As they should. No reason to blow it up. Missing 2 primary ball handlers is a killer. Chet no showing is a bad thing too but that can hopefully be fixed. Topic can finally play this next year and hopefully show why he was a projected top 5 pick before the acl.

yep.

roll into next year with:

starters – sga / wallace / jdub / chet / hartenstein

bench – ajay / mccain / caruso / jwill, maybe they keep one of wiggins or joe

see if a rookie or topic or sorber can crack the rotation.

and pray for health in the playoffs

They need to start Cason Wallace he’s a future star.

Yep. For anyone who is interested, I wrote about what the cap sheet would look like specifically making exactly those moves here: https://ankitpancakes.substack.com/p/issue-13-cap-management-pt-2

I think theres a chance they trade Joe instead or Dort, and do the same long term type deal with Hartenstein with Lu. Just depends how low Hart and Dort will go over a longer teem.

They also have a Topic and a lottery pick center from last year who was hurt. Upwards of 5 new young guys playing next year

I doubt it on Wiggins, unless the rookies we pick up take his minutes. He’ll get more playing time next season after we trade Dort, move Wallace or Ajay up to the starting lineup, and hopefully draft a large SF / PF.

Wiggins’ contract next season is only 8MM, cheaper than a top 7 rookie contract next season. Like the 30th pick is only going to save you 5MM next season (which isn’t nothing, especially when considering luxury taxes), but Wiggins is probably going to be better than whoever is selected 30th.

Hartenstein is the only one I’m not sure of

If the goal is to get under the tax then it would be easier to just opt of Dort and Kenrich. They still have their two 1st round picks they will have to sign which gives them a full 15 man roster for next season assuming they opt of Dort and Kenrich. 

If they do keep Dort then they probably trade Joe and/or Wiggins which I think happens regardless but there really isn’t a reason to keep Kenrich around other than vet presence which I think they’re old enough not to need. 

Without having looked at it too deeply I feel like they are trying to stay contenders for as long as possible. Don’t throw a bunch of assets and blow out their cap sheet for a superteam, instead try to keep drafting guys to hit on good pieces on rookie contracts.

^ Prestis burner

That (trading Dort and Wiggins) is the easy answer, but other teams have access to the same TV we watch.

And, I’d assume, way more access.

Unless they are just DYING to help OKC, there’s not really much reason to just absorb either player’s contract. Knowing they have the trade leverage, no less.

Hartenstein is going to have to accept WAY less money than he’d get elsewhere.

They still have Topic and the other guy. Basically unused all year except garbage time.

I would trade chet

Not sure if Hartenstein would accept a smaller contract. He will be in high-demand, and I can definitely see multiple teams being willing to overpay him

No way Hartenstein gets <$20m on the open market.

ya exactly. rockets are next but i doubt they will too

They might trade Chet too but closer toward the deadline once he’s rebuilt some value.

Him and j will. will be paid not than SGA this coming season. My brain says it can’t stay that way if wemby eats this guy alive. They gotta get a second center. It felt like Chet didn’t play much time at the c even when they were small ball.

This conversation was literally about KAT a few years ago and now he’s looking like a finals MVP

Chet is a great player. Every year the NBA fanbase and media decide to pick on one specific individual for a sub par performance.

This shit happens. Great players have bad playoff runs from time to time. No need to throw away the foundation. Especially after it actually won you a chip a year before.

I love the unexpected turn with the last sentence

Wasn’t Braun playing hurt for a while at the end? Don’t think he’s worth the number he got but he seemed a lot more athletic a couple seasons ago compared to last year

Fine, harden and Allen for Jokic and Braun let’s call it in

No, I’d rather not take on Christian Braun

Yeah and Wemby came back in the second half of G2 after that first half like Chet.. and was the best player on the floor in the second half. (Last 7s of course bring that down)

Click click click click

Bro hornets went from 19 wins to 44 wins, Based on on record we should have won 52 games but media see us make good moves and have a good direction and they want us to blow it up for Gianni’s, The amount of traded I’ve seen from casuals and hornets fan of us trading miller/Young guys and picks for Gianni’s is wild lol like dam we can’t even stick with out core for 1 season before people start saying we should go all in as a play in team

The Thunder are a team that could put together a trade for Giannis that will be a good deal for the Bucks, and would land Giannis on a contender. I’m not sure how many other teams can do that.

It is easy to see the rationale and fit.

Cause they’re the team that it makes the most sense to do it. They could easily have a package that makes sense for both teams

You know if thunder want they can give us some of their FRPs.

We need a 2nd Option next to Ant, they just won a Championship last year so they gotta be a little generous right.

Please 😘

As they shouldn’t. They were in a close game 7 in the WCF without their 2nd best player and another very good rotation player. Tinkering around the margins and keeping the long term viability of this team is the smart thing to do

As what SGA said, trust in the best GM in the league. And I think Presti will stay put and do minimal change in your roster.

The major question mark right now for you guys is not even if Chet will bounce back from an awful showing but if JDub can fully heal his hamstring and be available in another title run.

We just need another reliable wing honestly. That’s the only thing I think we’re missing

What is “Giannis’s bullshit”?

I think if the Knicks sweep it could actually make the Thunder more worried. There is a huge difference in losing to an ascending team that then goes on to dominate the finals vs losing to an ascending team that gets stomped in the finals.

There’s no realistic way to get him, period. OKC will enter the off-season as a second apron team. That means they cannot aggregate salaries in a trade. Chet alone doesn’t get them to Giannis’ salary.

one of only 2 players in NBA history to avg 16/8/ 2 blocks and shoot over 35% from 3

Holy cherry pick

What diva like persona?

Not only that but I just don’t see him fitting with the Thunder’s culture. 

It’s going to be Toronto, I still believe

Boston swap for Brown then Brown gets routed to either Portland or Atlanta to get the Bucks future back.