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With Boston tragically being done for the time being as top dogs of the east there is a massive power vacuum. Any team in the east with a big move can catapult themselves into contention.

Enter Charlotte. They have LaMelo and Brandon Miller as their building blocks with the #4 pick. They have a new owner and are probably dead tired of constantly losing.



To Milwaukee
Jusuf Nurkic
Grant Williams
Saluan
#4
2026 swap cancelled
2027 swap cancelled
2028 Charlotte 1st


To New Orleans
2027 Dallas 1st
2027 Miami 1st
2031 charlotte 1st


To Charlotte
Giannis


Milwaukee grabs VJ Edgecome and gets their next two picks back to properly tank. This essentially resets the team and puts them on track to build their next great era

New Orleans gets heavy compensation for cancelling the swaps on Milwaukee. Those picks are only super valuable if Giannis is gone so they cash in on that. Dallas in 2027 is likely going to be a non playoff team as are the Heat.

Charlotte builds a finals team. From the outhouse to the penthouse . Ball is a perfect set up man for Giannis with his playmaking shooting and size. Brandon Miller is a young Kris Middleton with more athleticism.



Mark Williams
Giannis
Bridges
Miller
Ball

I don't think this is close to enough personally. I also think people tend to overrate the value in getting those pick swaps back. It's entirely possible that with how strong the West is, the gap between Milwaukee and New Orleans won't be that large to begin with so those swaps end up not being all that valuable.

Even if they were that valuable though, I think this is well short of what it would take; realistically I don't think Charlotte can make a competitive offer without putting Miller or LaMelo on the table.

As a Charlotte fan this would be like hitting the lottery.

Unfortunately we live in reality there is no way Charlotte is even on Giannis list of teams.

Giannis would be unlikely to be on board with this idea. That aside, Salaun is only a #6 pick on paper, realistically I probably like several guys picked in the 2nd round better. Grant is a negative, Nurkic is filler. This is #4 + future Hornets pick (with Giannis, Brandon Miller, and Lamello still there) which shouldn't be good, plus Pelicans pick returned and swap extinguished. In the Spurs thread there were complaints I was lowballing the Bucks (by one person, though), this feels way worse.

This is very light. Even if Giannis demands Charlotte the price is higher than this

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I had this same thought earlier today. Any team in the east with more flexibility should try to make a play for Giannis. Even if he leaves in free agency.

I do think Miller is at minimum needed here. But Miller, #4, future picks is a really good offer.

Ball - Bridges - Giannis

If they can keep enough future assets to add some pieces around the edges, that team can compete in the current east.

Nope, still crazy.

Insane overpay for the swaps, Miami 1st is enough...

LightTheBeam wrote:I had this same thought earlier today. Any team in the east with more flexibility should try to make a play for Giannis. Even if he leaves in free agency.

I do think Miller is at minimum needed here. But Miller, #4, future picks is a really good offer.

Ball - Bridges - Giannis

If they can keep enough future assets to add some pieces around the edges, that team can compete in the current east.

Giannis would hate this and leave the first chance he gets. The trick here is that any team trading for Giannis needs to keep enough parts to be a contender, otherwise it's a moot point. This is why the Rockets make the most sense IMO, followed by the Spurs.

Getting three firsts for a first and a swap feels really generous. Probably take back the 2031 first.

And then send 26/28/30/32 firsts to Milwaukee imo.

Think all of these NOP/Mil deals need a leg of paying ATL for the other 2027 NOP/Mil pick back.. Unless NOP is getting a win now piece. Making NOP trade their own unprotected first two years out costs a lot more than getting Atl to give back the first they own (especially since Atl’s pick is top 4 protected anyways)

jayjaysee wrote:Think all of these NOP/Mil deals need a leg of paying ATL for the other 2027 NOP/Mil pick back.. Unless NOP is getting a win now piece. Making NOP trade their own unprotected first two years out costs a lot more than getting Atl to give back the first they own (especially since Atl’s pick is top 4 protected anyways)

Why involve the Hawks though? I get that their picks are intermingled, but since Pelicans get the better one they can simply send that to the Bucks knowing it's at least as good as their own pick back.

wemby wrote:

jayjaysee wrote:Think all of these NOP/Mil deals need a leg of paying ATL for the other 2027 NOP/Mil pick back.. Unless NOP is getting a win now piece. Making NOP trade their own unprotected first two years out costs a lot more than getting Atl to give back the first they own (especially since Atl’s pick is top 4 protected anyways)

Why involve the Hawks though? I get that their picks are intermingled, but since Pelicans get the better one they can simply send that to the Bucks knowing it's at least as good as their own pick back.

