2022-23 Season Discussion and Review - the Blockbuster trade and playoff downfall

[Slim Charless]

So this was on twitter so basically it rules out Irving for Ayton as that would be three max players. And that means no buyout market, no MLE or even TPMLE

If the Suns knew about this and still made the Durant trade - pretty stupid. Granted, I think the CBA was agreed too post Durant trade because the Suns used the rules to get the trade done

Read on Twitter

So all those trades yesterday of Irving for Ayton, pretty much can't happen. It will be Ayton for Nurkic or maybe Ayton to the Pistons. Something like that.

Paul probably will get a nice retirement and bought out for 15.8m and stretched I would think. What really sucks is the Suns, this is there first year really in the lux tax are being penalized the same as the Clippers and Warriors - who have been multiple year lux tax payers. That is wrong. If the Suns max is 4x penalty, the Warriors should be at 7 or 8x by now.

That sucks. We shouldn't have to pay the same penalty. Dubs and Clips are way worse. This is typical Suns, we finally get an owner that is willing to pay tax and now the NBA puts a hard cap in the CBA.

[kennydorglas]

What happened to him in Milwaukee?

I get that he was getting over his brothers death but Spoelstra ran circles around him not just this season but also in the bubble.

Well Spo is probably the best coach in the league

What makes Spo such a great coach? He doesn’t have firepower like those years with Lebron but lately just has one all star in Jimmy Butler with a bunch of role players. I still can’t believe they reached the finals back in 2020. I mean at least Suns had Booker, CP3, Ayton while Heat had jimmy.

Dude just has amazing ATO's and micromanages everything. Always shifting his defense thru games and his offense. I kinda hated him in his LeBron years but after the trio left he just kept winning or playing amazing basketball.

[kennydorglas]

So this was on twitter so basically it rules out Irving for Ayton as that would be three max players. And that means no buyout market, no MLE or even TPMLE

If the Suns knew about this and still made the Durant trade - pretty stupid. Granted, I think the CBA was agreed too post Durant trade because the Suns used the rules to get the trade done

Read on Twitter

So all those trades yesterday of Irving for Ayton, pretty much can't happen. It will be Ayton for Nurkic or maybe Ayton to the Pistons. Something like that.

Paul probably will get a nice retirement and bought out for 15.8m and stretched I would think. What really sucks is the Suns, this is there first year really in the lux tax are being penalized the same as the Clippers and Warriors - who have been multiple year lux tax payers. That is wrong. If the Suns max is 4x penalty, the Warriors should be at 7 or 8x by now.

That sucks. We shouldn't have to pay the same penalty. Dubs and Clips are way worse. This is typical Suns, we finally get an owner that is willing to pay tax and now the NBA puts a hard cap in the CBA.

hahaha Ishbia made the worst deal of his life

[BobbieL]

So this was on twitter so basically it rules out Irving for Ayton as that would be three max players. And that means no buyout market, no MLE or even TPMLE

If the Suns knew about this and still made the Durant trade - pretty stupid. Granted, I think the CBA was agreed too post Durant trade because the Suns used the rules to get the trade done

Read on Twitter

So all those trades yesterday of Irving for Ayton, pretty much can't happen. It will be Ayton for Nurkic or maybe Ayton to the Pistons. Something like that.

Paul probably will get a nice retirement and bought out for 15.8m and stretched I would think. What really sucks is the Suns, this is there first year really in the lux tax are being penalized the same as the Clippers and Warriors - who have been multiple year lux tax payers. That is wrong. If the Suns max is 4x penalty, the Warriors should be at 7 or 8x by now.

