Zion Can Save the Tank

[Handlogten's Heros]

There are moments of clarity where you suddenly see the true insanity of the galaxy-brained tankers who have lost all contact with what makes this sport great. It's like peering into the depths of hell. You shudder, shake your head and look away, leaving them to shout about their outlandish sabotage scenarios from the depths of their armchairs.

This is one of those moments.

This is somewhat a tongue in cheek idea lol... but it is similar to what Raps did with Ingram. Seems to be working out for them but whatevs... we should push for 30 wins.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Im not advocating for trading a young guy for Zion. But trading Zion is still going to require getting something hopeful in return from the Pelicans perspective.

I think the clippers should look hard at trading for Zion. Their entire roster is locked up for 2 years. Getting Zion would help them reset below the cap and give them hope for a future asset.

I don't know that they will get much more than some guys that can play and some scraps tbh. Its not an easy contract to match salaries with. Not sure who is really in the position. Kings maybe?

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

FWIW, I think some of his contract will be guaranteed. 20-60% is most likely depending on how many games he would play this year.

But I also love how convince ourselves that we're a major FA destination whenever the FO says "flexibility".

I think I saw somewhere like 7M or something like that. The contract is a bit of a mystery.

All I know is if he plays the amount he needs to earn the guarantees... then you may have gotten a cheap all-star. If not, you can waive him with a small cap hit. Its a low risk but highly likely to be a loss proposition. I might not put the draft capital required to get it done... but if its a few seconds (NOP don't have hardly any seconds) I don't think its really a loss if we improve our current draft positioning.

 

[KqWIN]

I think I saw somewhere like 7M or something like that. The contract is a bit of a mystery.

All I know is if he plays the amount he needs to earn the guarantees... then you may have gotten a cheap all-star. If not, you can waive him with a small cap hit. Its a low risk but highly likely to be a loss proposition. I might not put the draft capital required to get it done... but if its a few seconds (NOP don't have hardly any seconds) I don't think its really a loss if we improve our current draft positioning.

Sportrac has it as follows:

20% - Weight. body fat, injury benchmarks (right foot injury) - These are unclear, especially the right foot injury specification, but I'm assuming he clears this benchmark.
40% - 41 games played
20% - 51 games played
20% - 61 games played

Guarantee date for each season is 7/15. So for the 2025-26 season, it all gets guaranteed 7/15/25 (after the moratorium).

If we traded for Zion, I would do so under the impression that we're guaranteeing his salary for next season and just trying it out for at least one year. That would eat up our cap space, so if you're hoping to win the Grimes sweepstakes a trade like this could be a barrier.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Sportrac has it as follows:

20% - Weight. body fat, injury benchmarks (right foot injury) - These are unclear, especially the right foot injury specification, but I'm assuming he clears this benchmark.
40% - 41 games played
20% - 51 games played
20% - 61 games played

Guarantee date for each season is 7/15. So for the 2025-26 season, it all gets guaranteed 7/15/25 (after the moratorium).

If we traded for Zion, I would do so under the impression that we're guaranteeing his salary for next season and just trying it out for at least one year. That would eat up our cap space, so if you're hoping to win the Grimes sweepstakes a trade like this could be a barrier.

MLE might get Grimes... it might not... but it might be enough.

I would want to buy low enough that you'd be okay waiving him this offseason if you didn't like what you saw... that might be too low of a price for the Pelicans BUT this is Joe Dumars so maybe?

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Zion should be pretty motivated to come back and play 31 more games. I don't know if he can do it. Might be like a 4-6 week injury then he'd have to play like 75-80% of the games. That would throw a kink into my tank goal with the deal.

I think I prefer just offloading the vets in a Clips deal that is more simple.

 

[Jaanipoeg]

I wouldn't hate it, out of the Trae/Zion/Ja trio of youngish locker room messes I would bet on Zion the most. Probably would be noticeably worse swapping Nurkic/Svi/Kyle for young player minutes, as sad of a statement as that is.

Don't intend to understand the contract guarantees, but two seasons after this season isn't much given our current trajectory. Plus big expirings have value of their own in this cap environment.

 

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depending on draft picks included, I would be very interested in that trade