Trade & FA 2024-25:

[F Gump]

NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral)
The Utah Jazz are a sleeper candidate for Brandon Ingram, and the Pelicans have been linked to Walker Kessler for over a year now, per @cclark_13

“The Jazz are a team NBA insiders have circled as being a potential Ingram suitor. The bigs on Utah’s roster include Walker Kessler, John Collins, Drew Eubanks and Kyle Filipowski. Kessler, who’s still on his rookie contract, offers rim protection, a quality Pelicans executive David Griffin has been seeking to add for more than a year.”

(Via http://bit.ly/4ch56zW)

I noted weeks ago that I look for NO to make a push to move off of Ingram, and others here have as well. 

The question imo is whether Utah really would see any value in having Ingram (which is something I am skeptical about, but could prove to be true). If so, then I can see NO doing this deal. 

But the particulars of such a swap would be interesting. This feels like the kind of idea that could go somewhere and fill some needs for both teams.

ECONOMICS. The salary match can almost work as a simple 1 for 1: UT has about 30M in open cap room, and the difference in salary is about 33M. So UT would have to add almost any salary alongside Kessler's to make work. 
....NO is about 3M over the tax line, and presumably determined to do something to reduce salary by 3-4M at least. This would certainly be designed to provide that solution, and easily do so.
....UT also has incentive to increase their payroll, as they are about 17M below the team minimum (they do have 3 open roster spots they can fill towards that end). The penalties for being below the minimum are harsh enough that no team will go there. The deadline to get up to that number is opening day.

In theory Ingram is the better player, but his 36M salary is a problem in current NBA economics, as is his expectation of a max deal next summer which would start at about 44M. UT is one of the few teams with payroll that could handle that, but would they want to?

Because of the ease of the salary match, there are lots of ways to tweak it. NO can take back more players within a VERY wide range, so who might they target in addition to Kessler -- or, does UT have a bad salary they would want to plop into the deal, as part of the price, such as Collins? Ingram for Kessler-Collins fits the basic cap math each team needs, as it lowers NO payroll by about 6.5M and raises UT closer to the minimum.

TEAM PERSPECTIVES. From the NO end of things, something like a Kessler-Clarkson package for Ingram would be a godsend for their roster -- but would Utah do that? And would UT look to extract more value in picks? We also have to consider NO's thinking, that they have aimed to "sell" the supposedly-valuable Ingram and reap a harvest, and are thinking of how they will get value back for him, rather than just essentially give him away or even "pay" to have UT take him.

From the UT end of things, there's the question of how they see their future. Do they see value in Ingram, where they would want to keep him, or would he be a place filler for a season who then walks or is a SNT candidate next summer? Do they want to be better this season or do they want to tank for Flagg? IOW is Ingram a player that truly will help them to their goals?

THE AINGE FACTOR. We know Ainge will drive a hard bargain. Sometimes that means nothing happens. Sometimes he gets a ridiculous return. How will that factor into this possibility?

But overall, the pieces make sense. It seems like this is a trade that should happen in some way. So when it happens (or doesn't), we should end up with a decent picture of how NBA negotiations and relative GM-ing play out. I'm watching with interest.