Spurs trade ideas

[rankingtear]

i remember timvp had written an article or two about how when the spurs brass was scouting wemby, they thought Jacob Poodle would actually be such a great fit with him that it gave them some pause before trading him to the raptors

they also went after brook but the plan was to slowly acclimate him physically, it is year 3 now and it is all about optimizing roster for wins.

[mo7888]

Assuming we stand pat and pick Harper at #2 I really think we need to package Devin + Keldon somewhere. I could see Brooklyn being interested and I could see Philly wanting to move George, and, of course, Phoenix needs to move KD.

I do like the Cam Johnson fit, but I wouldn't give more than #14 + srp's (yes, I know they have multiple firsts this year).

I also like the idea of adding a vet 3/4 like KD or PG. KD more on strictly court value and PG for on court value + a good vet that won't expect to be an alpha anymore.

Tobias Harris is another in that mold but, I doubt he's available. Middleton is available and a good locker room guy if he stays healthy.

Who do you like in that role?

[RC_Drunkford]

Assuming we stand pat and pick Harper at #2 I really think we need to package Devin + Keldon somewhere. I could see Brooklyn being interested and I could see Philly wanting to move George, and, of course, Phoenix needs to move KD.

I do like the Cam Johnson fit, but I wouldn't give more than #14 + srp's (yes, I know they have multiple firsts this year).

I also like the idea of adding a vet 3/4 like KD or PG. KD more on strictly court value and PG for on court value + a good vet that won't expect to be an alpha anymore.

Tobias Harris is another in that mold but, I doubt he's available. Middleton is available and a good locker room guy if he stays healthy.

Who do you like in that role?

I don't like none of these guys and wouldn't trade any picks for them. We need rebounding and defense. KD doesn't rebound nor defend, Harris is too old, Middleton is washed and nobody wants PG13 on that contract. Cam Johnson is 30 and is too slow footed to guard any other position besides PFs. If you tell me we can sign them as free agents, sure. But I'm not sending out picks, we don't really have any extra picks left after this draft, just swaps.

I'm not trading Spurs picks for players 30+. I'd rather take my chances drafting one of Fleming/Bryant and hoping they develop into solid 3-and-D rotation players.

Targets to sign are the usual suspects as mentioned before by many:

John Collins, Naz Reid, Santi Aldama and Jabari Smith Jr. with Collins being the most realistic option. He got a player option and weather he opts in or out we can get him for Keldon, Branham and 2-3 second round picks. That would be the best fix for the 4 spot.

You get a versatile player who can put up 17/8 and play in and outside who shoots 40% from 3 on 3.7 attempts and can play here for at least 4 years on a good contract. If he opts out it's a sign and trade with market value being 80-90/4 years. You could sign him on a frontloaded deal structured like 23, 21, 19, 17 or something like that, giving you more flexibility down the line as the cap jumps up. That's the move we should make.

[mo7888]

I don't like none of these guys and wouldn't trade any picks for them. We need rebounding and defense. KD doesn't rebound nor defend, Harris is too old, Middleton is washed and nobody wants PG13 on that contract. Cam Johnson is 30 and is too slow footed to guard any other position besides PFs. If you tell me we can sign them as free agents, sure. But I'm not sending out picks, we don't really have any extra picks left after this draft, just swaps.

I'm not trading Spurs picks for players 30+. I'd rather take my chances drafting one of Fleming/Bryant and hoping they develop into solid 3-and-D rotation players.

Targets to sign are the usual suspects as mentioned before by many:

John Collins, Naz Reid, Santi Aldama and Jabari Smith Jr. with Collins being the most realistic option. He got a player option and weather he opts in or out we can get him for Keldon, Branham and 2-3 second round picks. That would be the best fix for the 4 spot.

You get a versatile player who can put up 17/8 and play in and outside who shoots 40% from 3 on 3.7 attempts and can play here for at least 4 years on a good contract. If he opts out it's a sign and trade with market value being 80-90/4 years. You could sign him on a frontloaded deal structured like 23, 21, 19, 17 or something like that, giving you more flexibility down the line as the cap jumps up. That's the move we should make.

