Fit+contract, nba teams making it very clear on how they view smaller guards going forward

I think the Magic overpaid just like how the Knicks overpaid for Bridges but Bane has a more valuable skill set for most teams. Solid defender elite shooter who can create his own looks at times.

Also I think most teams rather have Trae than Ja at least one guy can shoot somewhat from three and has been a good shooter before the other dude is shooting 20% from deep

It costs more to trade for a guy the other team doesn’t want to trade. 

Part of that though was KCP was negative value and you essentially had to trade a first to get off of his contract.

I was listening to Sam Vecenie and he was arguing that Memphis might be open to taking bad contracts for Ja if it means additional draft compensation - the Grizzlies do consistently draft well

This proves T. rex > guns

Bane has been a better player than Ja for a while now. Also a better contract without all the baggage.

Crazy how Bane is a productive appropriately paid player and Ja isn’t.

Bane was a top 5 SG in the league 2 years in a row, Ja can’t even play 50 games.

Ja has played 18 games this season, and Bane has played 40.

Tbf if Giannis gets traded either this year or in the off-season the Bucks probably don’t get as good of a haul for him as Bane got. I think the new CBA rules just make it much harder to trade guys the way teams used to

They definitely sold high on Bane and got a great deal, but they’re dreaming if they think they’re getting a first for Morant without taking a truly abominable contract back. $120MM over 3 years for a guard who can’t shoot or play defense, can’t stay on the floor, and now isn’t even getting to the rim any more? Yeesh.

They should trade him to Magic

The Wizards have OKCs pick that’s basically Top 29 protected and they can become the number one league pass team. Only need to find a way to add LaMelo as well.

pick swap top 29 protected

Unless we have something to say about it

I said this in another thread, but I think for Bridges you have to at least count the contract into the calculation. The Knicks got two years of him at \(23M and \)25M, or like 16% of the cap, which was cheap.

That’s wildly different than signing up to pay this version of Ja, who barely plays, shots 20% from 3, and whose team is much better when he’s not on the court, \(42M and \)45M, or 25% of the cap, the next two seasons. That’s not including the fact that Ja has all the off-court drama in his past, as well as publicly feuding with multiple coaches.

NBA teams want players who can do a lot of things or dominate a side of the floor reliably. the economy is well balanced. Trae can’t dominate offense reliably anymore, Ja never really did. Bane and Mikal both do a ton of things. If you make a ton of money and don’t do much you won’t have value, that has always been the case in the league. in this case fans have yet to caught up to how NBA players are viewed amongst the league’s decision makers and a lot of these deals signed under old CBA are simply untouchable.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with any of these trades. Bane and Mikal are winning players. They can shoot, they can defend, they can fit with anyone. Both of the teams who traded for them were really good and pretty young, so their first round picks aren’t likely to be all that high for years to come.

Whether Ja and Trae can really contribute to winning basketball is a bit up in the air. They’ve clashed with their (last) teams, they’ve not really gelled with teammates, they aren’t great defenders. Their shooting hasn’t been amazing, or even mediocre in the case of Ja.

If you think these trades show the NBA trade market is ‘beyond fucked,’ I would posit that what is out of balance is your opinions of these players.

It’s just about ceiling vs. floor raising. Guys like Trae and Ja are “better” than Mikal and Bane but your ceiling is limited with them as your best player. They will get paid too much to be your third option and can’t play off-ball or defense. The only teams that want them are bad teams that can afford to pay them while they buy low and hopefully sell high.

Yup. There is basically no way a deal happens. Memphis isn’t desperate enough to add picks or assets to move off Ja. He’s clearly a negative contract when you look at his injuries, off court issues (and on court behaviors), decline in production, lack of development as a shooter and off ball player, poor defense, etc. Trae had similar issues with his defense (and was probably a worse defender), but Trae had way more offensive value than this version of Ja because Trae is a good shooter and ELITE playmaker/passer.

Memphis has every reason to try and repair the relationship with Ja, put him in position to look good, and build up his value.

Trae was on an expiring (+ a player option), so Atlanta was more desperate to make a move. Plus, Atlanta has the argument that they have a core they can build around after moving off Trae. I don’t think Memphis thinks they have that without Ja.

Trade everything to build around Ja and Kuminga!

The Kings have more 1sts available than your Pistons do (9 picks vs. 7).

that ain’t the way the winds are blowing these days

Who would we have been trading firsts for recently? We have full control of our picks besides a 2031 swap with San Antonio plus a couple of extras from the Fox trade.

We haven’t traded away any draft picks. We did give the spurs a swap to take Harrison Barnes which was dumb as hell

The only teams that would make sense (not to trade a first for him, but to trade for him at all) would be tanking teams who think they can pull a “CP3 in OKC” move, where they take him on at his absolute worst, and try to rehab him to get some draft capital in return next year or the year after.

• The Wizards just did that with Trae, so they won’t do it.
  
• The Jazz wouldn’t want to take touches away from their young star or from the guy (Lauri) they’re already trying to feature and flip for picks.
  
• Same thing with the Nets and their (pretty successful so far) rehab of MPJ. Plus their giant amount of cap space they have lined up to pursue someone the next two offseasons.
• The Kings probably could do it, but it’s hard to see who they’d trade with that mess of a roster and too many guards as is. Lavine for Ja? I don’t think anybody wants that though.

Clearly the only true solution is a Zion for Ja straight swap. For either side, couldn’t be worse, could it?

He could be a great sixth man kind of player…if his salary was ¹⁄₃ of what it is currently

Yeah he can’t shoot and can’t defend so he doesn’t actually fix the issues sac or Milwaukee or Minnesota have. He also injured a lot. I’ve been in team rebuild for awhile and feel very vindicated

The problem with players like Trae and Ja is that they were budding superstars who turned out to be anything but. Often, that’s worse than a great role player who knows who he is.

The “plus side” for Ja is that he isn’t making quite as much as Trae.

That player option is really fucking awful for your team if Trae takes it.

But then Trae expires the summer after that so…

No contender wants Ja. Fringe teams will take a flyer. Bulls anyone?

We’d give them dillingham…but that’s about it.

I mean Bane has been better and most importantly, actually plays. Orlando over paid probably but still. Ja bout to get a reality check soon lol

Do you want a guy who can be a starter on a championship team or not? That’s what Bane/Bridges vs Trae/Ja comes down to.

There’s plenty in the Raptors sub right now that would love getting off IQ’s contract and getting Ja in return.

I think they’re all in the market for a house tho. Raptors will definitely fix the housing crisis with the amount of brinks they’ll be putting up.

Yeah, it previously felt like “longer contract = better return” for trades, but I’d honestly have much preferred Trae to Ja even considering the contract implications. Multiple years of this Ja seems like a terrible idea unless you’re purposefully tanking.

I think the best case would be a tanking team that has already written off this season. That would give Ja next season to see if he can put up some nice numbers. If he does, then maaaaaaaybe he can be flipped to a play-in team with the idea that he will get them just above the play-in to get that playoff revenue. If he doesn’t perform well, then he’ll be a big expiring contract the next year which isn’t the worst thing in the world

Please no, also do the bucks even have any frps?

I don’t get this narrative. What Trae went for doesn’t impact the market as a whole. It impacts the market for bad contracts but for someone like Herb Jones or Trey Murphy (good players on good contracts), it has no impact.