Trade & FA 2024-25:

[KillerLeft]

looking around he league the only backup 4's that make sense are Portis and DFS (i know he is a wing but he is big enough to play small ball 4). 

For Portis, involving a team like Brooklyn makes sense because you could send them Maxi and a second.  Then send Exum to the Bucks.  Brooklyn can send a cheaper wing to the Bucks like Zaire Williams or Shake Milton.  The Bucks then improve their back court defense and depth.  I think it is a hard sell but the point is invoilving a third team to take Maxi and provide the Bucks with depth.

As for DFS, it is as simple as Maxi/ Exum & Morris along with a couple seconds for DFS.  Not sure what they want for him but they gave Schroeder away for 3 seconds so unless a team i desperate i don't see them getting a first.  especially if DFS threatens to excercise his PO (i doubt he does but the threat will decrease his trade value).
If you wanted to get a third team in a DFS deal, Atlanta could easily turn Nance into Maxi and Exum.  they get Nance's spiderman meme and more defensive depth in their backcourt.  Brooklyn could try to dlip nance this year or let his money fall off the books and pick up a second or two for their trouble.

Here's my take on the reality of this:

I have yet to see (maybe I missed it) anything remotely suggesting availability with Portis, who is a rotation piece on a team that just won the in-season cup and likely believes the best version of their season ends with a Championship (as delusional as we might think that is). Is Portis untouchable? Of course not, but they're not trading him for equal value to contender for the purposes of making said contender better. They'd 100% want something that improves THEIR team, talent wise, and that would 100% take the form of something the Mavs would have less than zero interest in doing. Like yeah, maybe if the conversation starts with Klay Thompson or Naji Marshall (haven't even thought of salaries, but that's not the point) then THAT might MAKE Portis available, but why on Earth would Dallas be interested in that when they have Kleber AND now O-Max playing this role just fine. Would you be willing to move Gafford for Portis? I suspect most wouldn't, and I don't know if that even gets Milwaukee interested in shaking their team up, honestly. 

DFS is VERY available, but they just lowered their asking price from two 1sts to 1, and they WILL get a 1st for him, because multiple teams will bid. Mix in the salaries that would have to go out (without diving in too deeply, this would almost have to include one of Kleber, Thompson or Gafford), and is the backup 4 REALLY worth that level of commitment, or would it be smarter to just let him go to a team that has a 28-32 minutes per night role in mind for him who will actually get a return on an investment like that? 

I would be very in favor of a DFS trade (or a Cam Johnson trade) if we found out tomorrow that PJ Washington is out for the season or something, but we're talking about 10 minutes per game on most nights, because there are ZERO minutes available at the 3 for him. This missing backup 4 is not the achilles heel this board is making it out to be, imho. It's a player that will probably not even be in the playoff rotation.