I'd rather add a vet presence. PG would be my preference here, but I wouldn't be sending out picks for him. They'd need to come our way in a deal.

I do like Collins though, I doubt we could get him with just 2nd's though, but if there willing then do it.

[RC_Drunkford]

I'd rather add a vet presence. PG would be my preference here, but I wouldn't be sending out picks for him. They'd need to come our way in a deal.

I do like Collins though, I doubt we could get him with just 2nd's though, but if there willing then do it.

you do realize that you would pay washed up Paul George 56 million in 27/28 with Fox on a max deal and Wemby up for a max extension right? Spurs would themselves for no reason if that was the case. Would be a re ed trade.

[mo7888]

you do realize that you would pay washed up Paul George 56 million in 27/28 with Fox on a max deal and Wemby up for a max extension right? Spurs would themselves for no reason if that was the case. Would be a re ed trade.

I don't think he's washed yet (but he is overpaid). Also (and i could be wrong), but Wemby's extension doesn't start until PG comes off. So we wouldn't have over two max contracts at any given time. Maybe my timeliness off on Wemby though.

[CGD]

Assuming we stand pat and pick Harper at #2 I really think we need to package Devin + Keldon somewhere. I could see Brooklyn being interested and I could see Philly wanting to move George, and, of course, Phoenix needs to move KD.

I do like the Cam Johnson fit, but I wouldn't give more than #14 + srp's (yes, I know they have multiple firsts this year).

I also like the idea of adding a vet 3/4 like KD or PG. KD more on strictly court value and PG for on court value + a good vet that won't expect to be an alpha anymore.

Tobias Harris is another in that mold but, I doubt he's available. Middleton is available and a good locker room guy if he stays healthy.

Who do you like in that role?

I'm with you, but I'm struggling to find a good trade. I dont think its wise to just trade them for lateral pieces, and its probably also smart to see how things shape out with teams hitting the second aprons who don't want to take too much of step back (e.g., Boston).

Until he was traded to Cleveland, I thought Keldon + an asset for Hunter would have been a good upgrade at wing. I assume he's locked into Cleveland now though.

[RC_Drunkford]

I don't think he's washed yet (but he is overpaid). Also (and i could be wrong), but Wemby's extension doesn't start until PG comes off. So we wouldn't have over two max contracts at any given time. Maybe my timeliness off on Wemby though.

Wemby's extension kicks in in 2027, Castle 2028. Paul George has a player option in 2028 for 56 million while being 39 years old and guess what: he won't opt out.

[scott]

PG13 is the worst contract in the league right now. PHI is going to have to attach multiple picks to shed themselves of it if they need to.

[Trueblood]

So if they’re going to target Harper and run a three guard set does it make sense to target a trade for Markkanen? He’s on a bloated contract and he has a down year which could mean he could be gotten for a lot cheaper than last year. I think with a lineup of

PG: Fox
SG: Harper
SF: Castle
PF: Markkanen
C: Wemby

would be pretty stout.

The pros are he’s a great three point shooter so between him and Wemby we would have two out there hitting above league average. It would be our bigs stretching the floor which would open the lanes for our guards. We would still have two seven footers out there to rebound and Wemby can make up for some of Markkanen’s defensive deficiencies.

The cons I see are they would still be asking a lot for him, he’s never been a stellar rebounder, and his contract situation could clog things up with extensions down the road.

Overall I still like the idea and think we should explore it.

[RC_Drunkford]

Just get John Collins who put up better stats than Lauri and costs 16 million less

[Degoat]

Boy what a difference a year makes, embarrassment of riches tbh lol brainstorming the team make up we have to trade somebody significant.

One of Dev or KJ has to go right?

[baseline bum]

Markannen is way too expensive after the Spurs got Fox. Ainge had his chance to get a good return for him last summer and blew it.

