2025-26 Season News & Discussion

[Ghost of Kleine]

Debbie Downer alert:

I just can't stop thinking about eventually making the playoffs and having to face Luka, Ayton, Reeves and Lebron on the **** Lakers. I think I'd rather not make it

Just imagine knocking them out of the playoffs though...

what are the chances? 1 in a million?

[Saberestar]

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Can't see his services being considered a premium to any team. If no one is clamoring for him, then no one is going to send anything of value back. Nick is worth more to us than anyone else.

We can get a 2nd for him. That’s enough.

[Fo-Real]

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Can't see his services being considered a premium to any team. If no one is clamoring for him, then no one is going to send anything of value back. Nick is worth more to us than anyone else.

We can get a 2nd for him. That’s enough.

He helps us more than a second round pick does right now. We also have his bird rights so maybe we can sign and trade him to the team he picks in the offseason for a second round pick.

[Saberestar]

Can't see his services being considered a premium to any team. If no one is clamoring for him, then no one is going to send anything of value back. Nick is worth more to us than anyone else.

We can get a 2nd for him. That’s enough.

He helps us more than a second round pick does right now. We also have his bird rights so maybe we can sign and trade him to the team he picks in the offseason for a second round pick.

I don't think he help us that much.

We were considering to trade him in the last offseason but we finally decided to retain him because of Mark Williams health issues and ManMan being a raw rookie. It has worked well for us, I can't deny that.

But he's not one of our core players. Everything can happen but the most logical thing is to trade him for whatever draft capital we can get at the deadline because we are deep enough at C with Mark W, Maluach and Oso.

[Sunsdeuce]

We can get a 2nd for him. That’s enough.

He helps us more than a second round pick does right now. We also have his bird rights so maybe we can sign and trade him to the team he picks in the offseason for a second round pick.

I don't think he help us that much.

We were considering to trade him in the last offseason but we finally decided to retain him because of Mark Williams health issues and ManMan being a raw rookie. It has worked well for us, I can't deny that.

But he's not one of our core players. Everything can happen but the most logical thing is to trade him for whatever draft capital we can get at the deadline because we are deep enough at C with Mark W, Maluach and Oso.

I don’t count Oso because he’s trash. Right now it’s Mark Williams and praying Maluach doesn’t fully bust.

[lilfishi22]

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I'm lowkey surprised at how bad he's been on offense this season. I thought with a reduced role and coming off the bench, it'll be easier, especially playing alongside a good PG in CG but he just hasn't been good. He's barely hitting 50% of his FG's as a big C which might as well be shooting sub 30% from 3 as a guard, he's averaging a career high in turnover%, he's shooting sub 70% from the line which he hasn't done since his 2nd season in the league and maybe worst of all, he's matched his career high on foul rate.

I really thought being a good back up big would be very achievable for a guy who's been around for 5 seasons and has decent experience as a starter but he's just been bad.

[lilfishi22]

Might've missed the post on this but KM had another lacklustre G-League showing

The rookie center had seven points (3-7 FG, 0-2 3Pt, 1-2 FT), eight rebounds and two blocks in 28 minutes of Tuesday's 112-101 loss to the Rip City Remix, and he was promptly recalled to the NBA. In Phoenix, Maluach will continue to provide emergency depth.

I know he's young, inexperienced and C's generally takes time to develop but he is just super raw still and those G-league appearances hasn't given me much confidence.

It certainly makes me think about this

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6512060/2025/07/25/nba-summer-league-disappointments-nets-pelicans/

That said, here are some guys I’d be a bit more concerned about:

Khaman Maluach, Suns: Could the Suns have done what Atlanta did and walked away from the draft with an unprotected future first from the Pelicans and the 23rd pick instead of staying at No. 10? Discussion over whether Phoenix fumbled the bag by not taking the New Orleans offer will only heighten if Maluach can’t give the Suns a quality big.

Phoenix opted to take the Duke project, and I’ll emphasize the word “project” here; his was a rough entry to professional basketball. The 7-1 Maluach only posted a 13.5 percent rebound rate, took nearly half his shots from 3 and had one assist in 70 minutes. Watching from courtside made me more concerned about his hands, as contested rebounds and alley-oop opportunities escaped him at times.

