I don't really see many scenarios where the Lakers add any sizeable financial commitments beyond this year with LeBron set to hit free agency. I'd imagine that they save their cap space to try and lure a third star to convince LBJ to come back and that he'll sign something like a 1+1 deal next year so he can potentially opt out to sign with a team if they draft his son.
I doubt the Celtics do it but it's tempting. Gives us 2 complimentary key players. Most of those picks are the lesser of our pick assets and Boston would know it.
It would have to be a 3rd team involved since Celtics dont want to take a step back like this right now. But this is possible.
In a scenario that Brown asks out I'd guess we'd offer one of the better packages tbh.
I mentioned this in the Mitchell thread but I think Brown is probably one of the few stars in the league that we'd be able to retain. I'd only trade for him under the condition that he signs a new deal with us immediately. But he's a quirky guy that was a top recruit coming out of HS but chose to attend a non-contending team at UC Berkeley. I'd also assume that he has good relationships with Ainge/Hardy from their time working with him in Boston. And you'd be selling him on the idea of coming here to be truly 1A/1B with one of his good friends in Donovan rather than being stuck in Tatum's shadow with a team that is actively trying to trade him.
They couldn't take on all four of those guys because they'd have to send back like $60M in salary.
It's still pretty insane to me that the only time we've had 2 20+ ppg guys on the same team in modern Jazz history was in 2020 with Don/Bojan.
No, cuz I am ready to embrace the tank.
Assuming Don is eventually traded to NYK I don't even think a year tanking would be terrible to watch with a young coach and a roster full of young talent playing. I'd guess we'd land Toppin/Grimes from the Knicks and could see us also pushing to add Sexton in another move so we'd have those three along with Vanderbilt, Kessler, Udoka, Bolmaro, NAW, Butler, and Simone playing heavy minutes.
There are rumblings he may not want to stay in Boston...
Nope. That would essentially be trading Rudy for Brown, and giving them extra stuff to get Brown. Way too much for Brown. Take off all picks except the 2027 one and only offer Conley, Bolmaro/Kessler, and maybe Clarkson in the mix. But the way this is laid out it is basically taking everything we got for Rudy and spending it to dump Conley and get Brown.
Brown's a 25 year old wing that has averaged 25/6/4 over the last 2 years and is probably a top 25 player in the league now. If you told me we could trade Rudy for Brown straight up I would've done it in a heartbeat.
Having two 25 year old star players that average 25+ ppg and have room to grow gets us nowhere? If we tank the absolute best case scenario would be to land a duo as good as Don/Brown.
Brown is a top 25 player in the NBA that has averaged 25/6/4 on top tier efficiency and was the Celtics best player in the NBA finals, lol.
Um, 20, 24, and 23, not 25. Still won't do anything to make us better right now, not enough to get us over the hump. And we gave away the perfect complementary player for those 2 in Gobert. We know you hate Gobert and value him at less than zero, but your false impression of him doesn't justify giving away the house for a secondary player. The Celtics have that right now with Brown and Tatum. Why would they give that away for 1st round picks (late ones at that) and a washed PG and filler? Makes no sense at all. We would still be a play-in team at best, struggle in the 6-10 range for 3 years, then Mitchell asks out anyway. Nope. Trade one, trade both, scorched earth. The only way to go right now.
He averaged 24.7 ppg in 20/21 and 23.6 ppg in 21/22, lol. You don't think that adding Brown would make us better? Donovan and Brown would literally be the best scoring duo in the history of the franchise. And this trade would be under the pretense that he asks to be traded which has been picking up some steam after the news broke that they were willing to move him for Durant. Brown is a top 25 player in the league, is only 25 and has gotten better year after year, lol.