[Obstructed_View]

Boy what a difference a year makes, embarrassment of riches tbh lol brainstorming the team make up we have to trade somebody significant.

One of Dev or KJ has to go right?

[Chinook]

I'm all on the KD train. Spurs feel like the best place for Durant to write the end of his NBA story, and he's easily the best target for them to go for considering his age, skill-set and relationship with Wemby. If the Suns don't want Vassell, the Spurs can JUST BARELY match Durant's contract with Johnson, Barnes and Sochan. (They could replace Jeremy with two of Branham, Wesley or Champagnie, but I'm hoping Sochan adds value to the trade. Otherwise, the Spurs can keep Sochan and have a much stronger front court rotation.) Trading three forwards for one is bad, especially if 14 is also going out. The Spurs could also try to add in a Branham-for-O'Neale trade into the mix, which would give the Spurs much-needed forward depth.

So Harper at 2, 14 going out as part of the trade package for Durant, 38 gets packaged with a handful of seconds to get the Spurs into the bottom of the second-round where they can take a center before the run on them starts. I'm just going to pencil in Raynaud at 27. Someone mentioned Bobby Portis, a guy I've been high on for years now. I don't know how well he could hold up as the backup center, but theoretically he allows the Spurs to keep Raynaud (/another young center) on the bench for a couple of years to learn while giving the Spurs a jumbo look with he and Wemby playing together. I think he's likely to opt in unless some team informs his agent they'd be willing to give him a long-term deal that would justify leaving the option behind. Maybe three years at the full MLE with the last year being a team option would be enough to sway him? I honestly don't know if the Spurs NEED to bring in someone to take the final rotation spot (backup wing) given they have Fox, Harper, Castle and Vassell as the primary perimeter guys with Champagnie being good enough to get minutes and O'Neal/Durant also likely to grab minutes there. I'm just going to put Burks in there as a vet-min guy who can play both guard positions. Below is the roster with the two-way guys from last year filling in slots the probably wouldn't hold in the real world with the team going into the season as at worst a dark-horse contender.

Fox, Harper, Wesley
Vassell, Burks, Duke
Castle, Champagnie, Minix
Durant, O'Neal, Ingram
Wembayama, Portis, Raynaud

That's a pretty good team. The biggest swing factor to me on the off-season would be how much did it cost to get Durant while keeping the rest of the core? This is a really good roster for this stage of Wemby's development, but it's not so good that the team should be giving up multiple premium selections to make it happen. They're still reliant on Vassell figuring out how to be a productive role-player and for Castle to learn how to shoot and defend. The talent and potential are there, but it's probably too early for the Spurs' draft outlook to be en bered but a lot of future commitments

[T Park]

Durant fell off a cliff defensively, is 36 and getting slower, injury prone and you'd be paying him over 50 million.

The guy to go after, if they'll accept reality, and would fit perfectly is Bam in Miami.....

[baseline bum]

I'm all on the KD train. Spurs feel like the best place for Durant to write the end of his NBA story, and he's easily the best target for them to go for considering his age, skill-set and relationship with Wemby. If the Suns don't want Vassell, the Spurs can JUST BARELY match Durant's contract with Johnson, Barnes and Sochan. (They could replace Jeremy with two of Branham, Wesley or Champagnie, but I'm hoping Sochan adds value to the trade. Otherwise, the Spurs can keep Sochan and have a much stronger front court rotation.) Trading three forwards for one is bad, especially if 14 is also going out. The Spurs could also try to add in a Branham-for-O'Neale trade into the mix, which would give the Spurs much-needed forward depth.

