Giannis Thread - On Asking for a Trade - "I am not this kind of guy, they would have to kick me out”.

[DanoMac]

Unless OKC gets absolutely murdered and blown out in the WCF, they have no reason to make such a drastic change. Think we can pretty much cross them off

[BroncoBuck]

The only trade that ever would have made me consider sitting down with him and saying "we believe it's best to rebuild going forward" would have been the San Antonio haul if they got #1. Flagg by himself on a team of G-leaguers for the next 5-years is firmly in the "what's the point?" category, and just getting the New Orleans 2026/27 swap/pick back is equally pointless when Portland controls our 2028-2030 drafts.

I mean, I guess if you can find a way to get the current Spurs best offer (#2, #14, Castle, Atlanta picks) as well as flip-a guy like Vassell to New Orleans for our 2027 pick back? Sure, I'd probably settle for that if he demands a trade. But as is all the Flagg ideas died for me when SA or Houston didn't win the lottery. There's just no other trade offers out there outside of OKC giving up the absolute farm (Jalen/Chet plus all the firsts) that even remotely interest me anymore.

I like that Spurs deal, but I’d flip Vassel for Zion just to have another shot at a gem. His contract has easy outs if he flops too.

[CharityStripe34]

SGA is not better than Giannis, lol, but they're on the cusp of a WCF appearance and an historic season, so there's no motivation for them to trade him. Even if they do covet Giannis.

[tedbrogen]

The Celtics are not going to tank without Tatum. They just have way too many winning players to tank even if they reconfigure

They are not going to tank but will almost certainly look to dump Jrue’s contract, trade Zinger for assets, and let Al walk. Those moves get them out of the second apron for the foreseeable future,

They’ll roll with Pritchard, White, Brown next season which probably gets them in the top six anyways.

[paulpressey25]

On Windhorst's pod today he speculated that Giannis should want to stay in the East, given how stacked the West is. He then did sort of that "what does that mean" pause and then ended the pod.

So, while I'm not in favor of this necessarily, let's put it out there:

Bucks out: Giannis ($54mm), Kuzma ($22mm), Pat ($9) =$85mm

Cavs out: Mobley ($46mm), Garland ($39mm) =$85mm

Where I don't know is how Mobley's extension may be poison piiled

[ReasonablySober]

Zero interest in a Cavs deal. All it does is leave the Bucks looked into being worse than Cleveland for the next five years.

[MuckyFingers]

Yea, any deal with SA needs to have both Castle and the #2. Not really interested in any of those other deals.

The Bucks start w/ Castle, Vassell, Keldon Johnson, #2, #14, and at least three-four more first rounders.

[Ron Swanson]

On Windhorst's pod today he speculated that Giannis should want to stay in the East, given how stacked the West is. He then did sort of that "what does that mean" pause and then ended the pod.

So, while I'm not in favor of this necessarily, let's put it out there:

Bucks out: Giannis ($54mm), Kuzma ($22mm), Pat ($9) =$85mm

Cavs out: Mobley ($46mm), Garland ($39mm) =$85mm

Where I don't know is how Mobley's extension may be poison piiled

With how hard capped we'd still be with three max guys (until Dame's money is off the books) in this hypothetical, and with how bad the Cavs just bowed out, you'd really need to press them on including as many additional draft assets as possible here. Mobley is probably the next best blue-chip piece you can get outside of Flagg, but again, how far is a Garland/Mobley duo taking you these next 5-years without any additional assets attached? There just doesn't seem to be any good scenarios here unless you're getting an absolute haul of players and picks that sets you up for the next half decade.

[jakecronus8]

San Antonio remains the only viable option and that’s only IF Giannis asks out (I think there’s less than 5% chance of that).

Castle/#2/salary/picks is the only semi appealing deal and I’m not high on Castle as a star type. I’d maybe try to flip him to New Orleans or Portland to get our picks back.

Also, at 2 I take Edgecombe.

