NBA Trade Thread #13

[sco]

Fanspo may be off, but it looked like the $ would work on trading Carter to MIL for a 2026 2nd. They could use him given Anthony's limitations.

[Donkedave]

Fanspo may be off, but it looked like the $ would work on trading Carter to MIL for a 2026 2nd. They could use him given Anthony's limitations.

Using Room MLE they could, that 2nd is from UTA protected 30-55. Essentially a fake second.

Fanspo is not the best with updating picks

[MGB8]

Trade Jevon Carter for Zeke Nnaji. Denver saves a couple of million - mainly through tax implications of slightly lower salary. Plus Nnaji has 2 extra years on his deal so they get flexibility in following two years. Bulls get stuck with a guy who is overpaid, but who also has pretty high steal and block percentages, can shoot from 3 a bit, and produces when he starts. Can try him out as basically a much bigger Derrick Jones Jr. type (that Billy likes to use at the 5). He is taller than his 6’9 listed height (at least 6’9.25 w/out shoes) though poor for height 8’9.5 reach, odd since 7’2 wing (maybe mid-measure)? Has flashed on D on numerous occasions, with some good advanced metrics there.

[sco]

Trade Jevon Carter for Zeke Nnaji. Denver saves a couple of million - mainly through tax implications of slightly lower salary. Plus Nnaji has 2 extra years on his deal so they get flexibility in following two years. Bulls get stuck with a guy who is overpaid, but who also has pretty high steal and block percentages, can shoot from 3 a bit, and produces when he starts. Can try him out as basically a much bigger Derrick Jones Jr. type (that Billy likes to use at the 5). He is taller than his 6’9 listed height (at least 6’9.25 w/out shoes) though poor for height 8’9.5 reach, odd since 7’2 wing (maybe mid-measure)? Has flashed on D on numerous occasions, with some good advanced metrics there.

Don't hate that; however, I'm in the buy-out Carter camp. I think we can get him to discount his buyout by the vet min amount he'd get elsewhere.

That said, part of me thinks AK's strategy will be for an all-in type move at the deadline and wants to have as many expiring salary sizes as he can on the roster to match any salary needed.

[Infinity2152]

Bored, so I'll throw up my new number 1 trade wish. I'm a humble guy, I'm not asking for tier 1.

Some combination of White, Vucevic or Collins, and 3 first round picks for Bam Adebayo. Two or three team trade, maybe another team wants either Coby or Vucevic more to add value. Adding third team for the "why would they want Coby?" crowd. Valuing Coby at 2 mid-late future firsts.

Bam's too good for that team now. Butler's gone. He's the only big contract past 2026, they'd have tons of flexibility. They routinely trade high value vets for younger players and draft picks. They have Ke'lel Ware. Stars could align, Ware has a great season, youth movement, etc.

3 first round picks is steep. Bam's 27 and locked up until the 2029 season. His contract isn't crazy either, $37 mill 2025, $48 mill 2026, $52 mill the next.
He's so perfectly the type of center and hustle guy we would want to see here, can't think of any center I'd want more (maybe Wemby, but the health).

I'd take him over most tier 1 guys, I like his overall impact and fit that much. Coupled with his age and contract, I'd overpay some for him and still know I got a deal in the long run. Can see Bam consistently putting up All-Star/near All Star two way play for the next 5-7 years, plus the intangibles. High-end two-way centers are crazy hard to find.

Still have a ton of cap space to pay future 1A player.

[sco]

Bored, so I'll throw up my new number 1 trade wish. I'm a humble guy, I'm not asking for tier 1.

Some combination of White, Vucevic or Collins, and 3 first round picks for Bam Adebayo. Two or three team trade, maybe another team wants either Coby or Vucevic more to add value.

Bam's too good for that team now. Butler's gone. He's the only big contract past 2026, they'd have tons of flexibility. They routinely trade high value vets for younger players and draft picks. They have Ke'lel Ware. Stars could align, Ware has a great season, youth movement, etc.

