Milwaukee / San Antonio / New Orleans

[ReasonablySober]

Bucks in:
Dejounte Murray
Harrison Barnes
Stephon Castle
#2 (Spurs)
#14 (Spurs)
2026 swap rights with Hawks, via San Antonio
2026 swap rights returned (Pelicans)
2027 swap rights returned (Pelicans)
2027 1st (Hawks)
2031 swap rights with Sacramento, via San Antonio

Bucks out:
Giannis

San Antonio in:
Giannis

San Antonio out:
Stephon Castle
Harrison Barnes
Devin Vassell
Julian Champagnie
#2
#14
2026 swap rights with Hawks
2031 swap rights with Sacramento

New Orleans in:
Devin Vassell
Julian Champagnie

New Orleans out:
Dejounte Murray
2026 swap rights returned (Pelicans)
2027 swap rights returned (Pelicans)

Bucks go all in on youth. The take on crappy salaries to earn more draft capital, in this case getting their swaps back. San Antonio gets Giannis at the expense of their draft capital and a few of their better young guys. New Orleans gets two building block pieces and out of Murray's contract in exchange for the swap rights the Bucks need.

Rip away.

[Godaddycurse]

That seems terrible for New Orleans. They have zero use for Vassell, who just had a bad year

[ReggiesKnicks]

2027 isn't a swap, it's a 1st.

[ReggiesKnicks]

I just don't see how San Antonio can go all in like this when Wemby has health question marks.

[Godaddycurse]

I just don't see how San Antonio can go all in like this when Wemby has health question marks.

They would be wise to cash out on 1 if not both of castle/harper though before season starts. Good chance one or even both of them depreciate in value

[Chinook]

You can't trade swap rights with another team. New Orleans can agree to extinguish its rights with MKE as compensation in a transaction, but the Spurs can't force ATL to accept MKE's pick instead of theirs or SA's. Same with SAC.

Also, keeping Vassell (and I'd argue Castle) is hurting the Spurs more than helping them. When talking about a trade for a third star, Castle and Vassell should be the bulk of the value and ballast. Them and Branham's expiring basically lets the Spurs match any contract. That's better for their long-term asset and financial health than trying to make trades without them. If a star isn't worth giving up Castle for, I'd question how much value that star had in the first place.

Also, no on Giannis to the Spurs. It feels like Trae Young all over again. Wemby and Giannis are an exceptionally poor fit next to each other, and they don't have a championship supporting cast even before making the trade. The Bucks are living proof that you can't just "Get Giannis and worry about the rest later". You need to have a path and the assets to burn your way down that path. The Spurs do not.

[ReasonablySober]

Also, no on Giannis to the Spurs. It feels like Trae Young all over again. Wemby and Giannis are an exceptionally poor fit next to each other, and they don't have a championship supporting cast even before making the trade. The Bucks are living proof that you can't just "Get Giannis and worry about the rest later". You need to have a path and the assets to burn your way down that path. The Spurs do not.

Wemby's a floor spacer on offense. Half of his shots came from behind the arc. He'd be like the A+++ version of Brook Lopez and that duo dominated the league. You couldn't build a better fit in a lab than Giannis and Wemby.

[Chinook]

Also, no on Giannis to the Spurs. It feels like Trae Young all over again. Wemby and Giannis are an exceptionally poor fit next to each other, and they don't have a championship supporting cast even before making the trade. The Bucks are living proof that you can't just "Get Giannis and worry about the rest later". You need to have a path and the assets to burn your way down that path. The Spurs do not.

Wemby's a floor spacer on offense. Half of his shots came from behind the arc. He'd be like the A+++ version of Brook Lopez and that duo dominated the league. You couldn't build a better fit in a lab than Giannis and Wemby.

Wemby's not a floor-spacer any more than Giannis is. Spacing and shooting are not the same thing. The Spurs have Fox, Castle and likely Harper -- they have driving threats from the perimeter covered. They need horizontal spacing (meaning off-ball shooters) and maybe some vertical spacing (like rim-running bigs). They don't need a guy to set up from the high post and iso. That's basically what Wemby wants to do when he's not taking step-back threes.

