Scanning through all the teams and operating under the assumption that we do not p*** away assets for small short-term gains, it´s really hard to make any realistic moves, unless some major deal opens up that is worth throwing all the chips into the middle (Lillard, Lavine, Beal, Butler, Mitchell etc.)
Honestly the best trade I could find is something like THJ + Dinwiddie + Powell for Westbrook.
Lakers get a much needed shooter in THJ, a willing veteran play-maker to deviate to LeBron and depth for their thin frontcourt in Powell.
This clears so much money for us.
We still have all our most crucial core players (Doncic, Brunson, DFS, Bullock, Kleber) and with ONE sweeping move we have moved most long-term money off our books except for Bertans.
It´s still not great, but you are now in a comfortable position to re-sign Maxi next summer, use the full MLE to replace Powell and swing some trades with all our assets still in place.
Furthermore with the PG whisperer Jason Kidd instead of Carlisle, I think there might be a chance he can make this work.
We´d be down to Doncic/Brunson as ballhandlers again. Especially on a second unit with four guys spreading the floor for him, we can still unleash the freight train Westbrook. Unlike in Los Angeles, we´d have 3-4 guys spreading the floor for him and he can just go downhill. Furthermore he´s a good rebounder and we can always use one of those, especially when he´d share the floor with Maxi and Bertans. Plus I think he´s actually a good locker room guy. I don´t care much what the media says about a player, but what other players say about their peers. He´ll be 34 years old next summer, too. So he might be willing to re-sign for less money and accept a new role.
Even if he caused massive chaos next season, we can just waive him, go in the tank for a year, let Luka go for 38 PPG winning the scoring title and we keep our 2023 1st round pick lottery pick in a great draft, might be able to find a legit Robin for the next decade.
I don´t see any downside to this deal, but a lot of upside.
Honestly the best trade I could find is something like THJ + Dinwiddie + Powell for Westbrook.
Lakers get a much needed shooter in THJ, a willing veteran play-maker to deviate to LeBron and depth for their thin frontcourt in Powell.
This clears so much money for us.
We still have all our most crucial core players (Doncic, Brunson, DFS, Bullock, Kleber) and with ONE sweeping move we have moved most long-term money off our books except for Bertans.
It´s still not great, but you are now in a comfortable position to re-sign Maxi next summer, use the full MLE to replace Powell and swing some trades with all our assets still in place.
Furthermore with the PG whisperer Jason Kidd instead of Carlisle, I think there might be a chance he can make this work.
We´d be down to Doncic/Brunson as ballhandlers again. Especially on a second unit with four guys spreading the floor for him, we can still unleash the freight train Westbrook. Unlike in Los Angeles, we´d have 3-4 guys spreading the floor for him and he can just go downhill. Furthermore he´s a good rebounder and we can always use one of those, especially when he´d share the floor with Maxi and Bertans. Plus I think he´s actually a good locker room guy. I don´t care much what the media says about a player, but what other players say about their peers. He´ll be 34 years old next summer, too. So he might be willing to re-sign for less money and accept a new role.
Even if he caused massive chaos next season, we can just waive him, go in the tank for a year, let Luka go for 38 PPG winning the scoring title and we keep our 2023 1st round pick lottery pick in a great draft, might be able to find a legit Robin for the next decade.
I don´t see any downside to this deal, but a lot of upside.
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