RealGM

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DEN Gets: Malik Monk
DEN Gives: Zeke Nnaji, Peyton Watson, DaRon Holmes, & Hunter Tyson
Why for DEN? Denver further solidifies their bench and adds an elite 6th man option to keep the offense going when Jokic and Murray rest. Monk is also great injury insurance in case Murray misses any extended period of time.

PG - Murray / Monk / Pickett
SG - Braun / Hardaway
SF - Johnson / Strawther
PF - Gordon / Brown
C - Jokic / Valanciunas

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GSW Gets: Peyton Watson, DaRon Holmes, Chris Livingston, Hunter Tyson, & 2030 SAC 1st (Lottery Protected; then defers to least favorable between 2031 SAC 1st & 2031 SAS 1st)
GSW Gives: Jonathan Kuminga (S&T $63 mil/3 years)
Why for GSW? The Warriors avoid losing Kuminga for nothing and do a few things in the process...save money, fill out roster spots (much needed), add a couple young pieces with some upside (Watson & Holmes), and add a future 1st round pick.

PG - Curry / Podz / Melton / Curry
SG - Moody / Hield / Payton
SF - Butler / Watson / Livingston
PF - Green / Santos / Tyson
C - Horford / Holmes / Jackson-Davis / Post

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MIL Gets: DeMar DeRozan & Zeke Nnaji
MIL Gives: Kyle Kuzma & Chris Livingston
Why for MIL? The Bucks get a significant offensive upgrade over Kuzma and give Giannis a great 2nd option next to him in hopes of getting back to being a contender. Defensively, Giannis and Turner should be able to cover for DeRozan's shortcomings in that department making them a solid trio. Nnaji gives them a long, athletic forward who can give them some rotational minutes.

PG - Anthony / Porter / Rollins
SG - Trent / Green / Harris
SF - DeRozan / Prince / Jackson Jr
PF - Giannis / Nnaji / Smith / Thanasis
C - Turner / Portis / Sims

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SAC Gets: Jonathan Kuminga (S&T $63 mil/3 years) & Kyle Kuzma
SAC Gives: DeMar DeRozan, Malik Monk, & 2030 SAC 1st (Lottery Protected; then defers to least favorable between 2031 SAC 1st & 2031 SAS 1st)
Why for SAC? The Kings get their target in Kuminga who gives them a high potential player to invest in. Kuminga also gives them another big, long, athletic forward next to Sabonis and allows the Kings to push Murray back to SF (which is ideal IMO). They also balance the roster more as Kuzma gives them another forward to play with while clearing out some of their guard glut.


PG - Schroder / Carter
SG - LaVine / Ellis / Davis
SF - Murray / Clifford / McDermott
PF - Kuminga / Kuzma / Jones / Saric
C - Sabonis / Raynaud / Eubanks

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Warriors aren't having a problem filling the roster. The moment Kuminga's contract is resolved, Warriors probably would sign like 3-4 FAs like Horford, Melton, Payton II, and maybe Seth Curry or Brogdan right after that. I don't think they will have roster slots to absorb all those contracts.

Yeah this is fine with me. If we have to cut some guys eventually so be it

DeRozan is such a terrible fit with Giannis I think I'd rather have Kuzma.

JayMKE wrote:DeRozan is such a terrible fit with Giannis I think I'd rather have Kuzma.

I hate Demar more than the next guy, but the reality is one of these players is good at basketball and the other isn't. I don't see any argument that Kuzma is a better fit.

Neither is a good 3pt shooter, but Demar shoots the majority of his shots from 10-3pt line, which is far more space than Kuzma provides. The next thought is that Demar wants the ball in his hands, that maybe true but right now I'm struggling to see who needs the ball in their hands in Milwaukee when Giannis sits. Demar actually feels like a positive in Milwaukee IMO.

LightTheBeam wrote:

JayMKE wrote:DeRozan is such a terrible fit with Giannis I think I'd rather have Kuzma.

I hate Demar more than the next guy, but the reality is one of these players is good at basketball and the other isn't. I don't see any argument that Kuzma is a better fit.

Neither is a good 3pt shooter, but Demar shoots the majority of his shots from 10-3pt line, which is far more space than Kuzma provides. The next thought is that Demar wants the ball in his hands, that maybe true but right now I'm struggling to see who needs the ball in their hands in Milwaukee when Giannis sits. Demar actually feels like a positive in Milwaukee IMO.

Kuzma is bigger, runs the floor, plays better defense. DeRozen pounding the ball in halfcourt taking inefficient shots slowing the pace and getting exposed defensively is the opposite of what the Bucks need. Kuzma sucks but DeRozen doesn't convey any value at all to the Bucks.