That sucks. We shouldn't have to pay the same penalty. Dubs and Clips are way worse. This is typical Suns, we finally get an owner that is willing to pay tax and now the NBA puts a hard cap in the CBA.

hahaha Ishbia made the worst deal of his life

Now that I think of it - the CBA was amended post Durant trade as the league was a bit miffed, if I remember Woj, that hte Suns were able to make the deal

Suns are in terrible shape because of that trade and with the new CBA - as luck would have it - they are screwed. The league hates the Suns

[BobbieL]

So this was on twitter so basically it rules out Irving for Ayton as that would be three max players. And that means no buyout market, no MLE or even TPMLE

If the Suns knew about this and still made the Durant trade - pretty stupid. Granted, I think the CBA was agreed too post Durant trade because the Suns used the rules to get the trade done

Read on Twitter

So all those trades yesterday of Irving for Ayton, pretty much can't happen. It will be Ayton for Nurkic or maybe Ayton to the Pistons. Something like that.

Paul probably will get a nice retirement and bought out for 15.8m and stretched I would think. What really sucks is the Suns, this is there first year really in the lux tax are being penalized the same as the Clippers and Warriors - who have been multiple year lux tax payers. That is wrong. If the Suns max is 4x penalty, the Warriors should be at 7 or 8x by now.

That sucks. We shouldn't have to pay the same penalty. Dubs and Clips are way worse. This is typical Suns, we finally get an owner that is willing to pay tax and now the NBA puts a hard cap in the CBA.

And just like the TWolves bailed out the Warriors trading them Wiggins AND a FRP - what team is going to take on Green or Wiggins and bail out the Warriors this summer. Its going to happen

[WeekapaugGroove]

That sucks. We shouldn't have to pay the same penalty. Dubs and Clips are way worse. This is typical Suns, we finally get an owner that is willing to pay tax and now the NBA puts a hard cap in the CBA.

hahaha Ishbia made the worst deal of his life

Now that I think of it - the CBA was amended post Durant trade as the league was a bit miffed, if I remember Woj, that hte Suns were able to make the deal

Suns are in terrible shape because of that trade and with the new CBA - as luck would have it - they are screwed. The league hates the Suns

It doesn't rule out an Ayton for Irving deal, if the salaries are close theres no difference if it's DA or Irving taking that salary slot as far as how it impacts team building.

Also considering Cam Johnson will likely get $20+ mil per year this summer the suns would be in about the same spot salary wise with Cam and Bridges as they are with KD.

Now overall it's a bummer that the NBA is nuking higher spending right as the suns actually have an owner willing to do it. But I wouldn't be as all doom and gloom as people around here love to be about everything. And I'll note they are still in a better spot with Mat willing to spend with these rules than they would have been with Sarver and the old rules.

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[Slim Charless]

So this was on twitter so basically it rules out Irving for Ayton as that would be three max players. And that means no buyout market, no MLE or even TPMLE

If the Suns knew about this and still made the Durant trade - pretty stupid. Granted, I think the CBA was agreed too post Durant trade because the Suns used the rules to get the trade done

Read on Twitter

So all those trades yesterday of Irving for Ayton, pretty much can't happen. It will be Ayton for Nurkic or maybe Ayton to the Pistons. Something like that.

Paul probably will get a nice retirement and bought out for 15.8m and stretched I would think. What really sucks is the Suns, this is there first year really in the lux tax are being penalized the same as the Clippers and Warriors - who have been multiple year lux tax payers. That is wrong. If the Suns max is 4x penalty, the Warriors should be at 7 or 8x by now.

That sucks. We shouldn't have to pay the same penalty. Dubs and Clips are way worse. This is typical Suns, we finally get an owner that is willing to pay tax and now the NBA puts a hard cap in the CBA.

And just like the TWolves bailed out the Warriors trading them Wiggins AND a FRP - what team is going to take on Green or Wiggins and bail out the Warriors this summer. Its going to happen

Detroit will take on Draymond and that's where I expect him to go if they move on. Pistons wanna win now and need vets to teach their kids. He's also born and raised right outside of Detroit and grew up a Piston fan. They have a ton of money and no one else is coming there.

I'd be shocked if Draymond is anywhere else besides DET or GS by opening day.