[Hollinger] Did Phoenix fumble the bag by not taking the Pelicans offer? (In Summer League) Maluach only posted a 13.5% rebound rate, took nearly half his shots from 3, and had 1 assist in 70 min. Watching courtside, I was concerned about his hands, as contested rebounds and alley-oops escaped him

[Ghost of Kleine]

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I'm lowkey surprised at how bad he's been on offense this season. I thought with a reduced role and coming off the bench, it'll be easier, especially playing alongside a good PG in CG but he just hasn't been good. He's barely hitting 50% of his FG's as a big C which might as well be shooting sub 30% from 3 as a guard, he's averaging a career high in turnover%, he's shooting sub 70% from the line which he hasn't done since his 2nd season in the league and maybe worst of all, he's matched his career high on foul rate.

I really thought being a good back up big would be very achievable for a guy who's been around for 5 seasons and has decent experience as a starter but he's just been bad.

I actually think that he's unfortunately playing worse because he did originally have a starting spot before the Williams trade, but now being pushed back to the bench (ironically) behind Mark Williams for the 2nd time, he's low key disgruntled and no longer happy in this situation.

I think he's just halfheartedly going through the motions for now, but will eventually ask to be traded if not paid really well on his extension (to offset being relegated to backup big again).

He'll definitely want/ expect a starting role in any scenario absent being overpaid as concession for playing as a backup center. But we should absolutely extend him (at a reasonable amount) and then work together to find him a better situation for him while also trying to maximize any remaining market value.

But I absolutely wouldn't give him up for a singular 2nd. At minimum, maybe two 2nds and a young salary filler.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Might've missed the post on this but KM had another lacklustre G-League showing

The rookie center had seven points (3-7 FG, 0-2 3Pt, 1-2 FT), eight rebounds and two blocks in 28 minutes of Tuesday's 112-101 loss to the Rip City Remix, and he was promptly recalled to the NBA. In Phoenix, Maluach will continue to provide emergency depth.

I know he's young, inexperienced and C's generally takes time to develop but he is just super raw still and those G-league appearances hasn't given me much confidence.

It certainly makes me think about this

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6512060/2025/07/25/nba-summer-league-disappointments-nets-pelicans/

That said, here are some guys I’d be a bit more concerned about:

Khaman Maluach, Suns: Could the Suns have done what Atlanta did and walked away from the draft with an unprotected future first from the Pelicans and the 23rd pick instead of staying at No. 10? Discussion over whether Phoenix fumbled the bag by not taking the New Orleans offer will only heighten if Maluach can’t give the Suns a quality big.

Phoenix opted to take the Duke project, and I’ll emphasize the word “project” here; his was a rough entry to professional basketball. The 7-1 Maluach only posted a 13.5 percent rebound rate, took nearly half his shots from 3 and had one assist in 70 minutes. Watching from courtside made me more concerned about his hands, as contested rebounds and alley-oop opportunities escaped him at times.

[Hollinger] Did Phoenix fumble the bag by not taking the Pelicans offer? (In Summer League) Maluach only posted a 13.5% rebound rate, took nearly half his shots from 3, and had 1 assist in 70 min. Watching courtside, I was concerned about his hands, as contested rebounds and alley-oops escaped him

It's really hard to gauge right now as he's really one of if not the only lottery pick not getting any significant playing time or legit in game experience to adapt and to the speed of the game, so I'm curious as to if this could be affecting his actual confidence early on seeing other drafted rookies getting burn while he doesn't.

Sometimes it's not really throwing them to the Wolves, but putting them into the fire to build their mettle/ grit and they adjust more strongly through experiencing the nuances of the game (good and bad) directly early on. It's a calculated risk either way.

That being said, Maluach is still very promising, but given our situation and lack of any legitimate future assets, the best course of action in terms of value acquisition would have been to parlay that 10th pick into the 23rd and the 2026' UNPROTECTED 1ST from New Orleans.

Because given the rarity of unprotected 1sts actually being exchanged and our clear lack of legitimate cost controlled picks in the coming years, doing that would've drastically improved our asset position in potential trades with the percieved value of that unprotected 1st.