3 first round picks is steep. Bam's 27 and locked up until the 2029 season. His contract isn't crazy either, $37 mill 2025, $48 mill 2026, $52 mill the next.
He's so perfectly the type of center and hustle guy we would want to see here, can't think of any center I'd want more (maybe Wemby, but the health).

I'd take him over most tier 1 guys, I like his overall impact and fit that much. Coupled with his age and contract, I'd overpay some for him and still know I got a deal in the long run. Would go as high as four firsts, with some protections. Can see Bam consistently putting up All-Star/near All Star two way play for the next 5-7 years, plus the intangibles. High-end two-way centers are crazy hard to find.

Thanks for putting an idea out there.

IMO, for this team to strive toward contention, we need a legit #1 scoring option. I agree that the price you put out there is the sort of deal to bring back a true #1, but Bam (as much as I love his fit) isn't that type of player.

[Infinity2152]

Bored, so I'll throw up my new number 1 trade wish. I'm a humble guy, I'm not asking for tier 1.

Some combination of White, Vucevic or Collins, and 3 first round picks for Bam Adebayo. Two or three team trade, maybe another team wants either Coby or Vucevic more to add value.

Bam's too good for that team now. Butler's gone. He's the only big contract past 2026, they'd have tons of flexibility. They routinely trade high value vets for younger players and draft picks. They have Ke'lel Ware. Stars could align, Ware has a great season, youth movement, etc.

3 first round picks is steep. Bam's 27 and locked up until the 2029 season. His contract isn't crazy either, $37 mill 2025, $48 mill 2026, $52 mill the next.
He's so perfectly the type of center and hustle guy we would want to see here, can't think of any center I'd want more (maybe Wemby, but the health).

I'd take him over most tier 1 guys, I like his overall impact and fit that much. Coupled with his age and contract, I'd overpay some for him and still know I got a deal in the long run. Would go as high as four firsts, with some protections. Can see Bam consistently putting up All-Star/near All Star two way play for the next 5-7 years, plus the intangibles. High-end two-way centers are crazy hard to find.

Thanks for putting an idea out there.

IMO, for this team to strive toward contention, we need a legit #1 scoring option. I agree that the price you put out there is the sort of deal to bring back a true #1, but Bam (as much as I love his fit) isn't that type of player.

Oh, I get Bam's not a true number 1. I don't think we get any true number 1 with that package, so that's fine. I don't think you get SGA, Jokic, Anthony Edwards, Wemby, Giannis, Luka, etc for Coby, Vucevic and three firsts. I don't think we have the assets to trade for a true number 1 without including everything including Matas, and that's still not enough.

Agree we need a legit #1 scoring option. We'd still have plenty of cap space. We're giving up two expiring players and some future picks. Don't think that number 1 scoring option has to be a 1A for us to have a great team. Like everybody wants a 1A, lmao! Who doesn't? We would still have plenty of cap room.

You know I'm an optimist, I'm projecting Giddey, Matas and Noa to all be better in 2026 than this year, and way better than last year. That means Noa is ready to start, Matas and Giddey are both star, if not All-Star level and Bam is Bam. 25 pts/gm total between Noa and the SG, not worried about scoring at all. that's being pessimistic, of course I'd expect more.

We've always had scorers. I though the key to winning was having great defenders, lmao! Or Zach, Derozan and Vucevic would be GOATED here. Pacers made it to the Finals, their top guy Haliburton averaged 18.6 pts/gm for the season. Not a ton of scorers. But they had Siakam and Turner back there on defense. A team with Jimmy Butler as the 1A, legit number 1 scoring option went to the Finals with Bam.

Can think of a TON of mid-high level guys you could add to 2026 Giddey, Noa, Matas, Bam that make you a contender. Assuming we want a center, how many guys could come close to Bam? His hustle, impact, demeanor, defense, leadership leads to wins as much as guard scoring will. definitely think that team could match that Pacers team that just made it to the Finals. Bam at center and Matas at PF? Whew!