[Ghost of Kleine]

That sucks. We shouldn't have to pay the same penalty. Dubs and Clips are way worse. This is typical Suns, we finally get an owner that is willing to pay tax and now the NBA puts a hard cap in the CBA.

hahaha Ishbia made the worst deal of his life

Now that I think of it - the CBA was amended post Durant trade as the league was a bit miffed, if I remember Woj, that hte Suns were able to make the deal

Suns are in terrible shape because of that trade and with the new CBA - as luck would have it - they are screwed. The league hates the Suns

Thanks for sharing this Bobbi L! You make great points regarding our concerns here. And this kind of illustrates the reasons why I have been telling everyone for awhile now that we need to start prioritizing cost controlled cheaper contracts with younger talent and depth from the draft and through trades acquiring picks and young talent too offset our top heavy bloated max contracts! Now dumping Paul like I wanted to do this season prior to the postseason trade deadline was a move that would have benefited us greatly towards this outcome.

Or perhaps when I suggested flipping contracts like Shamet for Sato's 10 million expiring ( a season prior and Saric who wasn't playing worth a damn right before he injured his ACL. and Payne who was off and on but mostly off since his bubble performance and has been riding that outlier reputation for multiple seasons now inconsistently. Those deals we could've repeatedly moved would've shaved close to 26- 27 million off our projected cap currently! ALSO, having perennially avoided the draft left us without those cost controlled contracts that would have given us flexibility.

Point being, we need pivot back to prioritizing more draft pick/ talent accumulation and proper development on cost controlled contracts. And trade our more useless wasted salaries Shamet, Ayton and Payne) for more cost effective cost controlled salaries to reduce our LT and work towards regaining some roster flexibility. Now it might more sense to people why my trades were geared at trying to cut 20- 30 million and in some cases (two part trades) upwards of 45-50 million to get back in line of the cap and return some draft assets.

[SunsRback4Good]

hahaha Ishbia made the worst deal of his life

Now that I think of it - the CBA was amended post Durant trade as the league was a bit miffed, if I remember Woj, that hte Suns were able to make the deal

Suns are in terrible shape because of that trade and with the new CBA - as luck would have it - they are screwed. The league hates the Suns

It doesn't rule out an Ayton for Irving deal, if the salaries are close theres no difference if it's DA or Irving taking that salary slot as far as how it impacts team building.

Also considering Cam Johnson will likely get $20+ mil per year this summer the suns would be in about the same spot salary wise with Cam and Bridges as they are with KD.

Now overall it's a bummer that the NBA is nuking higher spending right as the suns actually have an owner willing to do it. But I wouldn't be as all doom and gloom as people around here love to be about everything. And I'll note they are still in a better spot with Mat willing to spend with these rules than they would have been with Sarver and the old rules.

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You seem very knowledgeable. Do you work within the Suns organization?

[BobbieL]

hahaha Ishbia made the worst deal of his life

Now that I think of it - the CBA was amended post Durant trade as the league was a bit miffed, if I remember Woj, that hte Suns were able to make the deal

Suns are in terrible shape because of that trade and with the new CBA - as luck would have it - they are screwed. The league hates the Suns

It doesn't rule out an Ayton for Irving deal, if the salaries are close theres no difference if it's DA or Irving taking that salary slot as far as how it impacts team building.

Also considering Cam Johnson will likely get $20+ mil per year this summer the suns would be in about the same spot salary wise with Cam and Bridges as they are with KD.

Now overall it's a bummer that the NBA is nuking higher spending right as the suns actually have an owner willing to do it. But I wouldn't be as all doom and gloom as people around here love to be about everything. And I'll note they are still in a better spot with Mat willing to spend with these rules than they would have been with Sarver and the old rules.

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But wouldn't having three max contracts put the Suns over the second apron

that is true - -if Mat can spend the money, he will

[WeekapaugGroove]

Now that I think of it - the CBA was amended post Durant trade as the league was a bit miffed, if I remember Woj, that hte Suns were able to make the deal

Suns are in terrible shape because of that trade and with the new CBA - as luck would have it - they are screwed. The league hates the Suns

It doesn't rule out an Ayton for Irving deal, if the salaries are close theres no difference if it's DA or Irving taking that salary slot as far as how it impacts team building.

