This is assuming that the Clippers do not want to take on Wiggins's contract and would instead want CP so they could cut him to save under the apron….

According to Givony, Jimmy Butler could be on his way out of Miami, and Houston is one of the teams interested. Here, the Heat get to rebuild their timeline around Bam and their young guys of Herro, Jaquez, Jovic, and their now two selections at 3 and 15 in this draft, or they could use this new draft ammo to bring in a different star (Maybe one of the Cleveland guards?). Houston on the other hand is seemingly happy with their young core as it is, and wants to start pushing for the playoffs. Pairing Butler with the plethora of young talent they already have and vets like FVV could be enough to push them into the play-in or even into the playoffs themselves, although that is certainly no guarantee with how tough the west is….

Nets are seemingly unwilling to move players for picks, so here they take some risks on distressed assets around the league to hopefully rebuild their value and play for the playoffs. LaVine could just need a restart away from the dysfunction present in Chicago, and with his value as low as it is, taking on his contract could be a great way to get a good player for very cheap. They also pick up Murray who's value has clearly decreased in Atlanta, but perhaps being the lead playmaker again would help him play like he did in SA. LaVine also had his best season in recent memory next to a true point guard, so pairing him with Murray could become a potent back court. The strong defensive core of the Nets in Bridges Claxton (who is resigned here) and Johnson plus Murray could help LaVine as well. They resign some of their young guys, and bring in another good two way player in Trent Jr on the NTPMLE plus a couple of vets to fill out the bench.

Potential Rotation:

PG: Murray/Cam Thomas/Denn…

The Mavs are title contenders clearly. They have an awesome team around Luka and Kyrie that fits together perfectly. The main goals are to maintain roster unity, continue to maintain and build chemistry (especially with the midseason acquisitions PJ and Gafford, despite how awesome they have already been), and retain Derrick Jones Jr.

Ideally, Derrick Jones Jr will re-sign with Dallas on a 1+1 contract for the taxpayer MLE of 5.1 million with a player option, which would give Dallas his early bird rights for next off-season. At that point he would opt out of the player option and re-sign with Dallas for a 4 year, 61 million dollar deal. This is the same process that Milwaukee and LAC went through with Bobby Portis and Nicolas Batum in the past (you can read here for more information on the cap mechanics behind this here if you are interested. ).

If he does not want to accept that deal (which, with how he has played so far, could be very likely), then we will need to get a bit more cr…

The Knicks need some scoring punch off the bench. They thought Bojan would be that for them, but he has taken a step back in New York. They opt to replace him by sending him, a protected first round pick and salary filler out to Chicago to get DeMar to run their second unit. DeRozen has asked to be in NY in the past, he is allegedly a "Dream Target" for NY, and will allegedly get a 2 year offer that could pay him "as much as $40 million per season". So the Knicks here pay him slightly less but add an additional year on the the end of the contract to entice him to sign.

The Bulls on the other hand get some young guys who might turn into something, but primarily gets a protected first instead of letting DeMar walk for nothing. Bojan can be potentially flipped at the deadline to a contender or he could just be a veteran presence to soak up some of the shots while Chicago (hopefully) blows it up and tanks….

The Heat need some more scoring punch and some more size. Kuzma will bring them both, and is on a very nice contract that descends in value. Miami will rely on Spolstra and their team system to help Kuzma improve some on the defensive end, and being in a winning situation can lead to big things for a guy like him.

The Wizards get a decent pick in this years draft, but more exciting is a 2030 pick swap. Miami is an old team as currently constructed, so that pick swap could become incredibly valuable down the line. Robinson could also be flipped later on (especially next year when his deal is an expiring) as shooting is always in demand….

The Nets need to shake things up, because as of now they are a bad team without their own draft picks with players who are too old to rebuild. So here they move Bridges and DFS, two very good 2-way wings for a haul centered around draft picks. They pick up the number 8 pick in this draft, in addition to a number of future Orlando picks and a young point guard in Anthony.

Orlando needs shooting around Wagner and Banchero. If your two stars both shoot poorly from 3, you need high level shooters around them. Bridges gives you that, plus some shot creation, very good defense when he is not having to be the number one option, and experience in playing off of high usage guys. They move a lot of draft assets but it is worth it for them to get a guy who slots in perfectly at the 2, helps them maintain their defensive identity, and will open their offense up more.

Cleveland gets in on this to reshuffle their backcourt around Mitchell. They add another pick in the draft, get another future ass…

The Mavs here would acquire a new starter in Caruso who is a perfect fit next to Luka and Kyrie. This would also bolster the bench as you would bring in a high level shooting 4/5 in Collins plus move DJJ to the bench making it very potent defensively. In this scenario DJJ would sign a 1 year deal with a player option added on the same way the Bucks signed Portis, which would allow Dallas to gain his early bird rights and offer a much bigger contract in the 2025 offseason….

New York completes the Nova Knicks group by bringing in Bridges, with DFS tagging along. He is a perfect fit with Thibs, and a wing rotation of Bridges/OG/DFS/Hart is absolutely terrifying for teams to try and score against. This would be an incredibly balanced Knicks team, and if they could get Hartenstein re-signed, they would be incredibly strong. Brunson/Bridges/OG/DFS/Robinson with Hart, Hartenstein, and Donte coming up next off the bench is a very very nice playoff core.