[Dominator83]

Bored, so I'll throw up my new number 1 trade wish. I'm a humble guy, I'm not asking for tier 1.

Some combination of White, Vucevic or Collins, and 3 first round picks for Bam Adebayo. Two or three team trade, maybe another team wants either Coby or Vucevic more to add value.

Bam's too good for that team now. Butler's gone. He's the only big contract past 2026, they'd have tons of flexibility. They routinely trade high value vets for younger players and draft picks. They have Ke'lel Ware. Stars could align, Ware has a great season, youth movement, etc.

3 first round picks is steep. Bam's 27 and locked up until the 2029 season. His contract isn't crazy either, $37 mill 2025, $48 mill 2026, $52 mill the next.
He's so perfectly the type of center and hustle guy we would want to see here, can't think of any center I'd want more (maybe Wemby, but the health).

I'd take him over most tier 1 guys, I like his overall impact and fit that much. Coupled with his age and contract, I'd overpay some for him and still know I got a deal in the long run. Would go as high as four firsts, with some protections. Can see Bam consistently putting up All-Star/near All Star two way play for the next 5-7 years, plus the intangibles. High-end two-way centers are crazy hard to find.

Thanks for putting an idea out there.

IMO, for this team to strive toward contention, we need a legit #1 scoring option. I agree that the price you put out there is the sort of deal to bring back a true #1, but Bam (as much as I love his fit) isn't that type of player.

Oh, I get Bam's not a true number 1. I don't think we get any true number 1 with that package, so that's fine. I don't think you get SGA, Jokic, Anthony Edwards, Wemby, Giannis, Luka, etc for Coby, Vucevic and three firsts. I don't think we have the assets to trade for a true number 1 without including everything including Matas, and that's still not enough.

Agree we need a legit #1 scoring option. We'd still have plenty of cap space. We're giving up two expiring players and some future picks. Don't think that number 1 scoring option has to be a 1A for us to have a great team. Like everybody wants a 1A, lmao! Who doesn't? We would still have plenty of cap room.

You know I'm an optimist, I'm projecting Giddey, Matas and Noa to all be better in 2026 than this year, and way better than last year. That means Noa is ready to start, Matas and Giddey are both star, if not All-Star level and Bam is Bam. 25 pts/gm total between Noa and the SG, not worried about scoring at all. that's being pessimistic, of course I'd expect more.

We've always had scorers. I though the key to winning was having great defenders, lmao! Or Zach, Derozan and Vucevic would be GOATED here. Pacers made it to the Finals, their top guy Haliburton averaged 18.6 pts/gm for the season. Not a ton of scorers. But they had Siakam and Turner back there on defense. A team with Jimmy Butler as the 1A, legit number 1 scoring option went to the Finals with Bam.

Can think of a TON of mid-high level guys you could add to 2026 Giddey, Noa, Matas, Bam that make you a contender. Assuming we want a center, how many guys could come close to Bam? His hustle, impact, demeanor, defense, leadership leads to wins as much as guard scoring will. definitely think that team could match that Pacers team that just made it to the Finals. Bam at center and Matas at PF? Whew!

Yea I agree yours is realistic thinking. Out of the list of true 1A's, the only one i can see being available anytime soon is Giannis. And one, milwaukee might not even wanna trade him right down I-94. But even if we discount that possibility and look at it purely from a basketball assets standpoint, the cost to acquire Giannis would be Buzelis and 4 FRPs on the cheap end. Would that be worth it for us? I don't think so. We would just be swapping situations and might as well be called the Chicago Bucks. This Bam idea is more realistic, and a little less crippling.

[Infinity2152]

Our last rebuild started with scorer (Lavine), Added two more high scorers (Derozan and Vucevic). Had another guy playing major minutes, White, also a scorer. I'm thrilled that we're paying attention to defense like adding Noa and Okoro, and Bam is one of the most versatile defenders in the NBA. Been in DPOY running last 6 years straight. While averaging 20 pt/gm. That's 1A impact to me, or just below. PER around 20 last 5 years.