The irony is in not finding playing time for our lottery pick early on to develop him, and yet also openly looking to explore trading our only legitimate backup center depth ( I don't consider Oso as reasonable for even a backup 5 role given what he's shown so far) for a likely pennies on the dollar return.

And then having to rely on an Williams with extensive injury issues and the very rookie we haven't shown any faith in early on anyways. Overall, we absolutely should have done that trade to get a PREMIUM asset in a very loaded draft that could very well return higher lottery value than our own 10th pick anyways.

[Ghost of Kleine]

I think any trades around Richards depends upon what his extension amount will be, although I wouldn't just trade him as an expiring contract and for a singular 2nd round pick.

I currently have Richards extension coming in around $8-12 million given what he's shown so far. And I'd put the baseline for a trade return at two 2nds minimum and a matching salary contract at either the 4 or the 5.

The primary teams I'd be looking at are the Wizards, Kings, Pacers, Celtics, and maybe the flakers. But I'd definitely hold onto him as a legitimate rotational depth big that gives us insurance for any potential Williams injuries/ time missed.

Rather than suddenly/ impulsively trying to throw our rookie center out there when we haven't even given him any legitimate floor time and experience yet early on.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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Perfect timing!

[lilfishi22]

Might've missed the post on this but KM had another lacklustre G-League showing

The rookie center had seven points (3-7 FG, 0-2 3Pt, 1-2 FT), eight rebounds and two blocks in 28 minutes of Tuesday's 112-101 loss to the Rip City Remix, and he was promptly recalled to the NBA. In Phoenix, Maluach will continue to provide emergency depth.

I know he's young, inexperienced and C's generally takes time to develop but he is just super raw still and those G-league appearances hasn't given me much confidence.

It certainly makes me think about this

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6512060/2025/07/25/nba-summer-league-disappointments-nets-pelicans/

That said, here are some guys I’d be a bit more concerned about:

Khaman Maluach, Suns: Could the Suns have done what Atlanta did and walked away from the draft with an unprotected future first from the Pelicans and the 23rd pick instead of staying at No. 10? Discussion over whether Phoenix fumbled the bag by not taking the New Orleans offer will only heighten if Maluach can’t give the Suns a quality big.

Phoenix opted to take the Duke project, and I’ll emphasize the word “project” here; his was a rough entry to professional basketball. The 7-1 Maluach only posted a 13.5 percent rebound rate, took nearly half his shots from 3 and had one assist in 70 minutes. Watching from courtside made me more concerned about his hands, as contested rebounds and alley-oop opportunities escaped him at times.

[Hollinger] Did Phoenix fumble the bag by not taking the Pelicans offer? (In Summer League) Maluach only posted a 13.5% rebound rate, took nearly half his shots from 3, and had 1 assist in 70 min. Watching courtside, I was concerned about his hands, as contested rebounds and alley-oops escaped him

It's really hard to gauge right now as he's really one of if not the only lottery pick not getting any significant playing time or legit in game experience to adapt and to the speed of the game, so I'm curious as to if this could be affecting his actual confidence early on seeing other drafted rookies getting burn while he doesn't.

Sometimes it's not really throwing them to the Wolves, but putting them into the fire to build their mettle/ grit and they adjust more strongly through experiencing the nuances of the game (good and bad) directly early on. It's a calculated risk either way.

That being said, Maluach is still very promising, but given our situation and lack of any legitimate future assets, the best course of action in terms of value acquisition would have been to parlay that 10th pick into the 23rd and the 2026' UNPROTECTED 1ST from New Orleans.

Because given the rarity of unprotected 1sts actually being exchanged and our clear lack of legitimate cost controlled picks in the coming years, doing that would've drastically improved our asset position in potential trades with the percieved value of that unprotected 1st.

The irony is in not finding playing time for our lottery pick early on to develop him, and yet also openly looking to explore trading our only legitimate backup center depth ( I don't consider Oso as reasonable for even a backup 5 role given what he's shown so far) for a likely pennies on the dollar return.

And then having to rely on an Williams with extensive injury issues and the very rookie we haven't shown any faith in early on anyways. Overall, we absolutely should have done that trade to get a PREMIUM asset in a very loaded draft that could very well return higher lottery value than our own 10th pick anyways.

