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

Kleber + Vincent + Knecht + 2031 1st (unprotected) to Brooklyn for Claxton + #19

 

I think I'd put move Duren and Gafford to semi-realistic. I think Duren is potentially gettable because they have Stewart there. From what I've been able to gather from Pistons fans, a lot of them view Stewart as the better player and the one they want around long term. Duren is a bit similar to Mark Williams in that the physical tools are there, but he's not there yet defensively from an instincts/timing/playing within the scheme standpoint.

I also think Gafford is possible. If Nico truly believes he was right about Luka and that trade, why wouldn't he deal with us again? If he wasn't afraid of the backlash of trading Luka, why would he be afraid of the backlash of trading Gafford? You're probably right that it doesn't happen, but idk I think its possible. Especially now that they have a serious frontcourt logjam with Flagg/Washington/AD/Lively/Gafford, not to mention Klay and Marshall who are probably forwards too.

 

I would be shocked if we could get Duren. He is only 21 and had 219 dunks last season. I know he isn't the greatest defender, but he could rebound the s*** out of the ball. He would be expensive though. This is the type of player you could kind of 75% justify trading AR for, based on his age, position of need, and skills of need, and contract. I know Detroit is probably not an AR destination though, even though they wanted to draft him, so a third team would have to be involved. I wouldn't be mad if it was a straight up trade. Duren is a lot of value for what we need. Where is a logical Reaves landing spot? Dallas would want AR for Gafford, which isn't fair for us. They would have to ad more value, then things start to get suspect lol. Imagine if they gave us our pick back?

 

The trade I've thought about with them that works financially is AR/Knecht for Duren/Ivey.

 

To me, that would feel almost like a Luka level return. I don't think they would do it.

 

I think you're underselling Rooves a bit here. We all are to be honest. 20/5/5 at high efficiency and passable defense doesn't grow on trees.

I honestly feel like he is worth the Herb Jones / Trey Murphy trade, we may have to add the first, but that's lots of value going both ways.

 

I generally under sell trades though, I like to keep expectations not too high. But, there is also the upcoming contract issue with Reevs, so idk. I just assume that teams are not lining up for him. But if they are, then great.

 

It all comes down to value generation for me. Even if team's aren't lining up for him, if he is sub 35m and performing as an all star, that's a valuable contract and you need to stack 3-4 of those alongside a top 5 player to win in this league.

I still believe Rooves is that player.

 

AR would be a great tandem in Orlando with Banchero.

Just not for us though, due to players with similar skillsets?

 

AR might be the "Sabonis" component of the Pacers - Kings trade.

 

The horror that he's almost near the level of running the offense like Luka runs it when he's out of the game or injured .... because they have tremendously similar games. Or at that level with the bench however they stagger the minutes even if he starts and finishes.

 

It's called duplication. It's a nice luxury to have, but we don't know if it's sustainable.

 

Lebron is 1 or 2 years away from retirement. So if you're going to trade AR, you need either a star in return, or decent value back across multiple pieces.

As an example:

NO: Herb Jones & Trey Murphy, you get an all NBA defender 1-4 and a 20pt athletic scorer that could develop his shot. That's a 3rd and 4th starter added to the team. Reaves probably becomes a second option where he goes which is the cost.

Would anyone be interested in trying to get KAT in the hypothetical Giannis to New York trade?

 

Idk, he's not really a lob threat, right?

 

One center I would like the Lakers to inquire about with the Knect+pick trade package is Kel’El Ware with Miami. He made the nba all rookie 2nd team and when given minutes he was able to put up 15pts/12rpg while also providing shot blocking.

He has the skill set for what we are looking for, rim protection, lob threat, and rebounding while being on a rookie contract.

Miami might entertain this trade idea because they already have Bam for the center position and Knect provides a player in a position of need for them at small forward.

 

how does this guy get laid?

 

If Gianis to New York maybe we can facilitate Reaves to Milwaukee Towns to L.A. something like that. Is that what you’re referring to?

 

Regardless the first thing we should be doing is signing Clint Capela.

 

I actually like Towns but he's not the type of center we need with Luka.

 

like it.

i've said i'm upgrade or bust with reaves, but this is a 2-for-1 that makes some sense for both teams, imo--provided NO is all-in on keeping zion.

reaves/zion fits well together and is something you can build around. he's more of an offensive second star than murphy can be, and they're looking for that with ingram already gone and mccollum about to be done.

for us, murphy is cost-controlled and nicely slotted as a 3rd/4th option on offense, and he and jones are great fits with luka on both ends.

i'm not crazy about it. towns just isn't a good defender, and we don't really need his offense. i don't know what to do with that guy--i want to say you make him your star and put defenders around him, but minny tried that and got torched because he couldn't handle double teams (you think AD had trouble with this...).

he's made real strides as a playoff performer, but i'd be wary to take him on as anything but a third guy at this point unless my aspirations aren't title-level. like, if i just need to field winning regular season team (no shame, imo--washington and charlotte and sacramento need this!), i'm in on towns for sure.

honestly, towns for durant is a trade that makes a lot of sense to me, tbh.