So Harper at 2, 14 going out as part of the trade package for Durant, 38 gets packaged with a handful of seconds to get the Spurs into the bottom of the second-round where they can take a center before the run on them starts. I'm just going to pencil in Raynaud at 27. Someone mentioned Bobby Portis, a guy I've been high on for years now. I don't know how well he could hold up as the backup center, but theoretically he allows the Spurs to keep Raynaud (/another young center) on the bench for a couple of years to learn while giving the Spurs a jumbo look with he and Wemby playing together. I think he's likely to opt in unless some team informs his agent they'd be willing to give him a long-term deal that would justify leaving the option behind. Maybe three years at the full MLE with the last year being a team option would be enough to sway him? I honestly don't know if the Spurs NEED to bring in someone to take the final rotation spot (backup wing) given they have Fox, Harper, Castle and Vassell as the primary perimeter guys with Champagnie being good enough to get minutes and O'Neal/Durant also likely to grab minutes there. I'm just going to put Burks in there as a vet-min guy who can play both guard positions. Below is the roster with the two-way guys from last year filling in slots the probably wouldn't hold in the real world with the team going into the season as at worst a dark-horse contender.

Fox, Harper, Wesley
Vassell, Burks, Duke
Castle, Champagnie, Minix
Durant, O'Neal, Ingram
Wembayama, Portis, Raynaud

That's a pretty good team. The biggest swing factor to me on the off-season would be how much did it cost to get Durant while keeping the rest of the core? This is a really good roster for this stage of Wemby's development, but it's not so good that the team should be giving up multiple premium selections to make it happen. They're still reliant on Vassell figuring out how to be a productive role-player and for Castle to learn how to shoot and defend. The talent and potential are there, but it's probably too early for the Spurs' draft outlook to be en bered but a lot of future commitments

Durant is problematic because of the two year extension he'll want. If he wants that at 35% supermax it's a complete no-go since it'll put the Spurs deep into the tax the first year of Victor's supermax. If he's willing to take a two year $60 million extension I'd be on board, especially since the Spurs could use Bird rights to frontload it with a $50 million first year and then a $10 million second year so KD would be making $54M, $50M, $10M over the next three years. Also if I'm sending Sochan and #14 out they have to take Vassell, not Barnes. Vassell, Sochan, Branham, Wesley, and #14 for Durant on draft night works under the cap and cuts significant payroll from the Suns. Vassell has to be the odd man out if drafting Harper.

[baseline bum]

Spurs would still be around $22M under the luxury tax with that trade too, so they could use the MLE. I like the Portis idea a lot.

Opening night rotation:

G Fox/Harper
G Castle/Harper/Champ
SF Barnes/Champ/Johnson
PF Durant/Portis/Barnes
C Wemby/Portis

Not sure if I'd start HB for the shooting or Champ for the defense. Keldon's minutes would get slashed while Harper would get a ton of playing time and Champ would only get spot minutes at guard but decent minutes at the SF.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

Durant is problematic because of the two year extension he'll want. If he wants that at 35% supermax it's a complete no-go since it'll put the Spurs deep into the tax the first year of Victor's supermax. If he's willing to take a two year $60 million extension I'd be on board, especially since the Spurs could use Bird rights to frontload it with a $50 million first year and then a $10 million second year so KD would be making $54M, $50M, $10M over the next three years. Also if I'm sending Sochan and #14 out they have to take Vassell, not Barnes. Vassell, Sochan, Branham, Wesley, and #14 for Durant on draft night works under the cap and cuts significant payroll from the Suns. Vassell has to be the odd man out if drafting Harper.

This extension wouldn't be legal because it violates the max 8% raise/decline rule. Technically there could be ways to kinda sorta do it but it's pointless to entertain it as Durant wouldn't accept it.

I'm still on the Durant train, because he'd be so ideal for this team, but getting pick 2 instead of pick 8 or 9 complicates the situation. A deal around pick 2 would be a hefty price, a deal around 14 would be too low and some team will easily outbid. The only chance would be trading some of the good future picks and I'm not sure whether either Spurs or Suns would be happy to do it. Suns aren't going to tank , they'll want good players in return. A three team trade could possibly do it, but it's complicated as good things would have to come from the Spurs to both Suns and the 3rd team.

Unfortunately it appears Durant to Spurs is unlikely at this point.

