2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

Posturing aside..the Pacers are going to have to pony up and pay Myles Turner, or he won't be coming back next season.

 

i read this piece and felt like it said not much. i mean, yes of course we'd like to get better now. it's not like there's a store that you can just take your 2 first rounders to and get what you need. teams have to be willing to part with the players you need!

and they have his bird rights, and they don't have another center, and there aren't many teams with cap space.

VERY early 2025 NBA cap space projections: 1. Brooklyn Nets: $49.5M | 2. Houston Rockets: $30.6M | 3. Washington Wizards: $25.2M | 4. Utah Jazz: $23.9M (w/o Markkanen) | 5. San Antonio Spurs: $23.2M | Despite the 10% cap jump, that's it. A lot can and will change over the next year.

teams that can pay him have young centers. they're in the driver's seat, they're winning, they like him.

all this said, i'd really like to just move for vucevic. i feel like that should satisfy lebron and AD. there are ways to make it a fake first to save face for chicago, right?

 

TBH I don't think anybody, is going to offer 2 FRP for Turner, or an unprotected FRP for Vucevic. As for as team's cap space, it's hard to say who's going to have what, until after the trade deadline. Guys can get moved for expiring contracts, and some players might get bought out.

Indiana has had Turner's Bird rights, since they drafted him. It's still going to come down to whether they intend to match the numbers he's looking for. At this point I'm pretty sure, they know exactly what those numbers are. A deal hasn't been reached to date. If they don't trade him, they lose some leverage, because now he has a choice. Of course they can just play it out and match any offer he gets. It's still going to be his choice, not theirs.

That article just points out, what I was saying yesterday. It's about time for Rob to either go for it, or lay out his rebuild strategy. He's been talking about sparing no expenses, getting a stretch big, looking for moves that keep us in contention, for a couple of seasons now. If we don't advance in the playoffs this season, that's 3 seasons straight with a healthy Lebron and AD. You can't keep blaming the coach, if you didn't make any moves. The arrow starts to being pointed, directly at him. We have assets,what is he going to with them?

Besides..obviously every big name player in the NBA, is going to be watching, how we move this season. If you are unwilling to go for it, when you know Lebron is about to retire, and AD is still in his prime. Why in the hell would they leave their current team, which will be able to pay them the most money, in order to come to the Lakers? Hell AD might not even be here by then. I'm cool with Vucevic, I would prefer Turner, I really wouldn't be all that excited about Kessler tbh. I'm not sure he's a future All Star, or if his ceiling is basically another Zubac. I wouldn't give up 2 FRP for Zubac either.

 

Ummm Knecht + a first for Mathurin? I'd definitely try to pick him up if he's available.

 

For sure. That guy is so dang athletic. Mathurin is also one year younger than Knecht.

 

DK is the type of player Indiana would want.

 

yes, the cap space landscape can change. but not dramatically. a gain somewhere is a loss somewhere else. turner's not going to be fielding 30 per offers outside of indy, who's not offering that now. much like last time, this is his agent trying to pressure indy a bit, and it worked last time, as they gave him an extension.

anyway, he's not really on the market. again, you say nobody's offering 2 1sts for him--and you're probably right. also, indy doesn't want two future firsts for him. he's their starting center and they're 10-2 in their last 12 games, man. if they move him for our 2 1sts, THEY LOSE! not happening.

unless he's a schroder-level d******--which he's proven not be, and my niece who knows him says he's not, btw--he's not taking a huge cut just to chart his course or whatever. they know nobody's got the cash to really scare them; he knows it, too. they'll figure it out. if he's moved, indy's getting a center back, though, guaranteed.

go for what? what is available for our assets right now? why do i have to keep asking this?!

the stars available:

fox (we're out, for several reasons)

ingram (nobody wants, we don't have easy salary match)

lavine (ditto)

jimmy butler (basically impossible)

btw, a lot of this is impossible because rob made a (good) trade that everyone wanted but limited our trade flexibility.

optimize them like he has pretty much every time except the westbrook trade?

players will also watch if we're a lotto team for nearly a decade again (this time minus the picks cuz we had to get a 6th man to finish 7th). players like the illustrious greg monroe, who took the pistons (or was it the bucks...who cares?!) offer over ours because we were f***ing losers at the time.

lebron came here and got a ring after everyone said he wouldn't. EVERYONE SAID HE WOULDN'T. can't stress it enough. got a ring. AD left the small market to join lebron HERE and got the ring. all of this under the current regime.

my very bad news is that i think AD will be gone before the next star gets here. and that's not bad. we'll send him where he wants when lebron retires, and the future lakers stars will see that, too.

everyone but you would. but your boy magic gave him up for f***ing mike muscala.

 

Yeah, I've never bought into the idea of a post-LeBron era lead by AD. It's a singular LeBron and AD timeline. Only way I see it is if Luka specifically starts making noise about leaving in summer 2026 and coming here specifically.

 

Moving backwards....

Nah..No team in the league is giving up 2 FRP for Zubac man. He's having a good year, but he's about at his peak right now. If Magic hadn't traded him, Rob would have by now. I'll take the Championship in hand, over the hypothetical, what we might have done, if Zubac was still here.

I don't know what you are talking about, with this lottery bound stuff either. This team doesn't need a superstar right now, we need another solid starter at 5. I don't think that we have to give up, some kind of King's ransom to get one either.

Lebron has another season left, we can contend next season too, if we made the right move. Vucevic or Turner is enough IMO..I wouldn't say they are the only moves that could be made either. It depends on the players in question. I like those two guys, I'd have to see the deal on the other options, might work too.

Rob hasn't optimized s***, the mediocre moves outnumber the good ones. Lebron fell into our lap, AD was gift wrapped by Lebron and Rich Paul. Austin fell into our lap, he could have chosen to get drafted. Hell Washington basically gave us Rui for nothing. What great moves does Rob have, to hang his hat on exactly?

We are going to find out soon about Turner, I'll say it again, if he gets to the summer unsigned, I don't expect him to be back in Indiana. The Pacers don't even want to be a 1st apron team, paying Turner over 25, with Siakam and Haliburton already in the 40's? I think they're going to look, to keeping that money for some of those younger guys, up for extensions after next season. Again they had that 20 extra million dollars to give Turner, that's why they signed him to an extension. That's a point that you keep skipping over. He wasn't interested in the deal they offered, until that free money fell out of the sky.

 

Come here for what? To play with Austin Reaves?