WOJ: Jonas Valančiūnas to New Orleans (Adams, Bledsoe, and picks galore).

[Texas Chuck]

One additional benefit for Memphis here is they don't make the mistake of picking up the option on Winslow. A guy I expect to sign for cheap with one of the contenders and the thread to freak out about unfair and his impact will be just like Cousins on GSW and both LA teams, basically nothing.

[gswhoops]

Once again bad salary gets absorbed for less than the RGM consensus.
.

Too many pieces for us to know that for sure. JV has more value than Adams and we don't yet know the protections on the Lakers 1st.

True we don’t have all the info yet, but people were discussing Bledsoe/10 for 17 last week…now Memphis throws in a Val/Adams swap for a (very likely) late ‘22 1st

[FutureKnicksGM]

Pretty good trade for both teams imo in terms of value.

Although Griffin could have saved pretty much two firsts if not for the Steven Adams experience.

[Crives]

Feels painful for both sides because this is both team admitting mistakes (Winslow, Adam’s, Bledsoe)

[Scoot McGroot]

So......will New Orleans look to extend Jonas as a long-term answer at the 5? Or will they be cautious after extending Adams and seeing it be a mistake so quickly? Are they seeing Jonas as a bridge to Hayes? Or are they still looking for a long-term 5? Interesting to see.

[E S V L]

Adams is going to be a beast next to Ja.

Bledsoe-Melton-Bane from the bench? OMG. I can’t wait.

[MoneyTalks41890]

I like this trade for both teams. Val can stretch the floor and be their stopgap C while they figure out if Hayes is anything. I believe NOP has the money for Lowry? Do they get a sizable TPE here? For MEM, it's expensive to move up, so that's where I see a little excess value coming in from them. And I LOVE Adams with Ja. He's going to be so great for that team if they keep him. They seem to have a target at 10, perhaps someone like Sengun?

I think any hot takes about the value here are favorably interpreting the various moving parts for their preferred narrative, of which there are too many for me to really discern what is valued at what.

[Texas Chuck]

Feels painful for both sides because this is both team admitting mistakes (Winslow, Adam’s, Bledsoe)

Winslow and Adams were definitely mistakes, but Memphis wasn't picking up that option regardless unless they just completely struck out in FA and wanted a matching contract. Bledsoe was simply part of the cost of getting all those assets for Jrue.

This was far less about admitted mistakes and much more about having clear goals and achieving them. Pels wanted to upgrade center and clear space for Lowry. Done and done. Memphis wanted to move up to get a more premium prospect in this draft and stock up on more assets rather than chase free agents this year. Done and done.

[K_chile22]

Does this trade mean memphis is forgoing being a below the cap team this offseason?

[parsnips33]

One additional benefit for Memphis here is they don't make the mistake of picking up the option on Winslow. A guy I expect to sign for cheap with one of the contenders and the thread to freak out about unfair and his impact will be just like Cousins on GSW and both LA teams, basically nothing.

Chuck please let myself talk myself into Justise as the new Iguodala in peace

[Dr Positivity]

This is one of those trades where I think I just prefer the team who got more picks

Pelicans wanting Lowry is pretty obvious here.

[MoneyTalks41890]

Read on Twitter

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Smitty with the numbers

[zimpy27]

Am I crazy for thinking Memphis is going to be a real winner when we look back on this in 6 months?

Adams wasn't a great fit in New Orleans, but I think he will be great with Morant. I don't think Memphis is going to lose much there.

So to me this was taking Bledsoe to move up 7 spots and get the Lakers 1st? Love that.

I don't think Val is going to be the answer next to Zion. Shifting the issue.

I agree with you. Big Val showed out in Memphis, Adams had no real role carved out on Pels. Adams is going to be excellent in Memphis.

Plus pick 10 is a massive win for Memphis.

Val will not work with Zion either.

[Zion Wembanyama]

I don't like MEM getting the '22 LAL 1st, but other than that I like this deal.

[zimpy27]

So......will New Orleans look to extend Jonas as a long-term answer at the 5? Or will they be cautious after extending Adams and seeing it be a mistake so quickly? Are they seeing Jonas as a bridge to Hayes? Or are they still looking for a long-term 5? Interesting to see.

Next offseason is the last before Zion and Hayes get paid. So I expect Pels to preserve capspace and go big FA hunting unless they get a big FA this offseason.

[E S V L]

Memphis is targeting Giddey? Too many news for 1 hour.

[Godaddycurse]

So......will New Orleans look to extend Jonas as a long-term answer at the 5? Or will they be cautious after extending Adams and seeing it be a mistake so quickly? Are they seeing Jonas as a bridge to Hayes? Or are they still looking for a long-term 5? Interesting to see.

Next offseason is the last before Zion and Hayes get paid. So I expect Pels to preserve capspace and go big FA hunting.

Unless they blow the wad on lowry this offseason

[LightTheBeam]

Read on Twitter

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Smitty with the numbers

I'm not sure how this is some huge positive. So they want Lowry.. A 35 year old point guard to solve all of Zion's issues? And I'm supposed to believe Lowry, who spent the last how many years in Toronto and is from Philly is going to head to New Orleans to play with early 20's Zion/Ingram?

Seems like a long shot without a significant overpay. No matter how you slice it its going to be bad for them.

[Resistance]

Does this trade mean memphis is forgoing being a below the cap team this offseason?

If they do end up with any cap space, it would probably be such a small amount to not even bother with.

Small amount cap space + Room Exception versus Non-Taxpayer MLE.

[VCfor3]

I can see what Memphis was thinking, but it feels like an absolute win for the Pelicans. Don't love this for Memphis.

I like it quite a bit. Essentially this is JV/17 for Adams/10 which is the sort of move they should have been looking for. Then Bledsoe for the future Laker pick as a requirement for the first part. They lose a bit of value on that 2nd bit, but this gives them a chance to get the kind of offensive-minded prospect they need out of this draft.

For the Pels I love it too. They upgrade center(though I would probably be trying to move him on as well as he's an odd fit next to Zion) and clear some money towards an aggressive free agency push.

I kinda saw it as 10+ Bledsoe for 17 which I like.

Then it is JV for Adams+LAL 1st+swap of 2nds. I have JV as a solidly better player and we are eating that 2nd year of Adams at a time we could have had cap space instead. We moved from 17 to 10 so eating Bledsoe was roughly pick #20 in value. Taking on Adams into cap space is worth maybe pick #23 or so which is the rough value of the LAL pick. I think JV is a decent bit more relative value to Adams than a swap of 2nd round picks given how Adams played this past year.

Now overall I see what Memphis did and am okay with it. JV likely wasn't a part of the championship core and now we don't really have to worry about maintaining cap space for next offseason. Could potentially see Anderson and JJJ extensions. Adams also is nice to have as a big bodied center to replace JV in that role. We also are only a 2nd or two and maybe cash away from moving up from #40 and snagging JT Thor or one of the other dozen players in that range we have been working out. We get a superior prospect at 10 relative to 17 (Moody is most people's guess, Franz got an honorable mention, and Giddey was mentioned by one reporter). We have either another pick next draft or another asset in a potential young star package. All in all I get the deal and Memphis could easily come away the winner. Just my first reaction was that I thought we could have maybe gotten more though it in part depends on the LAL pick protections. Even just adding in a future 2nd or two would have helped since our FO likes to use those to maneuver around the draft board.