Also considering Cam Johnson will likely get $20+ mil per year this summer the suns would be in about the same spot salary wise with Cam and Bridges as they are with KD.

Now overall it's a bummer that the NBA is nuking higher spending right as the suns actually have an owner willing to do it. But I wouldn't be as all doom and gloom as people around here love to be about everything. And I'll note they are still in a better spot with Mat willing to spend with these rules than they would have been with Sarver and the old rules.

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But wouldn't having three max contracts put the Suns over the second apron

that is true - -if Mat can spend the money, he will

They removed that clause about not having 3 designated max guys in the new CBA (that wouldn't have been the case here anyway).

What I mean with the Kyrie/Ayton thing is assuming Kyries contract would be a similar number as DAs then there's no difference team building if Kyrie is here instead of DA. Same with KD vs Cam/Bridges money wise.

So yes overall because of the suns total payroll they will have challenges to continue to add but those challenges would be the same with Kyrie and not much different had they not done the KD trade.

I will say from a team building standpoint it may make more sense to flip Ayton for multiple guys making less money vs Kyrie.

Also they are far from alone with these challenges, plenty of other high spenders will have to make some hard decisions.

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[WeekapaugGroove]

Now that I think of it - the CBA was amended post Durant trade as the league was a bit miffed, if I remember Woj, that hte Suns were able to make the deal

Suns are in terrible shape because of that trade and with the new CBA - as luck would have it - they are screwed. The league hates the Suns

It doesn't rule out an Ayton for Irving deal, if the salaries are close theres no difference if it's DA or Irving taking that salary slot as far as how it impacts team building.

Also considering Cam Johnson will likely get $20+ mil per year this summer the suns would be in about the same spot salary wise with Cam and Bridges as they are with KD.

Now overall it's a bummer that the NBA is nuking higher spending right as the suns actually have an owner willing to do it. But I wouldn't be as all doom and gloom as people around here love to be about everything. And I'll note they are still in a better spot with Mat willing to spend with these rules than they would have been with Sarver and the old rules.

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You seem very knowledgeable. Do you work within the Suns organization?

Wish I did. I just find CBA stuff interesting for some reason so have read up on it.

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[Ghost of Kleine]

So IF we can actually trade Ayton for Irving, salary for salary match, that would be an awesome value return for Ayton, because of it addressing our imminent PGOTF needs and also additional ball handling and shot creation/ tough shot making in the 4th. I'd find it hard for any team to be able to stop all three of Irving, Durant, and Booker in a 4th quarter scoring barrage! and yes! Week is absolutely right that as long as the salaries in a trade can match dollar for dollar or very near to it, then the trade is still legal under the new CBA. We'd just have to match Irving's new max salary in a sign n trade with what salaries we send out. The problem with the Irving trade that I personally see is simply that I don't see the Mavs having any intention of trading Irving for Ayton. But rather they are disillusioned enough to believe they could instead ADD AYTON TO both Irving and Doncic to give them their own big three hypothetically. It would very likely take Irving forcing his way off their team by telling them he won't resign there, and will only agree to a sign n trade to Phoenix!!

But according to most of their fans on the trade board, They somehow convinced themselves that they'd be better off just letting Irving walk for the cap space they'd get in return.........lol. And that just because Doncic hasn't outright demanded a trade yet, that there's no risk of not securing a big trade or move to satiate him. They think they'd just get top end premium free agents this summer if he leaves. So I'm not sure they'd agree to an Irving/ Ayton swap!!

Again, I think we could reasonably still trade Ayton for depth and assets and Paul too. IF Irving could force his way to us for Ayton, That'd be optimal! But if not:

1- Dallas- (Alternative) I hate this!! But depth and assets are better than our current situation.

