Handlogten's Heros
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Because they might be on the verge of doing the Pacers trade. The Pacers got impatient this offseason and yolo'd an offer sheet to Ayton. Might have said they need an answer now and Lakers needed a good faith deposit to holdoff. We were fine with that deposit being non-refundable if they change their mind.Duren was traded for Kemba and it was agreed on draft day. A few days later Burks-Noel were traded for seconds. I don't think that trade happens if Duren is not there on the board, and there's a lot to work out in a short period of time. It's not a similar situation, and I'm not convinced the DET thing was a down payment situation either.
If the WB trade happens, I don't think it's because the Jazz did them a favor. I think it's because they are 100% sure about the THT part and less than 100% sure about the WB part. Why would you do the Lakers a favor and risk taking a worse deal when there is zero downside to waiting a week or two? Like what happens if you do the Lakers a favor and then they change their mind on paying you back for it? A WB trade is still possible, but this down payment stuff doesn't add up lol. I'm 99% sure the Jazz did the THT-Bev trade because they thought it was good and not because they're giving the Lakers a down payment.
Why not clear all the salary at once. They might not have known for sure on Jalen... but it really seemed like Det/NY deal was "he we will do this deal now... give us the option to come back later if we need more space". It would have been really easy to project Duren being on the board. It wasn't a surprise.