AingesBurner wrote:babyjax13 wrote:AingesBurner wrote:
Have you lived or been to San Antonio? Who’s the coach? The old man that yells at clouds will be gone soon. I think you think you know more than what you do.
Luka will go the team willing to pay the most.
Which will not be Utah because OKC and San Antonio have better assets.
You don’t know that either… Utah could have a top 3 pick in 2025 (the year Luka is most likely traded), and OKC will be a top 3 in the west and if Wemby is as good as people say he is, San Antonio will be at the end of the lottery or out of it. You or only looking at the here and now.
Assuming our pick never conveys to OKC Utah has 13 1sts (11 unprotected, 2 protected) and 2 swaps through 2030. The teams we have picks from are relatively good with great young players EXCEPT for Los Angeles (who is still good but probably will not be in 2027 - unfortunately, this pick is protected). So, the upside is in our picks which would be low if we added Luka. Our best prospects are Keyonte George and Taylor Hendricks, neither of which looks franchise-altering at the moment but both of whom have value.
San Antonio has 12 1sts (9 unprotected, 3 protected) including Dallas' 2030 1st (which would be very valuable in this scenario) and two from Atlanta who is in a horrible position moving forward. They also have 2 swaps including 1 with Atlanta (who, again, is bad). They also have Devin Vassell who is a better prospect than George/Hendricks + Sochan who is a nice prospect too (but not a better one).
Oklahoma City has so many picks I am not going to bother counting them, but this includes loosely protected (top-5) or unprotected 1sts from Houston and Philadelphia along with a boatload of protected picks and really prospects. I am sure they would part with Jalen Williams to get Luka.
Houston and Brooklyn can also put together really competitive packages with high upside picks (Houston has Brooklyn's picks, Brooklyn has Phoenix's picks).
The only way Utah will have the best offer is if it becomes clear that whoever is going to be picked first in 2025 is a generational prospect - possible, but unlikely. But you have been harping on "Utah will get Luka" and "Utah has the best assets for Luka" since Ainge was hired and IMO, that's pretty clearly not true. Utah could have an extremely lucky break and suddenly have a compelling offer, but as things stand now - no, it is not that close.
I think if we were trading Lauri and our choices were between the best assets from SAS, OKC, or UTA that Utah's offer would be third on your list.