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

haha that’s a lot. Lakers Bucks ain’t getting nothing. Lakers getting everything and Knicks.

 

I hear you. Better to keep on of the picks. Lakers benefit from the Vando salary dump too, though. Again, not my favorite option. But this is what a three-team deal with the Knicks and Bucks could look like. The Bucks want a massive pick haul, and probably some young players.

 

SGV going to win mvp and add to the legacy of the Clippers. Nice trade.

 

It’s easy to look at trades like Bridges and say oh player x was worth this many draft picks so therefore that’s the market. But that’s not how things work, it’s a supply and demand thing and the market gets reset every year and has to adjust to the CBA.

We aren’t helping a team get a top 5 player by greasing the wheels of the trade and sending the most picks. Otherwise why wouldn’t we be the main team trading for Giannis anyway, you do all that and get OG and Hart back. Nah.

In reality a team like us comes in to push the trade over the top adding one extra pick and absorbing a decent player and taking on a larger contract that needs to be moved. Our value is the 1st and the cap space.

So as an example we send a 1st and we get back Bridges/OG and take back a contract to make salaries easier to move. Bucks probably want to move any long term salary so do they want to get rid of Turner as well? Maybe the deal looks like this:

Bucks get:
2 NYK 1st
3 NYK 2nd
1 LAL 1st
1 LAL 2ns
OG Anunoby (they flip for two more firsts?)
McBride
Vando

NYK get:
Giannis
Turner
Knecht

LAL get:
Bridges
Portis

Milwaukee get 3 firsts, 3 seconds, McBride, an expiring Vando and OG who they probably flip for two more firsts. They clear out all long term salary. The issue is they don’t have much control of their draft picks moving forward which is the major sticking point here.

New York gets their star, and a 3&D center. They probably look to trade KAT for role players to build around Brunson and Giannis.

We get a good 3&D wing and a backup big.

Luka / Smart
Reaves / Kennard
Bridges / Jake
LeBron / Portis
Ayton / Hayes

 

Gotta say I think you’re on to something.I like it

 

Get Bridges and Portis, while dumping Vando and Knecht? And only giving up one 1st and one 2nd? That would be really nice! I love the optimism! It's more than just optimism, though. You make great points. We use our cap room as an asset which it basically is. Our involvement makes the trade work for both those teams, and they each get two of the top players in the trade, amd allows us to not include so many 1sts. It does makes sense.

 

been saying this since we didn't give lebron the PO. it's a make-or-break summer for rob. the space can be used in many ways; it's up to the front office to maximize this very brief window of opportunity. only two other teams have any significant space this summer. neither of them have luka and reaves in their pocket. make hay.

 

Yeah, dumping Vando and Knecht, and getting Bridges and Portis, while only costing a 1st and a 2nd all in one swoop is excellent use of the cap-room, and assets. I like that one a lot. I thought about trading Vando and a 1st for Herb, but I just don't like Herb's shooting. Mikal's is much better. He's an excellent shooter, and could still defend at a fairly high level. Good enough. Portis, is kind of meh tbh, but I'll take him.

 

I think you do a really good job of being fair in trades, but in my opinion you’re looking for a kind of monetary value system to apply to picks and players. So as an example if x player went for 2 picks then player y is similar so should be valued the same.

But trading is purely a barter system that doesn’t have an underlying integer, it’s highly contextual and runs on supply & demand, a team’s motivation to be a buyer or a seller in their scenario and specialised relationships between front offices.

So as an example;

If you’re trying to trade Vando to a contender he has negative value and you have to attach a pick to dump him. But for a team like Milwaukee he is kind of neutral. They’re clearing their books, so who cares whether Vando is any good when they’ll be bottoming out?

To be honest, they have to reach the minimum salary level and could do a lot worse than a vet like Vando that is a really good guy, high effort and can teach some young guys the ropes for a season or two. He isn’t some crazy negative asset to them. If he comes with a pick in this draft, that is super deep, they’ll take him no problems and not blink twice. Portis isn’t any use to them during a rebuild.

