Spurs polish their lineup long-term with this trade. They get a legitimately much-needed reliable outside shooter with how inconsistent Vassell and Champagnie have been this season. This shall reduce Wembanyama's instinct to float above the three-point line often too as he is yet to work towards optimal efficiency from beyond the stripe. Along with this, they also receive a much-needed backup big, one who can score, facilitate, and be a decent presence.

With some desperate teams likely done for the trade deadline, the opportunity to sell high on Cam might be getting thinner for the Nets. And with how vacant their forward and guard positions currently are long-term, they should also prefer to pay another player instead of a backup big, with Sharpe bound to hit restricted free agency.

Thoughts?…

REFERENCE TRADE*: https://fanspo.com/nba/s/general/trades/14EFAsIawt4q93/miami-gets-best-deal-done-for-butler

With this version of the trade, it shall explore a deeper request and a more sensable return for Brooklyn in dealing Cam Johnson. Jabari Smith Jr. should be viewed by the team as the best return possible on a trade, one who matches their timeline, getting the environment he needs to be maximized, still has tons of years under his belt, and can be more offensively versatile than Johnson ever was. Aside from Fox, who is off-the-market already, are there any other players that the Heat can better realistically receive out of a Jimmy Butler deal than Ingram and Johnson? With recent team chemistry issues with Cam Whitmore, he should be the most expendable Rocket as of the moment.

The Heat cut more than half of their current luxury tax with this trade and get a better long-term piece that they may elect to work with in Brandon Ingram. The Heat essentially does this to build for nex…

Brooklyn could be assessing the contract they have given Claxton in the offseason and make re-evaluations to prioritize the development of timeline-relevant Day'Ron Sharpe instead while mixing minutes of Simmons as the center, if they decide to continue utilizing him. Kobe Bufkin would be the perfect guard alongside Cam Thomas in the right environment, a big defensive guard who can also stabilize a disoriented Brooklyn offense and is a decent outside shooter, but has not become any available for the Hawks with injuries. Brooklyn will be aided with presumably lottery draft capital in the trade, which would convey in picks 13-30, which they can use for other roster complementary needs.

The Hawks are in desperate need of any decent center play as of the moment. They're one of the teams that allow the most dunks to any opponent while also getting owned by good post matchups. This Hawks team is good, but would be significantly better with a single decent center on the roster. Capela has no…

Improvements across the board with this trade giving all teams better sense of direction.

The Rockets give themselves a legitimate chance at deeper playoff runs with Butler's playoff experience and familiarity being the best asset in the deal. They become one of, if not the only team, with long-term secured youth extending to their rotational bench getting time to gel in the competitive atmosphere, 5 on rookie scale contracts along with their connective veterans. They only get to sacrifice Jabari, the most replaceable starter they have, of all their long-term rotation players, while only handing out one future mid-first-round pick.

Butler gives Houston a more diverse offense with hopefully less turnover generation with the ball more spread out from the former exclusive predictable ball-dominant players in Vanvleet, Green, and Sengun. Butler allows the Rockets to unlock any midrange initiation in the offense that has been non-existent from all their guards. Green being able to focus m…

Reath can get some minutes on the Bucks that the Blazers haven't been (and will never be) able to delegate. Some of Lopez' minutes can be redistributed of someone with similar offensive skillset with A+ handles for his size. Reath can easier be worth more than just half a season for Milwaukee.

The Blazers do right by their non-rotational player who overperformed last season by sending him to a contender. For the sake of a return, they get Beauchamp who can also be a more worthy opportunity with the bad team. Marjon getting a chance to be mentored by Thybulle could work things out better, too.

Thoughts?…

The Rockets reap from an experimental fit who can be beneficial by the postseason in Lonzo, who Charlotte may prefer to pursue in the offseason instead. Houston needs a point guard who can facilitate quicker buckets. FVV + Aaron Holiday are both killers in the halfcourt but are not aggressive nor efficient in pursuing transition opportunities. Lonzo still has a great feel for the game while still being a catch-and-shoot threat. Lonzo can also instill defensive discipline principles onto Amen Thompson and Tari Eason to polish their aggressive defense off-the-bench that can be further weaponized when added a third defensive playmaker to play alongside them. The Rockets spend the best with their expiring contracts and second-round picks that should be easily expendible with the amount of long-term pieces the team currently has. Seeing that Dennis Schroder went for essentially two second-round picks, the same value could be appropriate here for Lonzo.

