The “Potential” duo

When was the last time the top 2 picks in A draft class played on the same team?

That draft was so hype, then nothing

Fucking crazy how both of these guys stock plummeted. I feel so bad for people who spent their covid stimulus and unemployment hoarding their rookie cards and paying top dollar only for them to worth a fraction now.

Twelve!?

And would have been super hype 4 seasons ago

The DNP Bros 

They might play together more than AD and Boogie.

But Ja and ANT with no PR team will be the best thing that happens to r/nbacirclejerk

I built this team in 2K MyEra mode once, and they still didn’t win shit.

Zion needs to go to a competent organization. He’s the modern Boogie Cousins. Go to a city that will keep you healthy.

South Carolinas finest lol

Honestly still mad we never got the zion v ja dunk contest

lol awesome

My wife raised you one & said “Cheeks & Heat” 😂😂😂

LMAO

Love this

Well now this needs to happen for the nickname alone

this is great lol but you didn’t have to spell it out lollllllllll

Yes LOL

Hahahahaha

Brother, you’re a Hawks fan. You saw front row how crazy our trades are

I think a lot of Grizzlies fans would be happy with any rotation level player in return for Ja. Fears would be an absolute godsend.

You aint loco. Fears will be good. We’ve seen the best version of Morant and it’s not coming back.

I don’t think there’s any way they’d include Fears in that deal *knock on wood*

It’d most likely be buying low on Ja and sending out one of their other big guard contracts of guys they got nothing out of last year (Poole/Dejounte). A my problem for your problem type move.

Willingly bringing in Morant would be very dumb for literally any team at this point.

Would be shocked if Fears was in the deal

Yeah this makes zero sense. Why not see what Fears can do before giving up on him.

I mean they traded away an unprotected 2026 first rounder to you guys and a 23rd overall just to draft queen and now the new regime is going to have to try and undo the fuckery caused by the previous front office lol

Joe Dumars is stupid

There’s no chance. But a Fears/Coward backcourt is a HoF name combo.

Pels are regarded so don’t expect smart moves

Fears was OK. I think more likely than not he won’t be an above average starter. Not sure trading him (or really much of anything) for Morant is a good idea. But we could, and probably will, do much dumber things

Ja and Zion is a great theoretical pairing.

Ja and Ant would actually make some noise.

Nola doesn’t know what they are doing. Ja and fears don’t fit. The defense in Nola will only get worse which is already terrible. They don’t even need more playmaking, they need defense and shooting.

ja and zion

Rastafari ¹²⁄₂₅

Ja on the pelicans would be an absolute dumpster fire and is the typical Dumars move.

I like the potential of him on the wolves

As a Wolves fan, I think Ja to Minnesota would be have underrated potential.

He definitely comes with risk, but it would be a near perfect situation for Ja:

• probably would only get the other team’s second best defender on him instead of the first. Also would likely get far less attention overall.

• would get to play with Rudy’s crushing screens. Gobert’s still an elite screener, the Wolves just rarely run pick and roll because the only player who is good at it is 38 year old Mike Conley.

• would have elite shooters spacing out in Ant and Naz, plus Jaden shot 40% last year (albeit on only moderate volume).

• would have 2 elite defenders behind him, plus Ant who can be quite good when he gives the energy (which he likely could spare a bit more of if Ja’s running the offense).

People are right to be fearful and expecting the worst. His game relies on his athleticism and with his injuries, we’ll see if he ever gets back to form. Don’t even start with his off-court issues.

Surrounding Ant with more non-shooters is just not the move

Ja has been really bad, unreliable/unavailable, and has barely improved his game. There’s a reason he’s such a distressed asset.

I think you’re absolutely right about us needing to take some sort of risk with potential upside.

I’m not too worried about the fit. What matters first and foremost is whether he can stay on the court and play like an All-Star again. If he can do that, then either the fit works or he has enough trade value for us to find a better fit.

Ja for Julius is a terrible swap. You lose size and defense for no benefit.

There is no upside here. Ja doesn’t have elite defense and he can’t finish at the basket any longer. That has nothing to do with scheme or coaching, he just lost a step and started pouting when his team did the right thing.

Randle is an elite defender, has hard to find size and is streaky on offense at least. In other words, all the things that teams value that are hard to find. And he can play better on offense, it happened just last year.

Minnesota’s biggest problem is just that the new owners aren’t Ballmer. So, KAT and NAW are gone.

Still, Naz was pretty good until this season and Rudy is better than 90% of the league’s centers. If Naz had stepped up, if ANT hadn’t been injured, if Divo hadn’t gone down, it’s still a very, very good team, and potentially very similar to the Knicks team that just defeated the Spurs. ANT=Brunson (eventually), Randle/NAZ=HART/OG, Divo=Alvarado, Gobert=Mitch. With a few tweaks, some health and a very plausible continuing improvement from ANT, they’ll be right there. I don’t think they can be favorites to contend, but neither were the Knicks, after all.

They have real potential with minimum roster tweaking.

Pelicans rebuilt the Hawks after the Dejounte Murray trade so maybe they can help rebuild you guys also

Would just have to get through one year of the Poole party

If we can go from Morant to Fears, it would be great. A young core of Fears, Coward, Wells, Boozer (assuming), and Edey to play going forward for years.

Joe Dumar is incredible at improving teams.

Just not the teams he is on.

I don’t even know why they want Ja when they have Dejounte Murray and a growing Jeremiah Fears

The 5-in offense

There’s no way Ja and Dejounte don’t get into a fist fight, you have to trade Dejounte to Memphis.

Just for that reason, I want Ja in Minnesota even more

Ja isn’t staying healthy and a guard who can’t shoot and such a defensive liability will make them worse. It somehow makes their spacing even worse too lol

Ja can take the playmaking load off ant and then ant can focus more on poa defense to cover for Ja on defense. On offense ant could thrive more even maybe since he’s become such an elite 3 pt shooter. It has a ton of potential tbh. Would love to see it and I think it raises minnesotas ceiling.

Donte would likely have to be in the Morant trade salary wise or they’d be a second apron team after resigning Ayo. Still a strong bench without him, could maybe get back another G from Memphis too.

lol

Good news - kings can’t make any worse. Or can they?

He’s coming to join his buddy KAT

Fun to watch, but not going to win many playoff games.

It kinda already is.

We need Fears/Coward lineup

Portland will never open up to Ja. The fans will not put up with another crime addled, post prime, superstar again.

McBride isn’t a point guard, fyi.