As for Knecht, if New York is getting Giannis, they’ll have no problem taking 5m of Knecht. He can be a deep bench guy or maybe even develop in a new environment. You have to remember New York are getting a top 5 MVP guy, sure theyre losing Bridges and OG, but Giannis is better than them both combined. They don’t have the top line talent to win a championship and this solves that. Without us, or another partner, they can’t get this done. So they’re a taker of terms in the negotiation and not a setter.

Milwaukee do a deal like this because they’re in a hopeless situation. If they can get 3 draft picks in this years draft they have a chance to get a franchise player and start again.

All of this is highly contextual and the simple theory of we get Bridges, Portis and dump Vando and Knecht for a first and a second isn’t fair isn’t true. Milwaukee gets lots of picks and gets rid of all their bad contracts. New York gets an MVP caliber player and we get a good 3&D guy and a bench big.

 

It’s a championship. Just as much as a championship the Spurs was in 1999. Of the Heat in 2013.

There was a f***ing Pandemic. The world was upside down. The season was going fine. And then everything stopped. No fans just arena Hoops. Are you kidding me??? We had to crawl to beat Denver.


We have no crowd to get us off no advantage just basketball. Everybody played.

We didn’t resume until August. You can Argue that’s like another season. But guess what Everybody had a chance to get healthy and right. So I don’t want to hear that.

The Lakers won. And teams were stacked that year. A championship is a championship. What were they supposed to do??? Scrap the year??? Forget all that hard work you put in. When we see you in August everybody is 0-0

 

I'm not saying NO to a Giannis trade. I don't know if Milwaukee really wants to trade Giannis, to an East coast team or not, but if they prefer that he went West, I'm in. I love Austin but Giannis is a bonfide Superstar. 31 aint old, he's 10 years younger than Lebron, and he's still balling. My God...Luka and Giannis? Sometimes fan make things out to be a lot more complicated than it is. You have TWO guys, that have spent their entire careers, facing teams whose entire strategy was focused on containing them. Both have excelled and flourished regardless. That would be the best 1-2 punch in the League. That's Shaq/Kobe...Jordan/Pippen Magic/Kareem level s***. Count me in.

 

I dont think we have to gut our team to trade for Gianiss. The leverage is gone.

 

The real question here is, how much does Milwaukee value Reaves? The other thing is pretty straightforward, if Luka wants Giannis, we are going to try to get Giannis period. It might not work out, but we'd damn sure try.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the Bucks were inclined to trade Giannis anywhere BUT the Knicks.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...ionship-giannis-antetokounmpo-milwaukee-bucks

 

I gotta say this When Stu Retires there’s only gotta be one guy who replaces Stu Mychal Thompson. He is hilarious. And I enjoy his banter.

 

And if Luka wants Gianiss we are getting Gianiss. It all depends on what Luka wants to do. I’m looking at OKC how you gonna stop OKC and Holmgren. I don’t know but Gianiss knows how to play in the playoffs.

 

I think the Lakers need to get creative. Trade some of those 2031 draft picks for Zacharrie Rischaiie young legs 2 way sf/sg. He can shoot and score and develop into a good defender with teaching and development.

Why for Atlanta they already have Kaminga and Johnson and Alexander Rischsei had his first DNP of his career. He can become a Trevor Ariza and be that for Luka what Trevor was for Kobe. Still tons of potential. And I think that’s the perfect player you want to put around Luka and Reaves.

 

Sticking with a Giannis trade...how about Reaves, Vando, Rui, Dalton,and Ayton, plus 3 picks for Giannis and Myles Turner. Giannis and Turner are around 85M in salary. So deduct Vando's 12M, Dalton's 4M, then and sign and trade Reaves, Ayton and Rui into the 69M left. Austin gets a max deal, and Ayton and Rui get around 14M apiece.

If the Bucks are trading Giannis, they might be motivated into getting off of Turner's deal in the process. Vando and Dalton are short term contracts. While Austin, Rui and Deandre bring in 3 starters and 3 FRP. I believe the Bucks have 3 tradable FRP of their own. That's enough to rebuild quickly.


Meanwhile we got
Luka
Giannis
Turner
Smart
Jake
Luke
Hayes
Thiero
Bronny
Kobe
Lebron I think James would take whatever for a shot to go out with that roster.