RealGM

New Orleans outgoing

CJ McCollum
Jordan Hawkins
'26 MIL 1st
'26 IND 1st

Utah outgoing

Lauri Markkanen

New Orleans gets their starting post player to pair with Zion in Markkanen.

Utah gets cap savings and a veteran to help the young guys in CJM. They get a look at Hawkins to see if he can turn it around and two first round picks.

Alvarado / Payton / Murray*
Jones / Reeves / Boston Jr.
Murphy III / SF
Zion / Matkovic / Olynyk
Markkanen / Missi

Maluach at 7 if he's there. Trade Missi later.

New Orleans could dump a bit of bad money if it's not too long and I'd be fine with it.

But a young guy/a pick/and a swap with expiring money is about all I could see Lauri fetching currently.

I'd do it for Utah if that's the direction we're going.

Think this puts NOP into the tax

I’d pass. Not interested in two picks likely to be in the 18-30 range. Has to be a pick with a higher potential.

I would easily do this, too. We can take back more salary to facilitate.

babyjax13 wrote:I would easily do this, too. We can take back more salary to facilitate.

It might be something to consider later in the summer if (and only if) Milwaukee completely crashes and burns in free agency and on the trade market.

How many middling first round picks to the Jazz have already? Seems they're adding 2 to 3 first round rookie contracts every year. if I'm trading Lauri, it's probably for an established young player or two (and I don't mean Hawkins).

Or, probably, just keeping him.

SkyHook wrote:

babyjax13 wrote:I would easily do this, too. We can take back more salary to facilitate.

It might be something to consider later in the summer if (and only if) Milwaukee completely crashes and burns in free agency and on the trade market.

To me it is a salary reset + a first from a Milwaukee team that might trade Giannis during the season if it seems clear they are going nowhere fast and discontent rises. It is certainly a risk. If Giannis gets hurt, also, Milwaukee has nowhere to go but down. I think there is like a 40 percent chance of that pick being a lottery pick and in 2026 that is enough for me. We also get a salary reset and firmly commit to a direction.

babyjax13 wrote:

SkyHook wrote:

babyjax13 wrote:I would easily do this, too. We can take back more salary to facilitate.

It might be something to consider later in the summer if (and only if) Milwaukee completely crashes and burns in free agency and on the trade market.

To me it is a salary reset + a first from a Milwaukee team that might trade Giannis during the season if it seems clear they are going nowhere fast and discontent rises. It is certainly a risk. If Giannis gets hurt, also, Milwaukee has nowhere to go but down. I think there is like a 40 percent chance of that pick being a lottery pick and in 2026 that is enough for me. We also get a salary reset and firmly commit to a direction.

Hey... "might be something to consider" is a big step for me.