[paulpressey25]

Zero interest in a Cavs deal. All it does is leave the Bucks looked into being worse than Cleveland for the next five years.

We're going to be worse than whoever we trade Giannis to.

Deal Cons:
-We know who we're getting, no "upside" of a slew of draft picks to look forward to
-Hammond's stomach would turn dealing with a division rival
-We don't have a true superstar anymore

Deal Pros:
-Mobley is 23, Garland is 25. Both all-stars
-Both guys are locked Into longer term contracts
-Kuz and Pat's contracts dumped
-If you constructed the team properly, they'd win 45-55 games over the next few years.
-Not sure the many "new fans" in this market can deal with a 33-49 team, especially where we don't have our own draft picks.

[paulpressey25]

How far is a Garland/Mobley duo taking you these next 5-years without any additional assets attached? There just doesn't seem to be any good scenarios here unless you're getting an absolute haul of players and picks that sets you up for the next half decade.

One alternative is to drop Garland out of the deal and ask for picks. But Cleveland has literally no picks to deal. They've dealt them.

https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/draft/future_drafts/detailed

Just spitballing not endorsing. But this would be one of the deal possibilities that give us a shot at 50-wins the next three years.

[Bernman]

I don't get this desire to dump bad contracts in a return for Giannis, thereby diluting it.

Any Giannis deal should come w/ the realistic possibility of being a contender down the line. Don't know how being less than half Cavs achieves that. They have no attractive picks nor prospects who can grow. The only team who does in the east is Orlando, who still can produce a worse package than several clubs in the west. Who cares if Giannis wants to stay in the east then? He doesn't have a trade kicker.

Castle & Harper are faces too. They're not faceless picks. I get the idea, but we have to aim higher in terms of prospects, picks, or proven guys. Ideally it'd be a combo, w/ the primary foundation being good prospects, then picks, then proven guys last if at all.

[Profound23]

If you're Giannis and you really are considering leaving, there is no way I see him going out west. That conference is ridiculous. Sure Giannis/Wemby, Giannis/SGA or Giannis/AD looks good on paper but so did Giannis/Dame. It would take a year or two for them to learn to play together and even then they are facing Lakers, Warriors, Rockets, Denver, whichever team does not acquire Giannis...etc in the playoffs.

Or you stay in the East and face Cleveland, Indy, Det, NYK, and Boston without Tatum.

On Windhorst's pod today he speculated that Giannis should want to stay in the East, given how stacked the West is. He then did sort of that "what does that mean" pause and then ended the pod.

So, while I'm not in favor of this necessarily, let's put it out there:

Bucks out: Giannis ($54mm), Kuzma ($22mm), Pat ($9) =$85mm

Cavs out: Mobley ($46mm), Garland ($39mm) =$85mm

Where I don't know is how Mobley's extension may be poison piiled

I think Garland is at best somewhere between ATL Teague and Milwaukee's Mo Williams. No thank you on Garland.

I love Mobley but he is not good enough to sell fans on a Giannis trade. They have no future picks. To trade Giannis within the East, let alone the same division a team will have to give up a king's ransom.

If you're Giannis and you really are considering leaving, there is no way I see him going out west. That conference is ridiculous. Sure Giannis/Wemby, Giannis/SGA or Giannis/AD looks good on paper but so did Giannis/Dame. It would take a year or two for them to learn to play together and even then they are facing Lakers, Warriors, Rockets, Denver, whichever team does not acquire Giannis...etc in the playoffs.

Or you stay in the East and face Cleveland, Indy, Det, NYK, and Boston without Tatum.

[soxperry]

Unless OKC gets absolutely murdered and blown out in the WCF, they have no reason to make such a drastic change. Think we can pretty much cross them off

Think dynamically people..

Here are two very good reasons

1. Getting Giannis makes OKC an absolute juggernaut that is realistically capable of winning 3-5 of the next five titles

2. Not getting Giannis allows another strong team to enter your territory as favorite and makes your life much more difficult.

