Maybe it's because they want a re-signed Elfrid as the centerpiece of the deal?
Author of The Basketball Draft Fact Book: A History of Professional Basketball's College Drafts
Available from Scarecrow Press at - https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780810890695
Utah gets: Ayton, Collins, Huerter, Jae (2 picks from PHX and 1 from Atlanta?)
Atlanta gets: Gobert (I think ATL needs to send out more salary)
Brooklyn gets: Donovan and Shamet (and 2 picks from PHX, 1 from ATL)
Phoenix gets: KD
Forgot about designated max rookie. Dononvan can't go to the Nets if they have Simmons on the roster.
I feel like there's lots of good things that can happen if Simmons isn't in Brooklyn. I wouldn't be surprised if there's something that happens first that gets Simmons out of Brooklyn, even if it's a glorified salary dump. Even if it's just like Westbrook for Simmons... I mean, really, who says "No" if you're Brooklyn and you get Donovan Mitchell out of it at the end of the day? And for the Lakers, I think Simmons is an upgrade from Westbrook in theory.
4 picks, 3 swaps, Cam J, and whatever we get for Ayton. That’s the dream. (I still maintain thinking we can do this trade without at least two of Ayton, Mikal, and Cam is crazy talk, but of course I’d take that too)
Give them all the picks, dude. Not even a hard choice, especially if we somehow keep Mikal and Cam Johnson like Gambo was implying lol, not like James Jones was ever going to use them anyways.
4 picks, 3 swaps, Cam J, and whatever we get for Ayton. That’s the dream. (I still maintain thinking we can do this trade without at least two of Ayton, Mikal, and Cam is crazy talk, but of course I’d take that too)
It’s easier to include Bridges and keep Ayton. Just saying.
"I'm a Deandre Ayton guy."--Al McCoy, September 21, 2022.
4 picks, 3 swaps, Cam J, and whatever we get for Ayton. That’s the dream. (I still maintain thinking we can do this trade without at least two of Ayton, Mikal, and Cam is crazy talk, but of course I’d take that too)
It’s easier to include Bridges and keep Ayton. Just saying.
4 picks, 3 swaps, Cam J, and whatever we get for Ayton. That’s the dream. (I still maintain thinking we can do this trade without at least two of Ayton, Mikal, and Cam is crazy talk, but of course I’d take that too)
It’s easier to include Bridges and keep Ayton. Just saying.
Oh for sure, I just prefer to keep Bridges
What happened to all of you guys saying you would love to keep Ayton for less than the max? It looks like he may not get the max so…
"I'm a Deandre Ayton guy."--Al McCoy, September 21, 2022.
4 picks, 3 swaps, Cam J, and whatever we get for Ayton. That’s the dream. (I still maintain thinking we can do this trade without at least two of Ayton, Mikal, and Cam is crazy talk, but of course I’d take that too)
It’s easier to include Bridges and keep Ayton. Just saying.
Oh for sure, I just prefer to keep Bridges
I like the deal where we keep the twins and Ayton lol
4 picks, 3 swaps, Cam J, and whatever we get for Ayton. That’s the dream. (I still maintain thinking we can do this trade without at least two of Ayton, Mikal, and Cam is crazy talk, but of course I’d take that too)
It’s easier to include Bridges and keep Ayton. Just saying.
Oh for sure, I just prefer to keep Bridges
What happened to all of you guys saying you would love to keep Ayton for less than the max? It looks like he may not get the max so…
Well I just would rather keep Bridges…I wouldn’t be upset if we kept Ayton on a team friendly deal. Like I said, sign me up for Bridges and Ayton both staying, but I’d pick Bridges over Ayton.
4 picks, 3 swaps, Cam J, and whatever we get for Ayton. That’s the dream. (I still maintain thinking we can do this trade without at least two of Ayton, Mikal, and Cam is crazy talk, but of course I’d take that too)
It’s easier to include Bridges and keep Ayton. Just saying.
Oh for sure, I just prefer to keep Bridges
What happened to all of you guys saying you would love to keep Ayton for less than the max? It looks like he may not get the max so…
Durant is better.
We would give up Bridges for Durant in the above scenario.
"I'm a Deandre Ayton guy."--Al McCoy, September 21, 2022.
I feel like this semi recent phenomenon of trades including a bunch of "pick swaps" is a snake in the grass. If you give up four 1st-rounders plus three pick-swaps, that is actually a HUGE amount of draft assets. If the trade goes south your franchise could be completely crippled for a decade, literally a decade, with no path to improvement. Look at how shitty we were during the 2010s, and that was WITH lottery picks every year. Can you imagine how shit we would have been with ZERO 1st round picks? They might as well have just folded the team or sent us to the G-League.
I really want to see Kevin Durant here, but look at what Brooklyn is going through now. They went all-in on a couple of big stars, traded away lots of other good players and draft picks to get there. They got 1-2 exciting years, didn't win a title, and now they're in danger of being left with nothing (or close to nothing). They can't even just bottom out and trade away guys to tank, because they don't have picks until likely after the heat death of the planet. Would you want to be in their shoes? No? Then why are you concocting essentially the same trade they made to get Harden, only for a 35-year-old star?
I'm not saying I want out of the KD sweepstakes. I'm just saying, the Stepien rule is there for a reason; don't trade away a decade's worth of draft assets for any one guy.
Especially when that one guy is about to be 34 years, has torn his Achilles, missed all of the 19-20 season, missed half of the 20-21 season, and 27 games last season.
Meh, James Jones doesn’t care about the draft anyways. We also just locked Booker up through 2028, so basically the entire time our picks would be traded. Also KD is signed through 2026. Could it fall apart and wreck us? Of course, but we’d still be left with KD and Booker who we can trade. Yes Brooklyn failed with the KD, Kyrie, and Harden and the Harden trade looks bad in hindsight, but they are going to replace the picks they sent Houston with our picks and they still have Simmons, Curry, and probably Bridges and whatever Ayton gets them. They won’t be in as bad of shape as some are making it out to be.