I knew we picked a project but I thought he was further along than this. I don't know for sure if a Pelicans trade offer was actually on the table other than what Hollinger mentioned her but I thought that was an incredible bad trade by the Pels and if it was on the table, I would've taken it purely from a value standpoint. That 2026 unprotected pick is currently sitting at #3 and could easily fall further up in one of the deepest drafts in recent history.

[lilfishi22]

I think any trades around Richards depends upon what his extension amount will be, although I wouldn't just trade him as an expiring contract and for a singular 2nd round pick.

I currently have Richards extension coming in around $8-12 million given what he's shown so far. And I'd put the baseline for a trade return at two 2nds minimum and a matching salary contract at either the 4 or the 5.

The primary teams I'd be looking at are the Wizards, Kings, Pacers, Celtics, and maybe the flakers. But I'd definitely hold onto him as a legitimate rotational depth big that gives us insurance for any potential Williams injuries/ time missed.

Rather than suddenly/ impulsively trying to throw our rookie center out there when we haven't even given him any legitimate floor time and experience yet early on.

Given how he's been performing, $8-12m almost seems like an overpay. If he was having a similar impact as last year albeit with lower production because of lower minutes, I could certainly see $12m being reasonable. But right now he's basically having vet min impact. As for extensions, there's a few things to consider

1. We can extend and trade him but the 1st year of his extension can only be 105% of his current salary or $5.25m. It's a little more than the bi-annual exception and a few mil over the vet min. I'd imagine he thinks he could probably get a bit more than that in free agency.

2.We can offer him an extension with early bird rights money (up to $13.3m) but then we're restricted from trading him for 6mths which would basically take us into the offseason.

3. If we get beyond the trade deadline without an extension then he'll be a unrestricted free agent and could go anywhere.

Quite honestly, if his play doesn't improve, we might be lucky just to get a 2nd out of a Richards trade. And they way Fischer has worded it, certainly sounds like we haven't gotten much, if any interest in him since he's been made available months ago.

"Phoenix has made Nick Richards available for trade since this past summer, league sources say. I've also been told that Portland is forecasted to be more willing to move Robert Williams III this season compared to last season, when the Trail Blazers maintained a high asking price for the oft-injured big man," wrote Fischer.

As Fo-Real mentioned, he really may have more value to us just keeping him on the roster and letting him expire in the offseason to shave $5m off the books because right now, it doesn't look like we're getting much for him.

[sunsbum]

While I’m definitely for trading Richard’s, it’s certainly risky leaving oso and maluach as your only backups to the oft injured mark williams. On the other hand, does Richard’s move the needle any more than maluach would? Debatable.

[Ghost of Kleine]

I think any trades around Richards depends upon what his extension amount will be, although I wouldn't just trade him as an expiring contract and for a singular 2nd round pick.

I currently have Richards extension coming in around $8-12 million given what he's shown so far. And I'd put the baseline for a trade return at two 2nds minimum and a matching salary contract at either the 4 or the 5.

The primary teams I'd be looking at are the Wizards, Kings, Pacers, Celtics, and maybe the flakers. But I'd definitely hold onto him as a legitimate rotational depth big that gives us insurance for any potential Williams injuries/ time missed.

Rather than suddenly/ impulsively trying to throw our rookie center out there when we haven't even given him any legitimate floor time and experience yet early on.

Given how he's been performing, $8-12m almost seems like an overpay. If he was having a similar impact as last year albeit with lower production because of lower minutes, I could certainly see $12m being reasonable. But right now he's basically having vet min impact. As for extensions, there's a few things to consider

1. We can extend and trade him but the 1st year of his extension can only be 105% of his current salary or $5.25m. It's a little more than the bi-annual exception and a few mil over the vet min. I'd imagine he thinks he could probably get a bit more than that in free agency.

2.We can offer him an extension with early bird rights money (up to $13.3m) but then we're restricted from trading him for 6mths which would basically take us into the offseason.

3. If we get beyond the trade deadline without an extension then he'll be a unrestricted free agent and could go anywhere.