[ReasonablySober]

Also, no on Giannis to the Spurs. It feels like Trae Young all over again. Wemby and Giannis are an exceptionally poor fit next to each other, and they don't have a championship supporting cast even before making the trade. The Bucks are living proof that you can't just "Get Giannis and worry about the rest later". You need to have a path and the assets to burn your way down that path. The Spurs do not.

Wemby's a floor spacer on offense. Half of his shots came from behind the arc. He'd be like the A+++ version of Brook Lopez and that duo dominated the league. You couldn't build a better fit in a lab than Giannis and Wemby.

Wemby's not a floor-spacer any more than Giannis is. Spacing and shooting are not the same thing. The Spurs have Fox, Castle and likely Harper -- they have driving threats from the perimeter covered. They need horizontal spacing (meaning off-ball shooters) and maybe some vertical spacing (like rim-running bigs). They don't need a guy to set up from the high post and iso. That's basically what Wemby wants to do when he's not taking step-back threes.

He shot 35% on eight attempts a game as a 21 year old. What are you talking about?

[Chinook]

Wemby's a floor spacer on offense. Half of his shots came from behind the arc. He'd be like the A+++ version of Brook Lopez and that duo dominated the league. You couldn't build a better fit in a lab than Giannis and Wemby.

Wemby's not a floor-spacer any more than Giannis is. Spacing and shooting are not the same thing. The Spurs have Fox, Castle and likely Harper -- they have driving threats from the perimeter covered. They need horizontal spacing (meaning off-ball shooters) and maybe some vertical spacing (like rim-running bigs). They don't need a guy to set up from the high post and iso. That's basically what Wemby wants to do when he's not taking step-back threes.

He shot 35% on eight attempts a game as a 21 year old. What are you talking about?

This tells me you haven't really watched Wemby. Calling Wemby a floor-spacer is like calling James Harden a floor-spacer. Even being able to shoot well rather than mediocrely like Wemby does not constitute spacing for a ball-dominant player. It provides some "personal spacing" in that the threat of the shot changes the way a defender can guard them. But their ability to shoot on-ball threes as part of an iso to open up driving lanes or confuse defenders in transition is a separate action.

Wemby is a less refined version of Giannis with a better shooting touch. He's not Brook Lopez. He doesn't stand on the perimeter waiting for his chance to shoot. He gets wing touches and just happens to be at a point in his development where he turns more of those into three-point attempts than drives due to his underdeveloped handle and lack of core strength. But he is an on-ball player who needs good spacing to open up more options in his game. He and Giannis have the same niche on the court; they just convert that niche into a different shot selection.

[ReasonablySober]

Wemby is a less refined version of Giannis with a better shooting touch.

The two play nothing alike. Their games could not be more different. Wemby is KD. Giannis is a taller prime Westbrook.

[Myth]

I just don't see how San Antonio can go all in like this when Wemby has health question marks.

Not specifically this trade (as they likely try to keep Castle rather than giving up both Castle and Harper), but if they do an all in trade for Giannis and then Wemby can’t return, the Spurs can just flip Giannis again for a comparable package. Any small loss in value may occur is worth seeing if you can add Giannis to the Spurs core.

[One_and_Done]

Bucks in:
Dejounte Murray
Harrison Barnes
Stephon Castle
#2 (Spurs)
#14 (Spurs)
2026 swap rights with Hawks, via San Antonio
2026 swap rights returned (Pelicans)
2027 swap rights returned (Pelicans)
2027 1st (Hawks)
2031 swap rights with Sacramento, via San Antonio

Bucks out:
Giannis

San Antonio in:
Giannis

San Antonio out:
Stephon Castle
Harrison Barnes
Devin Vassell
Julian Champagnie
#2
#14
2026 swap rights with Hawks
2031 swap rights with Sacramento

New Orleans in:
Devin Vassell
Julian Champagnie

New Orleans out:
Dejounte Murray
2026 swap rights returned (Pelicans)
2027 swap rights returned (Pelicans)

Bucks go all in on youth. The take on crappy salaries to earn more draft capital, in this case getting their swaps back. San Antonio gets Giannis at the expense of their draft capital and a few of their better young guys. New Orleans gets two building block pieces and out of Murray's contract in exchange for the swap rights the Bucks need.

Rip away.

This is a vast overpay for Giannis by the Spurs. No way the #2 is included.

[PELsu]

Just ouch for NO