Don't see how anybody would have a problem with trading for Bam without giving up Matas or Giddey. DPOY level player, 27, 18-20pts gm, good ballhandler, athletic, damn near the created model for the perfect modern center, minus outstanding 3pt shooter. He's shot 36% from 3 the last two years.

[Infinity2152]

Second trade idea: S&T for Quentin Grimes. They have Jared McCain, Maxey, and just drafted Edgecombe. I think Grimes is a starter level SG, great shooter, good defensively. Better, or will be, overall than Coby White. His camp wants $25 mill, think he's looking at the mid-level. He'd probably be thrilled with $18 mill AAV. With all those guards they have now, Williams, Collins, Huerter (can play SF) or Smith could look attractive. Mabe even Vucevic as Embid's backup. As many games as Embid misses, he likely plays way more minutes than Grimes, lmao! Coby could go too.

I'd worry about our guard glut later. Grimes is my SG starter. Would send a protected pick if needed, Grimes is 25 and a proven shooter. And the difference between Grimes at $18 mill and Coby at $30+ mill is worth a lot.

Been mentioned before but saw a rumor his situation with Philly is deteriorating.

[sco]

Second trade idea: S&T for Quentin Grimes. They have Jared McCain, Maxey, and just drafted Edgecombe. I think Grimes is a starter level SG, great shooter, good defensively. Better, or will be, overall than Coby White. His camp wants $25 mill, think he's looking at the mid-level. He'd probably be thrilled with $18 mill AAV. With all those guards they have now, Williams, Collins, Huerter (can play SF) or Smith could look attractive. Mabe even Vucevic as Embid's backup. As many games as Embid misses, he likely plays way more minutes than Grimes, lmao! Coby could go too.

I'd worry about our guard glut later. Grimes is my SG starter. Would send a protected pick if needed, Grimes is 25 and a proven shooter. And the difference between Grimes at $18 mill and Coby at $30+ mill is worth a lot.

Been mentioned before but saw a rumor his situation with Philly is deteriorating.

Obviously depends on the deal (collectively with White going out), but Grimes' defense is better than White's. That said, Grimes' performance is doubling down on the end-of-season upswing trend (with Giddey).

[Infinity2152]

Second trade idea: S&T for Quentin Grimes. They have Jared McCain, Maxey, and just drafted Edgecombe. I think Grimes is a starter level SG, great shooter, good defensively. Better, or will be, overall than Coby White. His camp wants $25 mill, think he's looking at the mid-level. He'd probably be thrilled with $18 mill AAV. With all those guards they have now, Williams, Collins, Huerter (can play SF) or Smith could look attractive. Mabe even Vucevic as Embid's backup. As many games as Embid misses, he likely plays way more minutes than Grimes, lmao! Coby could go too.

I'd worry about our guard glut later. Grimes is my SG starter. Would send a protected pick if needed, Grimes is 25 and a proven shooter. And the difference between Grimes at $18 mill and Coby at $30+ mill is worth a lot.

Been mentioned before but saw a rumor his situation with Philly is deteriorating.

Obviously depends on the deal (collectively with White going out), but Grimes' defense is better than White's. That said, Grimes' performance is doubling down on the end-of-season upswing trend (with Giddey).

Grimes has been a great three-point shooter since he came in the league. 38% his first two seasons. His usage and volume went up dramatically last year, true, but he's been a good defender and great shooter for much longer.

[Rose2Boozer]

The Bulls trade White and Vucevic to the Wolves for Gobert and 2026 first round pick.