[paulpressey25]

I don't get this desire to dump bad contracts in a return for Giannis, thereby diluting it.

I get the idea, but we have to aim higher in terms of prospects, picks, or proven guys. Ideally it'd be a combo, w/ the primary foundation being good prospects, then picks, then proven guys last if at all.

The Cavs don't have picks to deal, and you need to add contracts to the mix for the salaries to work.

Mobley is the best proven guy you likely would get back in a Giannis deal. Add Garland and you've got two young all-stars.

Would I like Flagg or a Amen/Sengun/Reed + picks deals better? Why yes, yes I would. But we've got to build out the due diligence with all these teams.

[RiotPunch]

On Windhorst's pod today he speculated that Giannis should want to stay in the East, given how stacked the West is. He then did sort of that "what does that mean" pause and then ended the pod.

So, while I'm not in favor of this necessarily, let's put it out there:

Bucks out: Giannis ($54mm), Kuzma ($22mm), Pat ($9) =$85mm

Cavs out: Mobley ($46mm), Garland ($39mm) =$85mm

Where I don't know is how Mobley's extension may be poison piiled

Messing around with a general framework to use this to get our picks back...

MKE: Murray, Risacher, #7, #13, MKE '26 swap extinguished, MKE '27 1st returned
CLE: Giannis, Mann, Niang
NOP: Garland
ATL: Mobley

[paulpressey25]

Messing around with a general framework to use this to get our picks back...

MKE: Murray, Risacher, #7, #13, MKE '26 swap extinguished, MKE '27 1st returned
CLE: Giannis, Mann, Niang
NOP: Garland
ATL: Mobley

Getting our 26 and 27 back is good, but think we need a lot more in terms of real players. Atlanta is getting Mobley, they need to cough up a lot more.

[RiotPunch]

Messing around with a general framework to use this to get our picks back...

MKE: Murray, Risacher, #7, #13, MKE '26 swap extinguished, MKE '27 1st returned
CLE: Giannis, Mann, Niang
NOP: Garland
ATL: Mobley

Getting our 26 and 27 back is good, but think we need a lot more in terms of real players. Atlanta is getting Mobley, they need to cough up a lot more.

Yeah, the bare minimum for them to enter the conversation is getting '27 back along with Risacher and #13. Would love to get Jalen Johnson out of it.

[Bernman]

I don't get this desire to dump bad contracts in a return for Giannis, thereby diluting it.

I get the idea, but we have to aim higher in terms of prospects, picks, or proven guys. Ideally it'd be a combo, w/ the primary foundation being good prospects, then picks, then proven guys last if at all.

The Cavs don't have picks to deal, and you need to add contracts to the mix for the salaries to work.

Mobley is the best proven guy you likely would get back in a Giannis deal. Add Garland and you've got two young all-stars.

Would I like Flagg or a Amen/Sengun/Reed + picks deals better? Why yes, yes I would. But we've got to build out the due diligence with all these teams.

2 stars for 1 superstar is an iteration for a viable Giannis trade. Their 2 stars aren't as appealing as others, unless they include Mitchell. Like Mitchell & Mobley for Giannis. Then they'd have Giannis, Garland, Allen. That makes some sense for both teams since Giannis is better than Mitchell and they're having trouble getting over the hump. Plus they're having cap problems paying that much to 4 guys instead of 2-3. They need to re-configure anyway. While we'd now have 2 "stars" instead of 1, w/ 1 capable of greatness in shorter spurts.

Otherwise, Castle, Harper, Vassell-->sent for prospects like Sheppard, Whitmore, & especially if we fold in NO to get our own picks back to benefit from being bad (while absorbing a bad contract) is a way better foundation for a future contender than 2 mid "stars".

[jakecronus8]

The longer this goes the more depressing it gets.

Selfishly I’m at the point now where I’m pretty sure once Giannis is gone my fandom will fade into the abyss so hoping he just decides to stay forever, results and legacy be damned.