Huge news out of Cleveland today as both Garland and Mobley are expected to miss significant time. Naturally, this has ramped up the rumor mill since Donovan Mitchell didn't sign an extension with the Cavs this offseason and there haven't been any reported talks. It also doesn't hurt that he's been linked to the Knicks so the rumor mill has gone into overdrive. Ironically I did a trade earlier today with the Spurs that I liked but it's hard to turn down Spida, so here's a super crazy trade.
Knicks: I decided to move around of ton of Knicks players in this one for several reasons. First because the Cavs are going to want a high return for him and the Knicks also need more size due to them rolling out a small backcourt of Brunson and Mitchell. In adding Mitchell, the Knicks are adding an elite player on offense, one who can make the clutch shots and give them the weapon they've needed to stand up to elite teams. But the drawback is the defense so I have them mixing it up with more size in their second unit. Losing Mitch will be a huge blow on defense, but he's injured right now and the Knicks offense does look better without him since Hartenstein and Sims don't need to be in the paint to be effective on offense. In return, they get a solid center in Gafford who's been improving on the Wizards and Kispert who can help space the floor and provide size on the second unit. Losing Grimes and IQ will be tough but I can't see the Cavs doing this deal without Grimes and as I've explained in other trades, I don't see the Knicks retaining IQ (it always hurts to type that). The Knicks also get Branham to fill out their rotation and get a promising young wing.
Cavs: The Cavs may decide to make a move after the previously mentioned injuries to Garland and Mobley. The real prize in terms of players is Grimes who is a solid 3 and D wing who helps balance them out on offense and defense. They also get Fournier and DaQuan Jeffries who are mainly here for salary reasons and don't have long term salary implications for them. Fournier's contract is a team option for next year so he could be flipped or retained. They get 3 unprotected FRPs from the Knicks to replace the ones they traded away to get Mitchell from the Jazz and 2 protected FRPs from the Spurs from the IQ trade. This lets them build for the future either in picks or future trades.
Wizards: The Wizards are in no hurry to get better soon so they won't mind that Mitch is currently injured. They get their starting center in Mitch who this injury aside, has been durable and is a force on defense which is their biggest weakness this year. They also get their FRP back from the Knicks which allows them to trade more of their picks if they want to make additional moves. Gafford is a solid player but Mitch brings more to the table for them and is the superior player. He's also locked up long term on a contract that gets cheaper each year. Losing Kispert is probably the controversial part and they may need additional draft compensation from the Knicks. But they just signed Avidja to an extension and seem invested in Coulibaly so he may be more expendable than other players.
Spurs: As in my earlier trade today, this season has been rough for Spurs fans. While they have some truly great foundational pieces in Vassell and Wembanyama who project to be stars (in Wembanyama's case a generational superstar), they need a good PG to organize this team. IQ can be that player and while it will hurt to lose Branham, he has a lot of limitations and his numbers are mainly a result of getting a lot of minutes on a bad team. I do think that's it's probably a stretch to have them giving up 2 FRPs but IQ is a starter level PG so I went for it. Likely it would only be one at most though.
Thoughts?