are jazzed all of a sudden about the team.

i am not one of them. i've enjoyed the recent play, but can still see the pretty serious gap between us and the very top teams. 42 year old lebron isn't closing that gap. we have to pivot this summer, imo. i'm not entirely sure there's a scenario that would change my mind, tbh. it's painful, but i'm not sure we can kick the can again--which is what another sizable one-year deal for lebron would mean. now, if lebron wanted to take vet min (whilst we retain his bird rights for a hot dog stand payout the next year), i'm all ears. but 25 million to lebron next year is a hell naw for me.

 

FWIW, you could do a lot worse at power forward. Eason averages a career 15.8ppg, 9.6rpg, 2.1spg, 1.0bpg, 1.6/4.5 3-pt FG pg (35.4%) per 36 minutes. He is 6-8, 215, a 7-2 wingspan, and a high vertical leap. Next year would be his age 25 season. He's better than a Dean Wade or a Tobias Harris. Not many power forward options available, if Lebron bolts.

 

No, I'm very pumped up right now about the current team. I don't mind running it back, if these are going to be the versions of the players. But, we should keep our options open, and I'm open-minded about different team building scenarios.