Magnus Opus
This trade has a lot of moving parts, obviously. Would a trade like this happen? Almost certainly no. But ill explain the rationale.
Jazz Danny Ainge views Lauri as a real building block for the future. OR Trader Danny is simply trying to leverage his best asset to get an excellent return. The jazz are in a weird position. Its not clear the direction they want to go but they should embrace a Full youth movement, you have Keyonte George and Walker Kessler. Acquiring some high upside prospects and continuing to build through the draft has proven to be the best way to build a contender. Boston, Denver, OKC, even Minnesota, Denver. All of their core pieces were drafted. Lauri, Clarkson, Olynyk, Sexton. That is a 35-40 win team and maybe a play in. Lauri is in his prime but holding back a tear down.
This trade is broken down into 3 sections.
Draft Compensation / Capital
The Jazz are making a bet that by 2026 Curry at age 38 will have heavily declined and the team will be the same. 2028 Curry at age 40 could be retired. Those 2 picks could be incredibly valuable as at least top 10 lottery picks.
Young players, high upside. Secondly, they get 2 players under 22 years old who are already showing great potenial. Jonathan Kuminga's potential seems to be highly contentious. Some few him as an extremely raw athlete whos ceiling is an elite role player in the mold of OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges. However some are tantalized by the absurd athleticism. not many players have the combination of raw strength, crazy bounce, and speed. He can be a matchup nightmare and if he can tighten his handle, and work on his shot the ceiling is limitless.
With Podziemski its almost opposite. He is closer to a player with a lower ceiling, however his floor is much higher. At 6'5 he is bigger than most think. One of his best attributes is his crazy high motor. He doesnt have the physical traits as some of the most disruptive defenders in the league, but he makes up for it by being an extemely high IQ player at just 20 years old. He is already one of the best rebounding guards in the league, and amongst the top players drawing charges as well. Every charge, every rebound is ANOTHER possession. This is part of why he consistently is at the top of the warriors +/-.
Lastly Lester Quinones is on a non guaranteed contract. The G-League most improved player has shown legitimate flashes in his young career. He is probably destined to be at best a backup / 6th man or end of rotation player but its another young prospect. He is highly skilled, can shoot, good handle, can be a great POA defender but needs more time to fully gel with a team scheme. He is another toss of the dice and when rebuilding many wont hit so the more shots the better.
Warriors
This is the definition of all in. The Warriors owe it to Steph Curry to give him at least a chance to remain relevant in the contender status. Even though they would be underdogs this team as contructed post trade has a way higher ceiling. Making smaller moves around the edges could help but likely the only chance at making this team a viable contender is getting a real 2nd option scorer. This would shift Klay as a 3rd option which is his ideal role, and Wiggins as your 4th option can focus defensively and hopefully regain some consistency. He was a 38-40% 3pt shooter for 3 years with us. Whatever it is its mental and can be overcome.
Markannen is the ideal archetype for warriors style. He is the rare elite 3 pt shooter who also gets a lot of dunks. His shootinng splits are close to 50/40/90. Also a 7 footer who is pulling 8-9 rebounds he ticks so many of the warriors boxes.
Kelly Olynyk is one of the most underrated players in the league. His per 36 minutes numbers are like 15 points - 9 rebounds - 8 assists. While being a knockdown 3pt shooter and giving them real size at 6'10
Kris Dunn would be filling in Podz role. Not the same upside but this would be an x factor in the trade and Danny would demand it. Dunn has shown to be a serviceable NBA pg, started on the bench but is now starting.
Kenrich Williams is playing around 15-18 mins a night. He is a PJ Tucker archetype. Very physical player and durable defender against bigger players. Has shown in the past over a season he can hit threes around 40%. Warriors defense is bad right now but adding him, getting draymond in the fold with GP2, Moses Moody, Kris Dunn.
Also the warriors are adding SIZE at every position. Lauri 7 ft, Olynyk 6'10, Williams 6'6 can guard 3-5, Kris Dunn 6'3 over 38 year old CP3.
The league has been shifting towards some Jumbo lineups and the warriors are more equipped to deal with bigger teams and have lineup versatility. This is also Addition by Subtraction. Moses Moody provides a lot of what the warriors need but Podz development made him the odd man out. He is ready for a bigger role and provides a lot of needs. Not great at anything but good at almost everything.
Starters
Curry Klay Wiggins Markannen Green
Jumbo lineup
Curry
Klay
Markkannen
Green
Trayce Jackson Davis
Spacing floor lineup (four knockdown 3 pt shooters) this lineup could be sneaky could offensively. Defensively they would hold up against certain lineups.
Curry Klay Markannen Green Olynyk
Bench, the bench is not as good, losing CP3 despite his faults would hurt but they still have MORE than enough for a playoff 8-10 man rotation.
Kris Dunn - carved out a role as a steady point guard, positive defender. Moses Moody Gary Payton II Andrew Wiggins or Kenrich Williams TJD or Olynyk or Kenrich Williams
OKC The draft compensation from OKC (protected 1st lottery 1-15) and a protected 2nd from miami. This is for 2 things. 1 shedding Bertans salary, one of the worst in the league. While also filling one of OKC biggest needs in size beside Chet. 2 different players Looney is a dependable big, great rebounder, smart player. Saric is undersized for the 5 but still at 6"10 gives them size, rebounding, and knockdown 3 pt shooter capable of going 4/8 or 5/7 on 3's. I look at it like Williams - Looney swap, but adding Saric another big who is versatile and highly skilled. This PLUS the shedding of Bertans necessitates the addition of some draft compensation however the picks have protections and for OKC to get 2 rotation players which fit OKC needs i think its reasonable.
I think the best move for OKC with their core if they move anyone it would be Josh Giddey however right now moving Giddey to the bench and starting
SGA Dort Williams Chet Looney OR Saric depending how daigneault wants to play.
This move is mostly to optimize Chet and remove a lot of the heavy workload at center. He can roam and play off ball, while Looney guards the post. It makes a lot of sense.
If you read all this CHEERS, a lot of thought and time went into it I don't think this is a trade that happens there are way too many moving parts however I just tried to look at it from each teams perspective and I think it's pretty logical the one thing I'm not sure about is the draft compensation if it's too much or not enough I'm not sure I'd be happy to get your opinions.