Ayton for Haraway Jr/ Kleber/ Mcgee/ 2023 10th pick. The 10th pick is critical and non negotiable here because it'd give us a premium cost controlled asset either for trade or to add legitimate premium talent to our core to replace what we'll lose between Ayton and Paul in terms of cumulative talent/ value.

2- Charlotte- (IF the Hornets don't land Wemby) They'd have plenty of cap space for Ayton's contract, and He'd be an upgrade for them to even Richards and Williams towards making the playoffs. They'd still keep their top pick, and be able to resign Bridges too! Guaranteed playoff team in the east for Jordan finally! The picks here will give us cost controlled depth/ talent to help fill out our roster needs cheaply to begin offsetting our top heavy salaries. Bouknight can be waived or bought out if we prefer?

Ayton for Rozier/ Bouknight/ Williams/ 27th pick (Denver)/ 39th pick (Jazz).

3- Houston- ( Houston's ready to compete) They just hired Udoka, Harden will likely leave Philly to go back to Houston (once Boston eliminates them). And they'll have plenty of cap for both Harden and Ayton (IF we just take back a small bit of salary). This trade would get them back in the playoffs and advance their progression quicker than just waiting on their recent draft picks to develop. Also Ayton better fits their core timeline and could be better featured there with Harden).

Ayton for Eason/ Martin Jr/ Washington/ 2023 20th pick (Clippers).
This is very equitable value for Ayton and an absolute win for Houston with getting to still keep their top 5 pick and get Ayton and very likely Harden in one offseason! And IF they wanted us to take back KPJr to maintain more premium cap space, I probably would as he still has high potential and shares productional similarities to Dejounte Murray although slightly less (Poor man's Murray). But could still be a reasonable alternative to Irving in the backcourt next to Booker? For us, Eason is a young Jerami Grant that'd be perfect at the small forward next to Durant. IF we take back Kevin Porter Jr, He can replace Paul in the backcourt with Booker, and K mart Jr can replace Craig (IF necessary).

[BobbieL]

It doesn't rule out an Ayton for Irving deal, if the salaries are close theres no difference if it's DA or Irving taking that salary slot as far as how it impacts team building.

Also considering Cam Johnson will likely get $20+ mil per year this summer the suns would be in about the same spot salary wise with Cam and Bridges as they are with KD.

Now overall it's a bummer that the NBA is nuking higher spending right as the suns actually have an owner willing to do it. But I wouldn't be as all doom and gloom as people around here love to be about everything. And I'll note they are still in a better spot with Mat willing to spend with these rules than they would have been with Sarver and the old rules.

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But wouldn't having three max contracts put the Suns over the second apron

that is true - -if Mat can spend the money, he will

They removed that clause about not having 3 designated max guys in the new CBA (that wouldn't have been the case here anyway).

What I mean with the Kyrie/Ayton thing is assuming Kyries contract would be a similar number as DAs then there's no difference team building if Kyrie is here instead of DA. Same with KD vs Cam/Bridges money wise.

So yes overall because of the suns total payroll they will have challenges to continue to add but those challenges would be the same with Kyrie and not much different had they not done the KD trade.

I will say from a team building standpoint it may make more sense to flip Ayton for multiple guys making less money vs Kyrie.

Also they are far from alone with these challenges, plenty of other high spenders will have to make some hard decisions.

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\
But if the Suns trade Ayton to another team - they wouldn't have three max contracts which could allow different roster management. Hell, I still have no clue the return Ayton would bring. I get a Kyrie trade is that brings the Mavs some value. But Portland, Detroit, Charlotte, Indy - what value does the guy have that can help the Suns

Many decisions to be sure.. First things first, win Game 3 tonight!

[BobbieL]

It doesn't rule out an Ayton for Irving deal, if the salaries are close theres no difference if it's DA or Irving taking that salary slot as far as how it impacts team building.

Also considering Cam Johnson will likely get $20+ mil per year this summer the suns would be in about the same spot salary wise with Cam and Bridges as they are with KD.