The Thunder need size and strength inside, Chet was getting absolutely bodied by the Mavs bigs this series, so bringing in a guy like Randle would be a huge boost in their biggest weakness. He fits nicely next to Chet, as their strengths compliment each other well, and he would have plenty of space inside to work. He also gives them another option for half-court creation, which they struggled with in the playoffs outside of SGA.

The Nets sell Bridges before his valuable contract has another year off it, and the…

If Donovan Mitchell decides against signing an extension, then moving him this season would be the wisest thing. Here, they get a pair of young players plus a boatload of future picks for two older teams that could become very valuable (Note: MIA 2030 pick is a stand-in for their 2031 pick). Chris Paul is just salary filler, he can either be cut as his contract is non-guaranteed, kept to move at the deadline, or just kept to be a bench vet.

The Heat here move off of Jimmy Butler as they decide that a pairing of Mitchell/Bam is a duo they can build around for the future, while Jimmy is rapidly nearing the end of his peak (and there seems to be some level of tension between the FO and Butler). Donovan would be happy in Miami and would almost certainly re-sign there, and him and Bam are right in the middle of their primes ready to compete for a long while together.

The Warriors have a tiny window if any, so here they go all in to try and get one last run with Curry. They would also then…

The 76ers are in an interesting position with a lot of various ways they could go. If they are unable to sign a guy like LeBron PG or OG, this route could be very interesting. Here, they use their cap space for two moves on the wings. They bring back Jerami Grant and bring in Miles Bridges to start at the 3 and the 4. These are two dynamic, 2-way wings who can compliment Maxey and Embiid very well. Bridges has reportedly been valued at a contract around 100 million dollars, which is what he goes for here. Grant gets moved for some draft assets and Paul Reed, who the Blazers then flip to Denver for some more assets to provide Jokic a backup who can give them some minutes at the 5.

The 76ers then resign a couple of their own guys. Based on the 76ers cap sheet, after these two trades they will have around 5-10 million in cap space left. They use this space to resign Buddy Hield, who had some moments with the 76ers, and should hopefully improve with a full offseason with the team. They wo…

The Pacers are on the cusp of being real contenders for the title, and a trade like this could catapult them into that top tier in the east. They already have a superstar in Haliburton, so surround him with dynamic two way players could make them an elite, balanced team.

Step one is resigning Siakam. He has been a great fit for them so far, and all reports indicate he is a near lock to resign for a max contract extension.

Step two is trading for a pair of New York wings in Bridges and DFS. These are two guys who can space the floor and keep the offense high scoring, but also bring top tier perimeter defense as well.

From there, they can resign Toppin, and still have access to the NTPMLE to get another bench piece.

Their rotation could look like:

Haliburton/Bridges/DFS/Siakam/Turner with McConnell/Nembhard/Sheppard/Toppin/Jackson (could also start Nembhard instead of DFS if they want more ball handling/creation). This would be an absolutely elite defensive team, who can score from …

The Thunder need to get some guys who can play the 4 with some size, and they get two here who can help keep their 5 out offense and can fit with their timeline.

The Cavs get a 3 who can play defense and shoot to help cover up some of their issues you run into while playing 2 smaller guards. (They could move their 2031 pick instead of the 2024 but that is not loaded into the site yet)

The Nets move some older players for a young point guard to help organize their offense and some picks to help reload their draft assets….

Here, the Cavs decided to rebalance the roster around Mitchell and Mobley. Assuming Donovan does not demand a trade, they would be wise to try and maximize his effectiveness, while also choosing to put Mobley in his more natural spot at the 5. Surrounding them with shooters who can either defend and play make with help the offense tremendously, and they should still be very solid defensively. Simmons could potentially give you something off the bench, and worst case he is a huge expiring contract that would either help them make future moves at the deadline or help clear up their books in the future.

The Nets get a young point guard in Garland to pair with Bridges as it seems clear they do not really want to rebuild and seem intent on keeping Mikal.

The Thunder get a real 5 who can help them fix their biggest issues, rebounding and size. Allen will bring a great interior presence and can pair nicely with Chet to make a terrifying defensive front court.

The Jazz decide to move Lauri …

The Cavs here break up the Mitchell-Garland and Allen-Mobley pairings to find more balance in their starting lineup. Nets gets some potentially lucrative future picks plus a nice young player to lead the rebuild, and the Thunder get the big they need to help solve their rebounding and size issues….

According to Zach Lowe, there could be trouble brewing in Miami. If that is to happen, it could create some interesting possibilities.

Here, the Knicks consolidate some of their depth and picks to acquire an elite compliment to Jalen Brunson. This will help push up their ceiling, and a Brunson-OG-Butler-Randle-Hartenstein lineup would be absolutely elite defensively, with plenty of playmaking as well.

The Heat take those assets and first relocate Robinson to Golden State. The Warriors need a real center, and Robinson could thrive with Curry's spacing. They also free up a lot of luxury tax dollars by using CP3's non-guaranteed contract to facilitate.

The Cavs jump in to shake things up, creating a much more balanced lineup around 1 guard, 1 wing, and 1 big in Mitchell-Ingram-Mobley.

The Pelicans realize that Ingram doesn't work great next to Zion, so they get an elite paint protector to replace Jonas and a scorer in LeVert plus an extra pick.

The Heat after the dust settles emerge …