If the OP had NOP trading for a good young player to add to their core, or maybe getting to move up from 7th as part of it? Yeah. It makes sense. But the current Pelicans shouldn’t be trading unprotected firsts 2 years out is all.

Maybe why the OP was charging so much though

jayjaysee wrote:If the OP had NOP trading for a good young player to add to their core, or maybe getting to move up from 7th as part of it? Yeah. It makes sense. But the current Pelicans shouldn’t be trading unprotected firsts 2 years out is all.

Maybe why the OP was charging so much though

In 26 it's a straight up swap which they can just undo, which gives the Bucks they pick back and nothing else. No harm no foul. In 27 the issue arises if you think there's a chance the Pelicans pick will be better than the Bucks', which is extremely unlikely if we're talking about this is in the context of a Giannis trade. So, again, I don't see the need to further complicate this deal involving the Hawks when, for practical purposes, giving the Bucks that 27 pick is almost assuredly be equivalent to the Bucks original pick.
Pelicans would still have their own pick in 26 (unconditionally) plus likely the lesser of the picks if it's top 4, which is what they really should be concerned about.

wemby wrote:

jayjaysee wrote:If the OP had NOP trading for a good young player to add to their core, or maybe getting to move up from 7th as part of it? Yeah. It makes sense. But the current Pelicans shouldn’t be trading unprotected firsts 2 years out is all.

Maybe why the OP was charging so much though

In 26 it's a straight up swap which they can just undo, which gives the Bucks they pick back and nothing else. No harm no foul. In 27 the issue arises if you think there's a chance the Pelicans pick will be better than the Bucks', which is extremely unlikely if we're talking about this is in the context of a Giannis trade. So, again, I don't see the need to further complicate this deal involving the Hawks when, for practical purposes, giving the Bucks that 27 pick is almost assuredly be equivalent to the Bucks original pick.
Pelicans would still have their own pick in 26 (unconditionally) plus likely the lesser of the picks if it's top 4, which is what they really should be concerned about.

I said 2027 in my post. I do think it would be a lot easier to get the 2026 swap back. And think you could make deals where Milwaukee only feels they need a one year tank and the 2027 pick isn’t needed. A team trading a center piece prospect/pick and a stack of assets with NOP getting one asset for the swap..

But yeah we disagree. After the season NOP had, they shouldn’t be confident in trading any of their own picks unless they are improving their roster.

This trade very flawed for a couple of reasons.

1. The Hornets are nowhere ready to contend. Their culture is that of a losing culture and that needs to be changed first before we even talk about the Hornets getting a top prospect making any win now moves,which leads to point 2.

2.The Hornets not going to be on Giannis list far as team he wants to go to. Why would he want go to a team that has yet to show any signs that they are ready to compete and has a losing culture? He may as well stay with the Bucks at that point.

3. From a value perspective, this trade tilts strongly in the Hornets favor. The 2nd pick in the draft alone tops the 4th draft + 3 1st round picks. Sure the Bucks get some their own picks back, but they're taking a lesser prospect in the process compared to what they could get and still won't have control over their picks in years 2028-2030.

If this is all it takes, phone in the trade.

I'm sure we'd have to add even more picks, but that's alright. As long as we have something left over to add a good backup/low starter quality PG (Tyus? DLo?), I'm very very happy to roll into next season with

LaMelo/Miller/Bridges/Giannis/Mark
MLE PG/NSJ/Green/Okogie/Moussa (plus maybe Tre Mann)
(any chance we could swap out Grant for Green in this trade?)

It's crazy because Giannis isn't agreeing to go to Charlotte.

on a related note, that Dallas pick lost most of its value once they won the lottery.