Now overall it's a bummer that the NBA is nuking higher spending right as the suns actually have an owner willing to do it. But I wouldn't be as all doom and gloom as people around here love to be about everything. And I'll note they are still in a better spot with Mat willing to spend with these rules than they would have been with Sarver and the old rules.

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You seem very knowledgeable. Do you work within the Suns organization?

Wish I did. I just find CBA stuff interesting for some reason so have read up on it.

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I do not hate the Charlotte deal that GoK posted above with getting Rozier Bouknight and a pick

As for the CBA - I find the NFL cap fascinating and follow a bunch of people on twitter that help explain the cap. the Pacjers guy, Ken Ingalls is great if you are a Packers fan Week

[WeekapaugGroove]

But wouldn't having three max contracts put the Suns over the second apron

that is true - -if Mat can spend the money, he will

They removed that clause about not having 3 designated max guys in the new CBA (that wouldn't have been the case here anyway).

What I mean with the Kyrie/Ayton thing is assuming Kyries contract would be a similar number as DAs then there's no difference team building if Kyrie is here instead of DA. Same with KD vs Cam/Bridges money wise.

So yes overall because of the suns total payroll they will have challenges to continue to add but those challenges would be the same with Kyrie and not much different had they not done the KD trade.

I will say from a team building standpoint it may make more sense to flip Ayton for multiple guys making less money vs Kyrie.

Also they are far from alone with these challenges, plenty of other high spenders will have to make some hard decisions.

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\
But if the Suns trade Ayton to another team - they wouldn't have three max contracts which could allow different roster management. Hell, I still have no clue the return Ayton would bring. I get a Kyrie trade is that brings the Mavs some value. But Portland, Detroit, Charlotte, Indy - what value does the guy have that can help the Suns

Many decisions to be sure.. First things first, win Game 3 tonight!

Unless they were straight up salary dumping Ayton to a team with space whatever they get back will put them in the same spot salary wise. It's about the total team salary not how many max guys.

Should be noted that I've heard some of these CBA changes will be gradually implemented so it might not actually be as big of a deal this summer.

The repeater tax penalties is what could be interesting for the suns. Even though Mat is willing to spend it still probably makes sense to get below the tax at some point in the next few years to avoid the repeater penalties. When exactly they should try to do that and how they do that while still being competitive will be interesting.

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[King4Day]

So this was on twitter so basically it rules out Irving for Ayton as that would be three max players. And that means no buyout market, no MLE or even TPMLE

If the Suns knew about this and still made the Durant trade - pretty stupid. Granted, I think the CBA was agreed too post Durant trade because the Suns used the rules to get the trade done

Read on Twitter

So all those trades yesterday of Irving for Ayton, pretty much can't happen. It will be Ayton for Nurkic or maybe Ayton to the Pistons. Something like that.

Paul probably will get a nice retirement and bought out for 15.8m and stretched I would think. What really sucks is the Suns, this is there first year really in the lux tax are being penalized the same as the Clippers and Warriors - who have been multiple year lux tax payers. That is wrong. If the Suns max is 4x penalty, the Warriors should be at 7 or 8x by now.

This is assuming Kyrie wants the max, correct?

[BurningHeart]

Last thing I want is anybody associated with that scumbag Popovich.

SunsRback4Good wrote:
Should Suns go after Budenholzer after he was canned today? He’s a prodigy of Greg Popovich and could really shake our team around in the right direction.


spanishninja wrote:
[b]i prefer that other prodigy of Pop instead[/b]

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SunsRback4Good wrote:

The other one is old and likely retire in a few years. Besides majority of Suns fans despise him for constantly denying us a title. Can you imagine if he became our coach there would be an outrage of fans wanting him gone.





That’s what I said on the previous page. Pop denied us titles last thing we need is to bring him here. No Thank you!

Im fine with Bud but not popovich to be clear.

That's not why I don't want them.

The Popovich Spurs have been a practical terrorist organization over the last 25 years of basketball, waging war on legitimacy and decency with all their flopping, dirty play thuggery, constant bitching and general insufferable existence. And they try to hide it all under this veneer of "Class! Respect! Honor!" or whatever the ****.

