Trade & FA 2024-25:

[KillerLeft]

Well the counter arguments I´d have are that 

1) I never rated Porzingis as highly as Zion. I think a healthy Zion is easily a top 10 player in the league.
2) Zion´s contract already has injury insurance out-clauses that Porzingis was not willing to accept, when he signed his 5 year max deal (#ClassicCuban)
3) Zion makes 126M over the next three years. That is actually cheap from a talent perspective (injury risk aside for a moment). For example Anunoby makes the same money for the next three seasons. Any normal star will make $60M+ annually on his next contract.
4) Looking at how much players like Durant, Bridges cost recently it will be difficult to find that #2 option to go alongside Luka for less than three first round picks. 
5) Are we williing to bet on the draft the next two years and an accelerated development of that rookie to #2 option.
6) Obviously this would all require a very good physical and a very good talk with Zion to get into his head and mindset before you pull the trigger.

For me, it's two different conversations. The first is the one you're having, about the cost/benefit analysis of Zion's talent, price, the likelihood he'll be healthy, whatever. All that. I guess I'm with you there in that I think he might still represent opportunity for someone to land a big talent more cheaply than usual. It would be risky, but enticing. 

But the other conversation is: assuming the best case scenario in conversation 1, would Zion and Luka be a fit? I say no, because he's not a screen setter, really, not a rim runner, really, and has basically proven that he's not a 5, which is unfortunate, because that makes him maybe the hardest type of 4 to build around in the sport right now. He can't shoot from outside. In fact, he has very little off-ball utility at all. He's useful with the ball in his hands, attacking downhill. He doesn't fit into most teams' plans the same way Julius Randle doesn't. You'd have to build around him, not add him to a system that's already working, and I feel like he and Luka is one of the clunkiest fits there could possibly be. Just my opinion.