Rationale:
Spurs get the chance to pair Wemby with another potential top 10 player in Zion Williamson, all without giving up one of their own picks. They lose Harrison Barnes, who does not matter at all to the long term vision of this franchise, and Keldon Johnson, who while good, is no Zion. They also get some dude named Matkovic which is cool I guess.
The Pelicans move on from Zion, who doesn’t play any games, for an arguably as good superstar in Trae Young, who does play games, as well as an actual starting caliber center in Deandre Ayton. They also give up Dejounte, which may seem like a big loss, but he is coming off a torn ACL and doesn’t fit with Trae so… They also get some dude named Mohammed Guye, which is cool I guess.
For the record, I love Trae, and I think he wants to stay in Atlanta. However, this trade gives them the opportunity to rebuild with their own picks, which is an opportunity I don’t think they can pass up on. Keldon Johnson and Yves Missi are solid young pieces, while Jose Alvarado and (maybe) Harrison Barnes can be moved for further assets.
The Blazers rationale is pretty simple. Murray is much better than Ayton, and they’re not going to keep him anyway, they’ll end up flipping him for more value. This also frees up more minutes for Clingan.
Now for some of the complaints I anticipate, and why they don’t make any sense:
From Spurs fans: “No, Zion is a fatass, he’s going to ruin Wemby’s prime.” Yeah, but he’s playing really well, he’s tremendously talented, and worst case scenario, you flip him in two years to another team that thinks they can fix him.
From Pelicans fans: “You don’t understand Zion’s value, you big market fans always think small market stars are worth nothing, he’s worth at least 8 first round picks, blah, blah, blah.” As I said above, he doesn’t play any games, and this one of the few packages you’re going to find where you can get a true superstar back.
From Hawks fans: “We’re contenders, why would we trade Trae?” Response: 🤣🤣🤣 🤣🤣🤣 🤣🤣🤣 🤣🤣🤣 🤣🤣🤣
From Blazers fans: “We suck, why would we trade a pick?” It’s lotto protected, it’s not going to convey, and if it does, that means y’all don’t suck as much, which means you’re probably fine with it.
leave thoughts in the comments