TL;DR

• Trailblazers get off Ayton’s bad contract, move off players not on their timeline, clear up center minutes for Clingan, and acquire BI

• Pelicans move BI and CJ for a complete center rotation and positional size and spacing around Zion

• Pistons get a high level starter in CJ at the expense of taking on Ayton’s bad contract

The Pelicans move a good asset (CJ) to get rid of a distressed asset (BI). The Trailblazers move a good asset (Grant) to get rid of a distressed asset (Ayton). The Pistons move a smattering of net neutral role players and take on a distressed asset (Ayton) to acquire a good asset (CJ).

The Trailblazers Perspective

This summer, the Trailblazers drafted Donovan Clingan, to whom I imagine they’ll want to give a lot of playing time this season. However, they have Ayton’s bad contact on their books and his mediocre play on the court. That’s a lot to pay for a backup center. The Trailblazers also have roster spots dedicated to players who aren’t on their rebuilding timeline- players like Jerami Grant, Robert Williams III, and Duop Reath. This trade sends out players that will eat up Clingan’s minutes at center, while bringing in Isaiah Stewart, another young big that can be a quality starter now over the rookie if needed, but would also be a high quality backup center who fits their timeline. They also essentially swap Jerami Grant for Brandon Ingram. The Blazers will have the space on their books to pay him the long-term contract he’s looking for. They won’t have to give out a big rookie extension contract for another 2 years for Sharpe and 3 years for Scoot, so they could ideally organize BI’s contract so that it’s descending. In terms of what he brings to the team, he’s an All-Star level player who is younger than Grant and can grow with their young core. BI is young enough that in 2-3 years when the Blazers are looking to start winning consistently, he will still be in the middle of his prime and he’ll have had several years to grow chemistry and find his own role next to the young guys. BI also takes a little bit of the offensive burden off of the young guys giving them the opportunity to focus on and improve their defense and figure out their role in the offense before expanding on that role down the road. Ingram, however, is not so good that he will win them games in the West this year so they’ll still be able to attain a high draft pick next year to put alongside this young team. Finally, the Trailblazers get Tim Hardaway Jr. who they could trade again for more draft assets or young players.

The Pelicans Perspective

Anyone following the Pelicans (or the NBA in general) knows New Orleans needs a center- they need a couple centers. This trade not only boosts their center depth but revitalizes it entirely. They bring in RWIII, who is a very high quality rim protector, to be their starting center and, for when he’s injured, they get Duop Reath, who has shown some ability to space the floor (a very valuable asset next to Zion), as well as Paul Reed, who also showed a little shooting ability last year, and they retain Yves Missi. In order to attain these centers, the Pelicans let go of McCollum. However, they build up their shooting depth to replace him with Malik Beasley and Simone Fontecchio. In addition, they swap BI for Jerami Grant who takes and makes more 3s and plays better defense, which makes him a much better fit alongside Zion. The Pelicans new starting lineup could be

1. Dejounte Murray

2. Herb Jones

3. Zion Williamson

4. Jerami Grant

5. Robert Williams III

or swap in Trey Murphy/Malik Beasley at the 2 as needed. This trade puts a lot of spacing and defense around Zion which is exactly how you need to build around him. The main weakness here is that Zion and Grant are both poor rebounders, but having a real center plus a 6’8” guy at the 2 and Murray who has been known to grab a lot of rebounds in his career should cover for that weakness. This trade also has the added benefit of moving the Pelicans below the cap which is a huge bonus for the front office.

The Pistons Perspective

The Pistons have very few tangible ways to improve this team, whether it be through trades, free agency, or the draft. They don’t have trade assets that other teams want, few players in free agency want to sign there given the organization’s disrepute, and the only pick that they have in next year’s draft is Toronto’s 2nd-rounder. Given their draft situation, they have no reason to be bad this year and would probably like to aim for a play-in spot to give their young guys some real postseason experience. They made some moves to get better this offseason by acquiring Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Malik Beasley, however these players are unlikely to dramatically change their position in the standings. With this trade, the Pistons get a higher level starter and a good veteran leader in CJ and for that, they pay the price of taking on a bad contract, however that contract is attached to a solid starter level player in Ayton. They hold onto Tobias Harris in this trade, so they have 3 starting quality players who can reliably score off a pass from Cunningham, an attribute they have sorely missed the last few years. The Pistons new starting lineup could be

1. Cade Cunningham

2. CJ McCollum

3. Ausar Thompson

4. Tobias Harris

5. Ayton/Duren

At center, they could still start Jalen Duren, but give him and Ayton minutes based on who’s playing better that night or whether you need more offense or defense. This gives them the option of having a center who’s gonna give you solid starter production in Ayton while still being able to develop Jalen Duren. I view this team, assembled as such, similarly to the Houston Rockets rebuild. Like Houston, they have their young core in Cade, Ivey, Ausar, Ron Holland, and Jalen Duren that they are looking to grow and develop together. Then they have their veteran players on overpaid contracts for the next couple years to provide some stability and experience to the roster- CJ McCollum, Tobias Harris, Deandre Ayton. Now obvs this isn’t as good of a lineup as Houston has built, but the Pistons are starting from a lot worse position and since the East isn’t as deep as the West, I think this lineup could solidly get them into a play-in position. The main issue with this trade is that it leaves the Pistons with only 10 guys on their roster and not a lot of salary space to work with. They would need to fill out their depth with minimum contracts and, potentially, young players from the G.

This is a bold move for all teams involved, but I think all teams are better off. Lmk what y’all think and what, if anything, should be changed.