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I think if Chicago made a Butler acquisition that they'd want to pair him with Lavine, so they'd send out Lonzo and Williams instead.
I am not sure if you can make the pick compensation work for all parties concerned, but financially this works:
SAS in Lavine + pick compensation (reduced protections on bulls 1st, MIA 2031 FRP)
SAS out Vassell, Branham, Sissoko
CHI out Lavine (+ maybe a change in protections on the FRP they owe us?)
CHI in Butler + Pick compensation (Miami 2029 FRP)
MIA in Vassell, Branham, Sissoko
MIA out Butler + Pick compensation (2029 and 2031 FRPs ?)
Chi gets out of Lavine's contract a minimal cost (assuming Butler holds true to wanting an extension or will walk; they will simply let Butler walk this offseason, rather than extend him.) also kicks off their tank this year
MIA gets significant value for Butler
SAS upgrades to Lavine and adds future draft compensation
I think if Chicago made a Butler acquisition that they'd want to pair him with Lavine, so they'd send out Lonzo and Williams instead.
I think the idea is that Chicago can accelerate their rebuild and free up space by trading Lavines awful contract for essentially an expiring deal (assuming Butler opts out). I doubt after his first stint there they'd be serious about bringing him back
https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/sto...s-all-30-teams
San Antonio Spurs
Keep an eye on: The timeline around Wembanyama
San Antonio should be excited about its roster.
The veteran presence of Chris Paul and All-NBA play of Victor Wembanyama helped the Spurs reach .500 in mid-January, the latest into a season they've done so since April 2021. San Antonio was 31 games below .500 at the trade deadline last season.
The Spurs are competing for a play-in spot and have the resources to be aggressive at the deadline.
San Antonio has 12 first-round picks over the next seven years and the right to swap first-round picks in three different years. They also have a league-high 20 second-round picks. Besides the haul of draft picks, there is financial flexibility with the roster currently and in the future. No player on the roster earns more than $30 million this season, and San Antonio is one of the few teams to have cap space this summer.
The unlimited resources should come with tepid cautiousness at the deadline, however. The Spurs are in the early to middle stage of learning which players fit around Wembanyama and should not be eager to offer their draft assets.
The big-picture approach should call for San Antonio to use the remaining regular-season games (and perhaps the play-in) to evaluate the roster and take a more aggressive approach this summer.
One trade that works
San Antonio receives:
Brandon Ingram
Daniel Theis
New Orleans receives:
Zach Collins
Keldon Johnson
2027 second-round pick (via Charlotte)
2028 second-round pick (via Denver if 34-60)
The addition of Ingram would give San Antonio another building block to pair with Wembanyama. The Spurs have the future financial flexibility to sign Ingram to an extension after the trade or in free agency. More importantly, the trade does not cost San Antonio one of its future first-round picks.
Top draft assets to use in trades:
2025 and 2027 unprotected first-round picks from Atlanta
The right to swap first-round picks with Atlanta in 2026
Other notable draft assets:
2025 top-10 protected first from Chicago. If the pick is not conveyed, San Antonio will receive a top-8 protected first in either 2026 or 2027.
The right to swap first-round picks in 2028 (Boston if 2-30), 2030 (Dallas or Minnesota if 2-30) and 2031 (Sacramento)
2031 unprotected first from Minnesota
Other notes:
San Antonio is $21 million below the luxury tax.
The Spurs have a $3.2 million exception available to acquire a player in a trade.
That trade is wishful thinking.
Why would NOLA take two negative contracts for no FRP compensation in return?
I like your idea in principle pad300, thanks for sharing. I do see a few problems with it though, at least in my opinion:
1. I don't think that CHI would lessen the protections on the pick in this scenario, which is to help them with their tank. If they're tanking, they're going to want to keep the protections or even get the pick back. With that said, maybe there is a scenario where instead of lessening the protections in this deal, they get that pick back and flip us one of the picks they get from MIA (which I'd assume in this scenario are unprotected?)
2. Apparently the Heat are trying keep their books clean for the Summer of 2026 (which IMO, will go down as a major letdown for a lot of teams. The good news for the Spurs is that a lot of the potential FAs in 2026 are extension eligible this summer and will get taken off the board, so we can quickly pivot away from the idea of an unlikely FA acquisition that summer). If that is true, I don't think they'd be willing to take back Vassell, though Devin's contract isn't that bad so maybe they view it as palatable.
3. I'm not sure that MIA would have to (or even would) give up two picks in this scenario. Everyone is kind of doing each other favors here. MIA gets headache Jimmy off their books, CHI gets off Lavine's money, and SA upgrades their SG position. The Heat could easily just let Jimmy rot on the suspended list and opt out this summer and be done with him - they don't need to pay to get rid of him. Worst case for MIA is that Jimmy opts in and they are in the same spot of having to find a home for him.
It's a good concept though - I love thinking through these scenarios (understanding that they are extremely unlikely. Some people on this board can't seem to grasp that some of us simply enjoy thinking through these scenarios). This one was fun to think about!
