Why Charlotte do it
Less said about Miles Bridges the better. But they now have a big hole to fill with his offensive game being taken away from this team. I'm not 100% sure on Randles value here after his pretty bad season last year. But I think expirings plus a late first and a pick swap (that may not even convey) is fair? Moving on from Plumlee means the Hornets would be forced to start on of their young bigs in either Nick Richards or Mark Williams. Assuming it's the latter.. Another thing I'm not 100% on either is the starting 2 spot for the Hornets. Grabbing Garibird here will help their bench, but having Rozier start with Martin/Mathews backing him up is a confusing rotation.
Projected line up:
Ball/Martin?/Hayward/Randle/Williams
Rozier/Mathews/McDaniels/Washington/Richards
Why the Knicks do it
A return of Eric Gordon, Kelly Oubre, KJ Martin and a pick swap for Randle and Reddish is pretty great value imo. In this scenario I would have Oubre start so RJ can get proper run at SG where I think he thrives offensively. And Gordon and KJ come off the bench. There's a weird narrative out there with Reddish (that il get into below) but IMHO I think KJ clears Reddish at this point. Not having to worry about paying Reddish in the off season and still having KJ for another year on a team friendly deal should push this over the edge for those on the fence about Reddish. The bench gets bolstered by (good) old man talent with Rose/Fournier/Gordon and I think KJ can play a similar role to Toppin off the bench, although smaller, KJ is the far better shooter and better team defender. The other wrinkle to this, is that Gordon (unless the Knicks win a chip), Oubre and Rose are all expiring, meaning NY can go into next season with their core players in tact, on team friendly deals (until you have to pay RJ) AND OVER $40M in expiring contracts. Will they finally manage to hit a home run in FA??
Brunson/RJ/Oubre/Toppin/Robinson
Rose/EG/Fournier/KJ/Hartenstein
Why the Rockets do it
They're after a FRP and this may be the price they have to pay. Waling away with a (late) FRP, a backup big and another guy with upside is a big win for them. Even if they give up 3(ish) guys from their rotation. I'm a huge Garibird fan and think hes perfect for a bench that probably won't have much shooting, but this is where I hope Reddish helps even a little bit, and we see some gains from Jaygup and some unexpected 3pt efficiency from Tari Eason. So about Reddish. I'm not as high as him as other people, and I def think KJ is the better player at this point in their careers. But the idea that Reddish can be backup 4 where KJ struggled (and may still struggle there in NY to be fair) is the main pulling factor for me. Otherwise Houston would have to rely on playing Tari out of position to start his career, which I'm not a massive fan of. Unless Jaygup can become a backup ball handling passing guard from the bench, i think he stays at the 2 spot, which is why it becomes a little easier (for me at least) letting Mathews go.
Projected line up
KPJ/Green/Tate/Bari/Sengun
Nix or Tyty/Jaygup/Tari/Reddish/Plumlee