[WesPeace]

Second trade idea: S&T for Quentin Grimes. They have Jared McCain, Maxey, and just drafted Edgecombe. I think Grimes is a starter level SG, great shooter, good defensively. Better, or will be, overall than Coby White. His camp wants $25 mill, think he's looking at the mid-level. He'd probably be thrilled with $18 mill AAV. With all those guards they have now, Williams, Collins, Huerter (can play SF) or Smith could look attractive. Mabe even Vucevic as Embid's backup. As many games as Embid misses, he likely plays way more minutes than Grimes, lmao! Coby could go too.

I'd worry about our guard glut later. Grimes is my SG starter. Would send a protected pick if needed, Grimes is 25 and a proven shooter. And the difference between Grimes at $18 mill and Coby at $30+ mill is worth a lot.

Been mentioned before but saw a rumor his situation with Philly is deteriorating.

Obviously depends on the deal (collectively with White going out), but Grimes' defense is better than White's. That said, Grimes' performance is doubling down on the end-of-season upswing trend (with Giddey).

Grimes has been a great three-point shooter since he came in the league. 38% his first two seasons. His usage and volume went up dramatically last year, true, but he's been a good defender and great shooter for much longer.

I like Grimes a lot, I would gladly pay him 20M per 4yrs deal

[jnrjr79]

The Bulls trade White and Vucevic to the Wolves for Gobert and 2026 first round pick.

Looks like they can’t trade their 2026 1st b/c they don’t own their 2027 pick and so the Stepien rule would prevent it. Their 2026 pick is also pretty heavily encumbered. Looks like the next unencumbered 1st they can trade is 2029. I’d happily do Gobert + the 2029 1st for Coby and Vooch.

[Infinity2152]

Bulls could probably end up with the top 3 young restricted free agents this summer (Giddey, Grimes and Kuminga) without a lot of difficulty, below the price ANY of these guys would go for next year. All 4yrs/ last year team option.

We'd be looking at Giddey, Grimes, Matas, Kuminga, Vucevic this year, ton of cap in the summer. Let's say Giddey at $25, Grimes at $20, Kuminga at $22 mill. $67 mill for all 3. Pat, Okoro, Smith, Essengue, Phiilips takes us to $114 mill. We're already at 9 players. A lot more athleticism, lot more valuable trade pieces, lot more potential overall. We don't need ALL of them to break out.

Add a mid-high end defensive center like Gobert, Adebayo, Gafford etc with the extra cap. Would be more than happy to see how far Giddey, Grimes, Matas, Kuminga, Center could go with all the starters young with huge chips on their shoulders.

Seems like Ayo plus anything might get Kuminga, and White, Williams, Collins or Huerter would start the conversation for Grimes. No big losses anywhere, all expiring.

[sco]

Bulls could probably end up with the top 3 young restricted free agents this summer (Giddey, Grimes and Kuminga) without a lot of difficulty, below the price ANY of these guys would go for next year. All 4yrs/ last year team option.

We'd be looking at Giddey, Grimes, Matas, Kuminga, Vucevic this year, ton of cap in the summer. Let's say Giddey at $25, Grimes at $20, Kuminga at $22 mill. $67 mill for all 3. Pat, Okoro, Smith, Essengue, Phiilips takes us to $114 mill. We're already at 9 players. A lot more athleticism, lot more valuable trade pieces, lot more potential overall. We don't need ALL of them to break out.

Add a mid-high end defensive center like Gobert, Adebayo, Gafford etc with the extra cap. Would be more than happy to see how far Giddey, Grimes, Matas, Kuminga, Center could go with all the starters young with huge chips on their shoulders.

Seems like Ayo plus anything might get Kuminga, and White, Williams, Collins or Huerter would start the conversation for Grimes. No big losses anywhere, all expiring.

IDK, the illusion here is that ending up with the 3 top young RFA's is a meaningless qualification. It's not like any of the 3 have shown enough to even assure that they are in the 2nd quartile of starters for their position.

[Infinity2152]

Bulls could probably end up with the top 3 young restricted free agents this summer (Giddey, Grimes and Kuminga) without a lot of difficulty, below the price ANY of these guys would go for next year. All 4yrs/ last year team option.

