Pacers:

If you're an Ayton to the Pacers hater, ignore this deal. But lets be real, Ayton is an upgrade over Myles. He's not the shot blocker or 3 point shooter that Myles is, but his screening, rebounding, and overall scoring ability is significantly better. I love Myles, but I'm okay with moving on for Ayton. Our fanbase likes to get wrapped up in the contract, but we have an incredibly clean cap sheet AND the cap will see a significant raise with the new tv deal. A 30ish million max now, will look like a 20-25 million contract in a few years. While I'd love to keep Duarte, the Ayton market will be very competitive. Duarte gives PHX a shot creating sniper off the bench. I think the 31st pick will be pretty attractive to PHX due to the salary requirements associated with picking in the 1st vs. 2nd.

In this scenario, Duarte would also be expendable as the Pacers take Ivey and their wing of the future in Mathurin. Pacers would then have one of the most electric transition offenses. I've put Isaiah Jackson in this starting lineup, but there could be some issues if he and Ayton both operate as rim rollers. If one or both of them develops a decent outside shot (say 32-35% on 2 attempts per game) watch out.

Giving up the 2023 pick is tough, and the likeliest reason the Pacers don't do it, but if they want to jumpstart this youth movement, I'm okay with if for Mathurin. Pacers also take on a handful of salaries that can be seen as future trade pieces or buyout candidates.

Haliburton/Ivey/Mathurin/Jackson/Ayton

Suns:

See notes in the Pacers section. But the big thing for the Suns is getting good compensation for Ayton, cap relief, and the ability to select with the top pick in round 2.

Paul/Booker/Bridges/Crowder/Turner

Rockets:

Rockets seem lukewarm on picking at 3. Compensation for a 3/6 swap should mimic the Trae Young/Doncic trade a few years back.

Porter Jr./Green/Sharpe/Wood/Sengun

Pelicans:

For the Pelicans it comes down to how much they want to invest now vs. the future. I think they have a solid handful of young players (Zion, Hayes, Lewis, Jones, and Murphy) where they would be willing to move off of 8 for an impact vet and an additional pick in next years draft. It can be tough to find a bakcourt partner for CJ, but I think he and Brogdon would pair very well together as both can operate on/off ball. I was always pretty interested in seeing them together in Indy.

Brogdon/McCollum/Ingram/Williamson/Valenciunus