Quite honestly, if his play doesn't improve, we might be lucky just to get a 2nd out of a Richards trade. And they way Fischer has worded it, certainly sounds like we haven't gotten much, if any interest in him since he's been made available months ago.

"Phoenix has made Nick Richards available for trade since this past summer, league sources say. I've also been told that Portland is forecasted to be more willing to move Robert Williams III this season compared to last season, when the Trail Blazers maintained a high asking price for the oft-injured big man," wrote Fischer.

As Fo-Real mentioned, he really may have more value to us just keeping him on the roster and letting him expire in the offseason to shave $5m off the books because right now, it doesn't look like we're getting much for him.

You make great points man!
And you're probably right to that (currently considering his struggles) he likely would return maybe a 2nd at best.

And for my part, when considering our center situations lack of established durability and experience between Williams and Maluach, Richards should definitely still carry more value to us than other teams.

So for me personally, my value baseline would be predicated upon possibly giving up that insurance he provides at the position. And what I'd expect for risking giving that up because our asset situation is so limited too.

Hopefully his extension comes in at a lower cost as you mentioned, but I'm concerned that it might be slightly escalated because of the lack of legitimate center depth around the league and multiple teams having interest in a serviceable center with starter upside as he's shown earlier before the Williams trade.

I think he's mostly underperforming due to a "sour grapes" mentality right now, but could really elevate his value in a starting role IF Williams expectedly misses any significant time this season.

Odd that both of our top rotational centers came from Charlotte and moreso for Richards that he once again has to play behind Williams and lost his starting role to him. That has to be at least affecting him somewhat I'd think.

[Ghost of Kleine]

While I’m definitely for trading Richard’s, it’s certainly risky leaving oso and maluach as your only backups to the oft injured mark williams. On the other hand, does Richard’s move the needle any more than maluach would? Debatable.

Yep! Definitely Debatable considering those twos blemishes to their games. One of my biggest disappointments with Oso is that given how people always mention his high IQ and understanding of the game, after all this time playing basketball, he still hasn't really even learned to shoot at all. Like not even a serviceable jumpshot!

And on top of that, also being 6'10 with a 40 inch vertical and good speed too, but he is still pretty bad defensively, doesn't really protect the rim well and doesn't rebound very well either. I really believed there was much more to him and still hope that there is.

So I honestly don't think of him as anything more than maybe a serviceable (at best) break glass in case of emergency 3rd rotation big. And Maluach is so much a mystery as well as a long term project, that he could either become Gobert 2.0 with a jumpshot or he might only become a Dwayne Dedmon/ a less athletic late stage Javale McGee (with better IQ).

To your point, when considering our franchises' history of bad luck at the worst possible times, it's really not advisable to take such risks. A "bird in hand" consideration for Richard's value to us.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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This is a really good trend for us and our culture.

[Puff]

Maybe Gregory can find a big in the Gleague like he appears to have found in BoYEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

[garrick]

Maybe Richards would have to be combined with someone like Grayson or Royce as filler as I don't think any team is going to give us a 2nd just for Richards alone.

Maluach also has all the signs of a big man bust who could be the next big thing if he could get it all together but the track record of these raw big men is just not very good. He gives me Mo Bamba vibes but he could end up being an even less impactful player than Mo if he does not get it together in the next couple years.

[sunsbg]

Maybe Richards would have to be combined with someone like Grayson or Royce as filler as I don't think any team is going to give us a 2nd just for Richards alone.

Maluach also has all the signs of a big man bust who could be the next big thing if he could get it all together but the track record of these raw big men is just not very good. He gives me Mo Bamba vibes but he could end up being an even less impactful player than Mo if he does not get it together in the next couple years.

Good comp. A lot of people were high on Bamba here in 2018. Me too watching his pre-draft workouts. The guy even tried shooting 3s in NBA games like Maluach. People put hopes on ManMan because of some preseason game against 3rd stringers. He's been meh in college, SL, G League, can't crack the rotation in RS games, but he's a great talent supposedly. He's much closer to Bamba than anyone else who made it in the league.

As for Richards there is no point in making trade just to make trade. If his value is so low than let him expire. Allen and Royce are valuable on this team.