For sure... a bizarre proposal to even put down on paper. But if they Spurs COULD do this, they definitely should even if they had no intentions of keeping BI. You get a look at the team with another high performer, you get two negative assets off your books (though Collins might turn into a neutral or slightly positive asset as an expiring after the season). But yeah, it makes zero sense for NOLA.
Certainly there has got to be some team out there we can con into thinking Keldon is at least neutral. If all we did this year was get rid of him at the deadline, I think it would free up our ability to really evaluate this team with proper rotations. Just get him out of the way so that Champ can play fulltime backup SF and we can see how the team flows from there. Mitching forcing Keldon minutes every game is killing us. Similar can be said of Tre though he's not as big of a negative. But those backup PG minutes should go to Blake to see if there is any future there.
Since you mentioned 2026, here's the list of notable free agents:
Lillard - will be 36 before the season starts.
Lebron - hopefully he retires, enough is enough.
Beal - do I need to say anything?
Jimmy - he'll probably get a deal this summer.
KD - I'm actually interested, he'll play until they carry him out in a body bag.
Lavine - no.
Trae - we can only hope he leaves the Hawks.
Luka - no way he doesn't sign an extension.
FVV - no.
Kyrie - too old at that point.
Harden - even older.
Ayton - China awaits.
Fox - he'll extend or get traded this summer.
CJ - no.
Middleton - already beyond washed.
Porzingis - huge injury risk.
Randle - dubious handle.
Hartenstein - no.
Wiggins - will probably pick up his option for another year.
JJJ - will extend or get traded this summer.
Tobias - no.
John Collins - interesting rotation player.
Simons - inefficent chucker.
Draymond - no.
Rozier - no.
Mikal Bridges - potentially interesting, but probably stays with the Knicks.
KCP - too old.
Gordon - no way he leaves Jokic.
Vucevic - too old.
Poeltl - maybe as a backup?
Smart - no.
Those are all the 2026 free agents making $20M or more in 25-26 season.
Very few targets for us, arguably not a single legit starter.
We're not getting a second star via free agency any time soon.
2027 also doesn't have anyone other than Mitc and 33 year old Giannis.
Forget about free agency when it comes to big names.
Fox is the only realistic name for the Spurs on that list if we're talking all-stars.
Yeah, I hope we see that Luka extension this summer (we should) just so I can stop hear people talking about how we can't do anything because Luka is a FA in 2026.
I lived through waiting for Jermaine O'Neal and Corey Maggette to be Free AgentsI know better now.
In theory, Ingram would be a great fit.
He's just too big of a risk now to give up FRPs for.
He's averaged between 4.9 and 5.8 assists over the past 5 seasons, just what we need from forward position.
Not an elite 3pt shooter, but 37% on 4 attempts is solid enough. He's a great mid-range scorer, suffers from DDR syndrome.
Healthy Ingram on Devin money would most definitely be an upgrade, but as I said I don't believe he'll ever be healthy enough.
As you said, getting rid of Keldon would be a win in itself, he serves no purpose on this roster.
LeBowen let's get the Fox thread up to 100 pages
i dont like BI much. he should be a lot better than he is. plus i think he's set to get grossly overpaid given his production, but yeah dumping zollins and keldon for him without giving up a FRP seems pretty win/win. tho he probably leaves in the offseason and signs with brooklyn. but you get off those bad deals early and potentially BI ends up a S&T player if he doesnt sign somewhere outright. but you dont make this move if you are dead set on trading for a huge star and feel you need keldon/zollins for salary filler.
as for fox, he looks like a legit #2. i'd be pretty flexible to make that deal work.
NO would be idiots to do this trade with their cap situation. They need cap relief, not long term contracts. Bobby Marks is usually good with his stuff but this proposed trade is straight out of an average reddit thread. Not much thought went into it but suppose he had to write something for the Spurs too.
Last edited by BG_Spurs_Fan; 01-28-2025 at 03:29 PM.
That trade is a pipe dream. NOLA ain't doing that dumb . Spurs are more likely to play this season out, continue to evaluate the talent we have, see where our draft picks wind up, and then go from there. They've said they're going to be patient with this process and I have no reason not to believe them. If a deal is going to be made, it is much more likely to be done this Summer once the season is over, and I'm fine with that tbh.
Butler isn't opting out of $50+M. He can't recoup that on the open market. Chicago won't trade for him if they want to rebuild quickly (which was the premis of his idea).
Maybe they don't see them as negative contracts.... really, that's all I've got...
How about 8 SRPs instead of 2?
NO still hangs up the phone.
Now that's a Shambomb or whatever they call it. Shamgod handing down a stone tablet?
scott we back!
Collins for Nurkiç, whoever for Jimmy Butler.
Make it happen.
Yes! Good news, finally! Even if it leads to a broken heart, at least i have hope for the time being!
In b4 his destination is the Lakers tbh.
I would wait for the offseason and see where those picks are before trading them unless the Spurs are all-out on the lottery and all-in on competing for a play-in spot.
I’d be interested in Naz Reid if the T-Wolves put him on the market.
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