**** him to the deepest depths of hell.

[BobbieL]

Last thing I want is anybody associated with that scumbag Popovich.

SunsRback4Good wrote:
Should Suns go after Budenholzer after he was canned today? He’s a prodigy of Greg Popovich and could really shake our team around in the right direction.


spanishninja wrote:
[b]i prefer that other prodigy of Pop instead[/b]

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SunsRback4Good wrote:

The other one is old and likely retire in a few years. Besides majority of Suns fans despise him for constantly denying us a title. Can you imagine if he became our coach there would be an outrage of fans wanting him gone.





That’s what I said on the previous page. Pop denied us titles last thing we need is to bring him here. No Thank you!

Im fine with Bud but not popovich to be clear.

The Popovich Spurs have been a practical terrorist organization over the last 25 years of basketball, waging war on legitimacy and decency with all their flopping, dirty play thuggery, constant bitching and general insufferable existence. And they try to hide it all under this veneer of "Class! Respect! Honor!" or whatever the ****. Not to mention how awful he is off the court.

**** him to the deepest depths of hell.

If it gets that far - Atkinson seems good; my guess Nurse is waiting on the Bucks job
just not Isiah Thomas as GM or anywhere making the decision - please do not bring in Zeke - Ishbia

I would be good with Quinn from Miami possibly; Stotts has appeal, Hammons if from the Spurs but I think she would be fine
Still would prefer Monty wins these next four games and continues as head ball coach

[bwgood77]

I'm curious on how that might work if CP retired.

I always viewed that final guaranteed portion of this deal as a deferred payment after he dropped the per year amount down from his old deal. Basically sarver was ducking the tax last season and paying it out. Then the final totally unguaranteed year was added so they could stretch that contact and it only count as $5 mil per year for 3 years instead of all $15 next year.

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If we stretch $15 we can probably get under the tax next year, especially if we don't guarantee Payne's either...though not sure what we'd do at PG. I suppose we'd HAVE to try and get one for Ayton. I'm sure they really want Kyrie but Dallas really wants to keep him too...and if we paid Kyrie a max, we would probably be back in the tax.

But we can maybe get another PG for him like Rozier along with Nick Richards or something. Richards isn't great. Can't score away from the rim, but maybe that doesn't matter. He's not great, and can't score away from the rim, but we don't utilize the C much. He could probably give us like 12 and 9 if we played him 27 minutes or so, though he's never averaged 20 mpg.

Nick Richards signed a 3 year / $15,000,000 contract with the Charlotte Hornets, including $10,000,000 guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $5,000,000. In 2023-24, Richards will earn a base salary of $5,000,000, while carrying a cap hit of $5,000,000 and a dead cap value of $5,000,000.
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/charlotte-hornets/nick-richards-70684/#:~:text=Current%20Contract,dead%20cap%20value%20of%20%245%2C000%2C000.

Don't see why they'd trade him when they have him plus Mark Willaims already


I'd be fine with Rozier but again, I doubt that the best option. Better than Kyrie though I'll grant you. If we stretch cp3, can we make a play at FVV or maybe DLO? Personally, I'm not convinced the LAL wanna bring him back.

I don't really think it's a great trade, but Charlotte may just want a C who can run and score if they don't get Victor.

Toronto got Poeltl. The Lakers are doing well with Russell and I don't see the Suns wanting to pay him $30 million, to match an Ayton trade. I guess they could get Beasley too or something if he is still under contract.

I doubt if we trade Ayton, people will be happy with the return, but I know some want him gone no matter what we get. I would only trade him if it makes sense, and his value may be at an all time low right now, given he has not played well overall this year, particularly on defense. His value is likely higher, maybe mid year next year if he's playing better, especially with a rising cap where avg C pay will be increasing.

I did notice he is actually at about his playoff averages this year at around 16 and 10 though in the playoffs, though his averages in the Denver series are lower.