On the other hand, for the Spurs, building organically around 3 top 4 picks sounds the most conservative and safe route. Give it a year and see where they are.

[baseline bum]

This extension wouldn't be legal because it violates the max 8% raise/decline rule. Technically there could be ways to kinda sorta do it but it's pointless to entertain it as Durant wouldn't accept it.

I'm still on the Durant train, because he'd be so ideal for this team, but getting pick 2 instead of pick 8 or 9 complicates the situation. A deal around pick 2 would be a hefty price, a deal around 14 would be too low and some team will easily outbid. The only chance would be trading some of the good future picks and I'm not sure whether either Spurs or Suns would be happy to do it. Suns aren't going to tank , they'll want good players in return. A three team trade could possibly do it, but it's complicated as good things would have to come from the Spurs to both Suns and the 3rd team.

Unfortunately it appears Durant to Spurs is unlikely at this point.

On the other hand, for the Spurs, building organically around 3 top 4 picks sounds the most conservative and safe route. Give it a year and see where they are.

I think it would still be workable with a more evenly spread 2 years, $60 million, say frontloaded to $31.25M first year, $28.75M second. I think Lowe was hinting Durant will be willing to take less to get to a better situtation so if he's willing to play for $30M a year in his age 38 and 39 seasons it's probably doable. I'm not sure Phoenix is going to get that great of offers for KD. Sochan, 14, Vassell might get it done.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

I think it would still be workable with a more evenly spread 2 years, $60 million, say frontloaded to $31.25M first year, $28.75M second. I think Lowe was hinting Durant will be willing to take less to get to a better situtation so if he's willing to play for $30M a year in his age 38 and 39 seasons it's probably doable. I'm not sure Phoenix is going to get that great of offers for KD. Sochan, 14, Vassell might get it done.

Yeah if Suns are happy with this offer I’m doing it even if Durant wants his full extension. Spurs can manage it for that one year when Wemby’s max kicks in.

[Ice009]

I wasn't too interested in getting Durant due to what it's likely to cost, but if the Spurs can get something reasonable done, I'd be in on it. I really think he can teach Victor quite a bit and help him increase his game even more. This really is the major thing to me, how much he can help Victor more so than only his on court production, what he could teach Victor could be very beneficial to his game.

[RC_Drunkford]

I'm all on the KD train. Spurs feel like the best place for Durant to write the end of his NBA story, and he's easily the best target for them to go for considering his age, skill-set and relationship with Wemby. If the Suns don't want Vassell, the Spurs can JUST BARELY match Durant's contract with Johnson, Barnes and Sochan. (They could replace Jeremy with two of Branham, Wesley or Champagnie, but I'm hoping Sochan adds value to the trade. Otherwise, the Spurs can keep Sochan and have a much stronger front court rotation.) Trading three forwards for one is bad, especially if 14 is also going out. The Spurs could also try to add in a Branham-for-O'Neale trade into the mix, which would give the Spurs much-needed forward depth.

So Harper at 2, 14 going out as part of the trade package for Durant, 38 gets packaged with a handful of seconds to get the Spurs into the bottom of the second-round where they can take a center before the run on them starts. I'm just going to pencil in Raynaud at 27. Someone mentioned Bobby Portis, a guy I've been high on for years now. I don't know how well he could hold up as the backup center, but theoretically he allows the Spurs to keep Raynaud (/another young center) on the bench for a couple of years to learn while giving the Spurs a jumbo look with he and Wemby playing together. I think he's likely to opt in unless some team informs his agent they'd be willing to give him a long-term deal that would justify leaving the option behind. Maybe three years at the full MLE with the last year being a team option would be enough to sway him? I honestly don't know if the Spurs NEED to bring in someone to take the final rotation spot (backup wing) given they have Fox, Harper, Castle and Vassell as the primary perimeter guys with Champagnie being good enough to get minutes and O'Neal/Durant also likely to grab minutes there. I'm just going to put Burks in there as a vet-min guy who can play both guard positions. Below is the roster with the two-way guys from last year filling in slots the probably wouldn't hold in the real world with the team going into the season as at worst a dark-horse contender.