Torrey Craig will be shipped to make …

As the improving play of backup center Paul Reed further makes Jalen Duren expendible for the Pistons, they explore further needs that can be provided by low-value players on the trade market. D'Lo shall immediately come in and be the team's second-best pick-and-roll ball handler as their sixth man, something they've been attempting to figure out this season through Marcus Sasser, Tim Hardaway Jr., Malik Beasley, and Jaden Ivey. Russell shall speed up the Pistons offense as he'll provide the advanced reads and passes that only Cade can replicate so far, while also smoothly fitting in off-ball in an offense that encourages stationary shooters who can self-create and smoothly flow into dribble handoffs.

Lakers spend the most as they get two low maintenance, very serviceable bench players that they should take interest on. Valanciunas allows for less Davis minutes in the regular season adding another interior scorer, while Fontecchio will make this team rely on Knecht and Christie less f…

Atlanta has a ton of dangerous defensive threats from multiple levels of the floor, but needs a figure to be able to make these pieces work together smoother. The team still blows a decent amount of halfcourt coverages, especially in the fourth quarter. Finney-Smith is one of the best defenders and defensive communicators in the league, proven in Dallas and Brooklyn. Acquiring his defensive specialties and his 45.2%, 5.5 3PA shooting season shall further boost the Hawks' lineup versatility on both ends, giving the team a more reliable wing option who can better attack off-the-catch.

The Spurs need to stress on their need for better rebounders with Wembanyama playing the perimeter. They are very visibly one of the worst rebounding teams across the course of a whole game. Ranking 22nd in opponent rebounds and 25th in second-chance points, although ranking 9th in rebound chance percentage. In their Christmas game against the Knicks, Paul got the third most rebounds on the team (6), behin…

Spurs get their much needed offensive initiator, self-creator, late-game option, along with their young core without trading Castle nor Vassell. Fox shall be the biggest floor raiser the Spurs can trade for. He will at the very least improve the team pace, pick-and-roll efficiency, and transition play, which already amplifies everyone else's value. Not to mention, Fox is a solid lead guard defender that can be featured in many lineup combinations with the roster (best one on both ends of the floor being Fox - Castle - Vassell - Champagnie - Wemby) They still have all of their own draft picks alongside ATL's 2025 and DAL's 2029 for any additional upgrade opportunity that may comes across Fox's tenure.

Kings get solid draft capital (i.e. Top-1 Protected 2028 BOS, Unprotected 2031 MIN) whilst still remaining competitive (as they should; no team will trade immense value for Sabonis now) and fixing their bench with pieces who shall blend very well with Sabonis. Smart shall replace Fox at t…

With the Wolves offense being a disaster living with a McDaniels-Randle-Gobert spaced frontcourt with Edwards calls forth a deadline trade for at least one of them to go in order for the team to have a better shot at another deep playoff run. The Grizzlies are looking for roster upgrades that can support their fast-paced, ball-sharing offense, and the Nets should be rightfully picky at a return for Cam Johnson.

The Wolves also need another perimeter creator other than just Edwards, DiVincenzo, and Dillingham in the rotation to resort to less predictable isolation offense. Conley cannot do anything else anymore other than Gobert pick-and-rolls and is calling for a replacement in the starting lineup already as the team's facilitator. Smart can not only add more juice to their halfcourt offense but also spark runs in this team that (I can say) is most vulnerable to any momentum swing within games.

Grizzlies go through this trade as it is their cheapest route at getting Cam Johnson, who …

Many factors can be pointed out towards the Golden State's 2-7 record and fall to the 5th seed, but what might've opened the Pandora's Box for the Warriors was De'Anthony Melton suffering an ACL tear and Brandin Podziemski being forced to play his second-best, but unnatural position on double his usual minutes.

In his small sample of 6 games, De'Anthony Melton recorded a 105.5 pace for the Warriors, which would put them in the best in the league. This was obvious beyond the numbers for the team, as pace along with deadly three-point shooting was their projected threatening identity to start the season, most proven by their 140-104 and 127-86 wins against the (although two worst teams in the West) healthier Trail Blazers and Jazz, when the Warriors' deep rotation was still perceived as an asset with the amount of combinations they can play, many of which is significantly unlocked by the acquisition of Melton.