This is better for the Warriors than most of the Kings trade suggestions. Holmes and Watson would be good fits. I don’t know about the other two players. But due to the ridiculous CBA rules about trades like this, the Warriors would probably have to trade Moody somewhere else to balance salaries, and that makes it less useful of a trade.

I know Kings fans think a pick at the end of the 2031 draft is very valuable, but I don’t see it that way.

I don't think Denver does this, and here is why:

1. Monk's contract is what all the teams are trying to get rid of in this new CBA with aprons. Backup on 3 years $60M. Nuggets signed as good players - Brown and Hardaway on vets mins.
2. Denver drafted Holmes in 2024 and paid 3 2nds to move 6 spots to be able to grab him at 22. They wouldn't trade him without chance to see him play
3. Nuggets are high on Watson for a reason. He is one of their best wing defenders. Brown and Hardaway can do what Monk can, but there is no replacement to Watson. If they trade Watson it would be due to new contract which won't be as big as Monk's anyway, and for 3nD player

I dont think Denver can afford to lose Watson and Holmes for Monk honestly, while dumping Nnaji would be a plus, I do expect Holmes to contribute this year. all 3 combined for 40 minutes in their elimination game against OKC, the 4 for 1 would make the bench too thin for the long run, one injury away from being too tight of a rotation.

Nate the Great wrote: the Warriors would probably have to trade Moody somewhere else to balance salaries, and that makes it less useful of a trade.

Not Moody. They only need to dump about 1.6MM to avoid the hard cap. Santos or TJD would do it.

Peyton Watson always impresses me when I watch the Nugs, I'd do this

JayMKE wrote:

LightTheBeam wrote:

JayMKE wrote:DeRozan is such a terrible fit with Giannis I think I'd rather have Kuzma.

I hate Demar more than the next guy, but the reality is one of these players is good at basketball and the other isn't. I don't see any argument that Kuzma is a better fit.

Neither is a good 3pt shooter, but Demar shoots the majority of his shots from 10-3pt line, which is far more space than Kuzma provides. The next thought is that Demar wants the ball in his hands, that maybe true but right now I'm struggling to see who needs the ball in their hands in Milwaukee when Giannis sits. Demar actually feels like a positive in Milwaukee IMO.

Kuzma is bigger, runs the floor, plays better defense. DeRozen pounding the ball in halfcourt taking inefficient shots slowing the pace and getting exposed defensively is the opposite of what the Bucks need. Kuzma sucks but DeRozen doesn't convey any value at all to the Bucks.

I'm not sure plays defense and Kuzma belong in the same sentence. As for Demar pounding the ball halfcourt, I think he takes a big backseat to Giannis at his age, he did it a ton of Fox last year, he would do it even more so for Giannis. Then you span out the non Giannis minutes where Demar is the focal point.

I'm actually very against the swap. Demar is at least only 10 million next year to get rid of, Kuzma i'm stuck with and he's awful.

Maybe I'm crazy but Denver wants to win now. Brown is better than Watson and is going to take a lot of those minutes. They traded for JVal to be the backup to Jokic at least for the next year.

Murray - Braun - Cam - Gordon - Jokic
Monk - THJ - Brown - JVal

This would be an insane 9 man rotation where every guy fills their role perfectly.

Not familiar enough with the Denver players to have much of a comment from the GS side, but as others pointed out, filling the roster isn’t really an issue.

Not sure two young guys fit the philosophy of the vets 2-year window plan, but the fact they played in the Denver offense gives me hope that they’d fit better than the guy getting traded out

Would the Bucks really be this desperate to dump Kuzma's contract that they'd eat an even more useless player (Nnaji) to be their 4th string Center with a contract that runs the next 3-years on their already tight (Dame waive-and-stretch) cap sheet? This is like the millionth DeRozan trade I've seen and I think if you've paid any attention to what the Bucks have done this offseason (emphasizing younger players and 3PT shooting), then you'd realize how this runs completely contradictory to their current philosophy. Bucks just being used as a bad salary dumping ground here and I think everyone needs to let the DeRozan stuff go.

Also makes no sense for the Kings to double down on the same player archetype (both Kuzma and Kuminga) when the whole point of the Monk rumors were that they'd want to open up a roster spot for Westbrook. And it seems obvious this is like, way too good for the Warriors.

No thanks from Denvers side. If Monk only had one more year on his deal, maybe, but having him on the books long term would probably preclude the Nuggets from resigning Christian Braun, who's infinitely more valuable.