Fox, Harper, Wesley
Vassell, Burks, Duke
Castle, Champagnie, Minix
Durant, O'Neal, Ingram
Wembayama, Portis, Raynaud

That's a pretty good team. The biggest swing factor to me on the off-season would be how much did it cost to get Durant while keeping the rest of the core? This is a really good roster for this stage of Wemby's development, but it's not so good that the team should be giving up multiple premium selections to make it happen. They're still reliant on Vassell figuring out how to be a productive role-player and for Castle to learn how to shoot and defend. The talent and potential are there, but it's probably too early for the Spurs' draft outlook to be en bered but a lot of future commitments

this might be the worst offseason scenario that I've seen upto now. You are giving up young players and assets for a bunch of players on the wrong side of 30. I'd much rather sign Kornet in the offseason as a back up C who just had 10/9 with 7 blocks yesterday.

PJ Washington, John Collins and Hachimura all have only 1 year left on their deals and the Spurs have lined up their contracts to have only 44.5 million on the books in 2026 (with Keldon and Vassell). Of course you have to add in Fox' and Sochan's extension as well as the rookie contracts coming in, but we could easily sign one of these guys regardless. Or just trade for them this summer or at the deadline. If we can get PJ while giving Dallas the swap back and rerouting a guard to them in a 3-team deal for Keldon or get John Collins for Keldon + Branham and second round picks we'd have our PF for the next 4 years.

Draft a 3-and-D wing with 14 and a 3rd string big project in the second round.

Fox/Harper/Wesley
Castle/Champagnie
Vassell/Barnes/Bryant
Washington/Sochan
Wemby/Kornet/Kalkbrenner or whoever is there

the 2 open spots should be some 3rd string shooters with at least one of them being a vet. This leaves you with all your assets in tact, a PF that's part of the core and a good rotation with 3rd string players that can take a bench role in the future. You then proceed to add more guys in the 2026 offseason when Barnes comes off the books and can free up more money if you trade Vassell.

[mystargtr34]

this might be the worst offseason scenario that I've seen upto now. You are giving up young players and assets for a bunch of players on the wrong side of 30. I'd much rather sign Kornet in the offseason as a back up C who just had 10/9 with 7 blocks yesterday.

PJ Washington, John Collins and Hachimura all have only 1 year left on their deals and the Spurs have lined up their contracts to have only 44.5 million on the books in 2026 (with Keldon and Vassell). Of course you have to add in Fox' and Sochan's extension as well as the rookie contracts coming in, but we could easily sign one of these guys regardless. Or just trade for them this summer or at the deadline. If we can get PJ while giving Dallas the swap back and rerouting a guard to them in a 3-team deal for Keldon or get John Collins for Keldon + Branham and second round picks we'd have our PF for the next 4 years.

Draft a 3-and-D wing with 14 and a 3rd string big project in the second round.

Fox/Harper/Wesley
Castle/Champagnie
Vassell/Barnes/Bryant
Washington/Sochan
Wemby/Kornet/Kalkbrenner or whoever is there

the 2 open spots should be some 3rd string shooters with at least one of them being a vet. This leaves you with all your assets in tact, a PF that's part of the core and a good rotation with 3rd string players that can take a bench role in the future. You then proceed to add more guys in the 2026 offseason when Barnes comes off the books and can free up more money if you trade Vassell.

This is the path I would go.

I’m all for signing Kornet and drafting a C with pick 38 like Kalkbrenner. That would fill the C pipeline nicely behind Wemby.

Also a fan of drafting Carter and trying to pickup Washington. If Carter is off the board I’m leaning either Fleming or Coward.

[tbdog]

On the edges deals, I would look at the Mavs with Washington and Gafford. Flagg puts a significant clog in their front court. Vassell for those two is a package I would look at.