The funny part about this is that the actual treadmill move would be resigning Hayward. They re-signed Millsap and ruined a similar rebuild. Before that, they paid too much for AK and limited their rebuilding oppurtunities. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. We've been down this path of overpaying decent players and it results in failure everytime. The issue isn't Hayward, it's the situation. In an ideal world we would keep Hayward. Great guy, good player, the type of guy you want on your team. But in the current situation you can't keep him and win. There is no path with him on a max deal that ends well. Because you have to pay Gobert, Favors, Exum and Hood right after him. Go through the scenarios. Who do you lose because of his contract effecting cap space? How do you improve with no cap room and poor draft picks? Most importantly, where do you find your star?
Jaylen Brown and Jamal Murray might not be stars. Personally I would have taken Boston up on the #3 pick to take Buddy Hield. I do think he'll be a star. But whether anyone we could have taken at #3 would or would not have been the star we need is irrelevant. The key thing we gain from trading Hayward is just as valuable, time. Time can be everything. With Hayward's massive contract not in our way we can resign Gobert, Favors, Exum and Hood without touching the cap. And we would still be competitive. If the #3 pick hits and is a star, we are perennial championship contenders. If not, we bought ourselves several years to find that star.
