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

Ellis is ideal. The problem is the Kings know we need him.

at this point we could get Malik Monk for a bottle of beer.

 

We need Luka to do some more (but on the sly) recruitin’. To Ellis who >>> his agent >>> Sac, “Trade me to Lakers only or lose me for nothing.

 

that's the problem--the only dead weight salary we have is vando (i love him, but he's dead weight salary). so the nothing we'd move has value.

feel like if ellis wanted to be here, his agent could make it happen by simply saying he's seen our cap space in the summer and likes the fit. i'm wondering if that hasn't been stated already, and it's a game of chicken. i don't know what we're offering, so it's hard to say who's being dumb/overconfident right now. possible we're lowballing, possible they're treating him like he's herb jones from two years ago in trade talks.

 

I think you’re onto something. Maybe that’s why Malik Monk started getting these DNPs. And then Ellis started getting major minutes like 30 minutes. Maybe they’re appeasing there playing time. His playing time.

 

whatever it is, the kings will bungle it. my guess is they don't want to see him succeed with us, so they'll do anything but move him here. to their own detriment.

i do think his contract situation makes things more complicated, though. he's going to get more than 140% of the mle (imo) this summer, so trade/extends are out (unless he chooses his destination). so any team trading for him could lose him to a cap space team (which right now includes us). on the other hand, his bird rights transfer, and his cap hold is tiny. to me, there's one specific team for whom this would really matter: US! this is why i'd give up the picks here. we'd have both ellis and reaves on lower-than-value cap holds with space to sign other guys.

 

I feel like Ayo is being over rated by the media, basically because he is more known. Ellis is obscure. Keon is a much better defender and shooter- and he has done it consistently. Ayo has a huge edge in terms of ball handling, passing, scoring in the paint, mid-range (all things that we DONT NEED). Keon provides the things that we actually NEED : defense and 3-pt shooting. Doesn't try to do too much on the offensive end besides shoot threes. Look at their career DBPM and 3-pt shooting, 3-pt shooting volume, per 36 numbers, etc.

 

Is it some record ?
152-150
Chicago Bulls-Atlanta Hawks
And 89 combined 3's

 

geez, that's crazy

and great for the league....

 

yeah let’s push the tempo up more so we can have more calf injuries.

 

The Monk thing is nuts. Honestly what could we get for him now??? They aren’t playing him at all.

I mean did any of us see this coming??? We were talking 1st round pick beginning of the season for this guy.

let’s just tamper with his agent and make him come here.

but what would get it done at this point Gabe Vincent and Knect for Monk?

or Monk and Ellis at that point we put the pick in the deal? Just some things to Ponder.

honestly Thiero. Reddick is gonna give him more reps. And I know what you’re thinking it’s crazy putting it on this kid in a playoff run Anthony Edwards Shai or Jalen and possibly Durant.

but this kid is special. I saw with my eye. I saw this with Reaves. The kid stands out even in Garbage time. I saw that in Philly. He plays like his hair is on fire. A perimeter Ben Wallace.

he’s not nearly as advanced as Ron Artest on offense but you can see the two way potential. Is he a hard worker??? I don’t know how he works. But I hear he’s a great kid.

here’s where I’m at with him. You absolutely don’t trade him for Herb Jones.

you see what you can get for Herb Jones. But if we don’t get him. I’m not tripping. Marinate on this. I saw where Max Christie was. We have great player development. And now look at where Max Christie is. I see Thiero wayyyyyy better than Christie. He’s raw but they just need to be careful with him if you surround him in lineups with Luka Reaves Lebron and Ayton the kid will thrive. But he needs to be around offensive superstars.

 

i don't think any of us thought monk could fetch a first. i wouldn't have paid it; it was clear sac was trying to get off him this summer, imo. we have to view him as negative trade value in any talks with them.

agree that thiero has very high upside, and i'm not interested in trading him right now. would have to be for a 25 year old guy who does what we think he can do later, if that makes sense. those guys generally aren't for sale anyway.

 

So we’re both in agreement you wouldn’t trade him for Herbert Jones? Cause I wouldn’t.

 

if it was vando/thiero, i consider it, but we could come to regret it. it's so hard with guys like thiero, who are pretty raw AND have had a significant injury.

so, probably no. to include thiero, i want herb jones from two years ago.

 

Guys...what are we talking about here. Thiero is a second round rookie. The vast majority of second round picks never become rotation-level NBA players. He's looked fine when he's played, but pretty inept offensively. No way you let Thiero get in the way of you trading for Herb Jones.