We'd be looking at Giddey, Grimes, Matas, Kuminga, Vucevic this year, ton of cap in the summer. Let's say Giddey at $25, Grimes at $20, Kuminga at $22 mill. $67 mill for all 3. Pat, Okoro, Smith, Essengue, Phiilips takes us to $114 mill. We're already at 9 players. A lot more athleticism, lot more valuable trade pieces, lot more potential overall. We don't need ALL of them to break out.

Add a mid-high end defensive center like Gobert, Adebayo, Gafford etc with the extra cap. Would be more than happy to see how far Giddey, Grimes, Matas, Kuminga, Center could go with all the starters young with huge chips on their shoulders.

Seems like Ayo plus anything might get Kuminga, and White, Williams, Collins or Huerter would start the conversation for Grimes. No big losses anywhere, all expiring.

IDK, the illusion here is that ending up with the 3 top young RFA's is a meaningless qualification. It's not like any of the 3 have shown enough to even assure that they are in the 2nd quartile of starters for their position.

We have to fill 15 roster spots. We traded the vets except Vucevic and we're trying to move him. Clearly we're building a younger team. Seems like we'd want the majority of starter spots to be young guys with potential. With 22-year-old Matas and Giddey possibly ready already and 18-year-old Noa on the roster, 24 year old Tre Jones just signed, 24 year old Okoro, 25 year old Jalen Smith, Grimes and Kuminga fit perfectly into that timeline. Any could be packaged in a star trade and it gives us 4 tradeable pieces and 4 young guys who could be great instead of two. What are we trying to do here if we're going to assume every single young player we can possibly add is going to get worse? Who are these zero risk, low cost players we can add to the Bulls? I qualify them as RFA's because they're not trade targets exactly, their teams have reasons to move them, and they fit the age range having been in the league 4 years. That's ideal to me right now. We can likely get favorable 4 year contracts on young players, with control year 4.

I said pay Giddey 25, Kuminga $22 mill, and Grimes $18 mill. If you want to compare their value to the 2nd quartile of starters in their position, what's the average salary of those starters? And age. I think Giddey has shown enough to say that, and Grimes has been a consistently good shooter and defender his whole career.

Still don't get why people would expect rookie max performance from a $18-$25 mill contract. Almost as hard for me to understand why every player on the Bulls is likely to get worse at 21, 22, 23 when that's absolutely not the norm in the NBA.

But sure, there's a chance expired Ayo and White, or Williams, whatever we send to get Grimes work out better than having Kuminga and Grimes on the team. White alone might get Grimes plus Kuminga's salary.

I look at is you have 4 high draft pick quality guys 20-22. Paying a premium, but if I'm hoping for a star, think I'm more likely to find one in the guys viewed around $15-25 mill than the guys teams only want to pay $7 mill.

[sco]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/article/proposed-nba-trade-sends-celtics-230929663.html

Simons for Huerter/Smith

I really like Huerter and Smith, but I'm not sure either guy sticks. If I thought that Billy would actually play Smith, I'd be more against this. I'm not a huge Simons fan but having him could give us a little Coby insurance if we can't resign him (even though IIRC Simons is also a FA). The other point is that the article makes is that IF we could get a good return for Coby, we could possibly get better on a combined basis.

I'd massively prefer a deal sending out Vuc or Williams.

[sco]

https://www.nbcsports.com/fantasy/basketball/player-news

Nikola Vucevic finished Friday’s blowout loss to Lithuania with 20 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals, a block and a three-pointer across 31 minutes.
For the second straight game, Montenegro was blown out, but it wasn’t for lack of trying by the star big man. It was business as usual for Vooch, as he produced a double-double while spacing the floor, playing solid defense and getting teammates involved. Montenegro might not win many games, but Vooch should continue to shine throughout Eurobasket as his team’s most talented option.

For anyone else on our roster I'd be rooting against him playing and risking injury. Vuc should play every minute of every game against his euro-compatriats.