Trade & FA 2025-26: Free Agency Starts 5pm CST/6pm EST

[F Gump]

 Teams trying to win can't give away a productive player (like OO as a for instance) with such a long window without AD. 

Factually, it's nowhere near the "long window" of missed games (for a team that trades for him) that it looks like at first glance, if the trade was navigated wisely. The 6 week window for a return from injury would have AD back shortly after the ASB. 

Let's plug in some actual dates:
1 Date of injury - Thurs Jan 8
2 End of 6 weeks healing time - Thurs Feb 19
3 Trade deadline (last possible trade date) - Thurs Feb 5
4 All-star break with no games played - Fri Feb 13-Thurs Feb 19

So if AD is truly on a 6 week layoff, and was traded at the deadline (Thurs Feb 5), the new team would be losing his services for only 1 week of games (Fri Feb 6-Thurs Feb 12). ATL for example has only 3 games in that window (CHAR, MINN, CHAR) and that's probably true of almost every team. Then when everyone comes back from AS break, that's the end of 6 weeks and AD should be healthy again. In addition, because it's a hand injury (rather than leg or foot), he can stay in condition and be ready to go when the return from AS break happens.

AD also has major incentive to be back, and be fully in shape, the very first day, because he will be looking to motivate that extension from the new team. You might very well see the same sort of "AD" that you saw the 1st game with DAL, where he wanted to make a huge impression, and was a one-man dominant force on both ends, until pulling up lame.

In general, I am not in a hurry to trade AD, but the prospects of a healthy roster showing their stuff in March and April would definitely hamper the ability to obtain a high pick. But great play alongside a healthy Kyrie making a HUGE difference in winning games might also make AD even more desirable in the summer, or lay the groundwork for an even better team next season after adding back Lively AND a good (but not great) pick. IMO it was easier when AD was going to be out for the season and Kyrie was going to sit also. Where's that expert GM when you need him?