 

the offensively inept herb jones?

and maybe the best way to put it is that i don't view thiero as a throw-in. had he not been injured, he'd have been a first rounder (instead he was drafted at basically the exact same spot). and his game was ahead of herb jones's at their respective draft times (with adou having one fewer year of experience).

you need to find your own herb joneses, not trade multiple 1sts for them. thiero is a cheap chance to develop one.

so while i'm generally on board with trading a potential guy for the guy you want him to grow into, in this case, i'm not sure if thiero's ceiling isn't a bit higher than herb's, and i'm not sure if herb is still operating at the level that earned him the reputation.

 

I get your point, but I think you're underestimating how long it'll take to develop Thiero and the odds of that actually panning out. I think the most likely outcome, by far, is that Thiero is never as useful than the current Herb Jones, let alone the one from a couple of years ago that was maybe the best 3&D player in the league. The Pelicans fans think Herb is basically the same guy as he was then, but they just don't have the same level of shot creation to spoon feed him open threes like they did a few years ago with CJ/Ingram/Zion actually playing, and that he's just not trying as hard defensively because they're atrocious. Which we see all the time. I'm inclined to agree with them.

As for the timeline, we saw this with Max. Showed flashes year 1 (which Thiero hasn't really done yet). Year 2 we wanted to pencil him in as the backup 2 in the rotation, but he wasn't ready for that yet. Year 3 he started out in the regular rotation and played poorly, then made the leap a little later before we traded him for Luka. All that to say, I think the earliest Thiero could realistically be a consistent contributor for us is 2027-2028. He's just so raw offensively. Would you really not pull the trigger on a Jones trade because Thiero could maybe become the same player 24 months from now?

I think it's probably all a moot point because I don't think we're getting Jones with what we have to offer. I guess my general point is that I'm not sure we have as long a runway with Luka and Austin as we think, so I think we need to be aggressive in bringing in their supporting cast.

 

yeah, where we differ is runway length. we need to be planting seeds right now instead of cashing in all the assets, imo. okc got to be patient, and that's part of why they have so many useful role players. denver could have traded braun for an upgrade who would have aged out by now, but they didn't, and it's paying dividends.

and i do think herb jones could regain form here, but much like thiero developing, it's not a given.

i also agree it's a moot point, as NO probably doesn't thiero is the equivalent of a mid/late first like i do.

 

I personally think the Lakers aversion to going to all in has been a concern thru the years (was there no way the lakers couldn't get a gafford to play with AD?).

But Herb Jones trade should be a DFS like trade. He's been bad really bad. You are not making a move for an OG like player a proven stopper who could score against high level competition. Remember Toronto even after. kawhii left made playoff runs. You are taking a flyer on a dude who has shown no consistent offensive game and hasn't been particularly good on defense either. This isn't even a Wiggins like situation: he was legit all star caliber for 2 years. Jones has shown flashes that's it on a team that never gone anywhere

 

We're going to get the "we'll have 3 picks on draft night" and "we'll have more flexibility in the summer" leaks from the Buhas and Irvins of the world as we get closer to the deadline. Which is fine. What I don't want is to then in the summer hear the "well prices are high in the summer, they'll drop closer to the deadline". Now we saw with Mark Williams that Rob was willing to go out on a limb and trade considerable draft capital for the right role player. I just hope we have that same aggressiveness between now and the start of next season.

 

i mean, i guess they will be leaks, but all of this is already true and already known. we will have more to work with and we will have flexibility. i think the fans getting worked up about us not going "all in" is born from not actually knowing the front office's thinking and trusting what's said to the press.

to me, we've always been willing to bid for impact players using what we've got, but it makes little sense to say that out loud or do things that make it obvious. i can't think of a deal that was made in the past few years that we had the assets to pull that i'm upset about.

pioneer mentioned gafford above, but we didn't have expirings that year, iirc (holmes only had a small partial guarantee the following year i think?). even so, i'm wondering if the front office hasn't been vindicated on the "get AD a center" stuff, as dallas has played much better when AD has been at center.

anyway, i just don't think we've missed on much by not using our picks in trades lately. we also made one of the best trades in nba history during the period in question.

prices are lower at the deadline because teams have given up hope. everyone has hope in the summer, so you can't get something for nothing, which is what we need. i'm still hoping we're using our summer flexibility to strengthen our negotiations for the deadline this year. but if we don't, i'm not going to freak out about it. i mean, if ellis moves for a heavily protected first and an expiring and i find out we didn't bid, i'll be mad. i just highly doubt anything like that will or has happened.