However, as the season has deepened through Melton's season-ending injury, t…

Who makes your starting 5?

MINE: Suggs ($10) - Edwards ($25) - Hauser ($5) - Eason ($10) - Jokic ($25)…

The Nuggets Starting 5 has proven to be the most competent lineup in the league behind, of course, the Celtics. This team has seen their core 4 players intact for more than three years and has even won a championship together. With the reigning MVP still playing at the level that he's been doing, there's no doubt that the Nuggets should still have a shot at winning the title, but a mediocre-bound season seems to be predictable from just their first 5 games, with a potential finish worse than their 7-game second-round exit last season.

If the past seasons weren't bad enough, the Nuggets now have a net rating of -31.0 with Jokic off, with a 75.0 offensive rating. Their main cast cannot keep digging out of these holes created by their non-Jokic minutes as they will also deal with their own matchup conflicts when they're on the floor. This has already been an issue for the past two season but to no good action taken by the front office. The overused seen solution to this by Michael Malone…

Can we have a brief discussion about this? My trade got 6 straight downvotes in an hour and only 7 views increased all within that hour, after it got a net upvote score of 3 for the first 12 hours. No comments added too whatsoever. It's clear there really are people who go as far as to creating multiple accounts/gathering friends just to shit on people. This is targeted and I don't even know what I did to ya'll. My trade's not even bad enough to have 6 downvotes in an hour time span especially at 3am eastern. It wasn't anything this bad before. All friendly OG users are gone and those who remained to live to hate stayed, pretty much makes sense….

Spurs need a point guard who is a legit scoring threat in the pick-and-roll and can help setup Wemby for easier buckets, in which he'll require players who can better space the floor for him. The best way to give Wembanyama sufficient spacing is giving him a 1-guard who can pullup in a two-man action while being someone who can fully utilize the guys moving around the perimeter (Vassell, Keldon, Bullock) through consistent skip passes. Tyus is a great 3-point shooter, especially on pullups, off-screens, and in transition, and is one of the most effective passers in the league. He has successfully led the Grizzlies with JJJ and Clarke as his big man partners in wins without Morant and he'll be an actual respectable pullup threat, lob passer, pick-and-roll maestro, and defensive disruptor with a bigger role. He is on an expiring contract, hence the decreased value from last year, but the Spurs may be one of the few teams who can be confident in re-signing him with his brother Tre Jones a…

Heat rightfully cash in both Herro and Lowry to get Dame and get a good backup guard in return too. Okeke an also play valuable minutes off the bench and provide decent scoring and defense.

Blazers don't get Herro nor Lowry since they're not interested in either so Pistons and Magic help facilitate the trade. Blazers get ample amount of draft picks and pick swaps while also getting a lot of low risk, high reward youth players in Jovic, Suggs, Hayes, Wiseman, and Isaac.

Killian and James Wiseman won't have a role in the Pistons anymore so they'd be better off in Portland where they'd gladly take on some younger underperformers who need a chance on fresh teams. Pistons get veteran presence instead who's also fairly playable in expiring contract Kyle Lowry, unlike Cory Joseph before. Lowry would be a good secondary ball handler and catch-and-shoot player for either Cade or Ivey in minutes where they don't play together. The Pistons also get two-second round picks for additional compensa…

What's good ya'll. Didn't get active for a long time and KD and Kyrie got traded and Lillard now wants out lmao. Good time to get back here. Shoutout to those still on the grind here….

The Pelicans, who once touched the first seed in the Western Conference 30 games into the season, are now finding themselves in the play-in picture largely due to injuries that have kept Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram sidelined for 25 and 34 games respectively. This team was considered at some point a championship contender by a lot of fans with the team ranking top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, but production has fallen a cliff ever since the team's two best offensive players, along with the team's best defensive player, Herb Jones, missed significant stretches of games.

Trade deadline is approaching and the Pelicans are again rumored to be in the mix for the biggest names with the amount of first-round picks they have. The loudest name that has been brought up is OG Anunoby, whose contract contains a player option in 2024 and market price is reportedly north of three first-round picks. Windhorst proposed a trade package containing Dyson Daniels, a 6' 8" point gu…