KG4Ever wrote:KAT and Jaylen Nowell to Phoenix for Ayton, Payne, Cam Johnson and Jalen Smith and 3 picks. Phoenix would have a lineup of KAT, Bridges, Crowder, Booker and CP3. Wolves could build around Ayton and Ant. I think Payne is underrated and Johnson and Smith are young with some upside.
Note: Phoenix traded away its 2022 pick, so the picks would be 2024, 2026 and 2028.
Here's why this deal sucks:
Ayton isn't as good as KAT, yet this team is expected to pay Ayton max money, exactly the same as KAT, to offer us less impact, especially when he's only motivated to get said max contract. At best he's the third guy on a really good team and I damn sure don't want Ayton to get in the way of this team being able to draft a Holmgren or a Wembanyama. Cam is decent filler for this team, but nothing more than that (by the way, Cam Johnson is older than everyone in your offer except Payne). Cam Payne is the kind of player that this team should be trying to find on their own, not pay $6 mil a year for what someone else was able to unearth for basically nothing-- and everyone outside of Ayton would be backups here when this team is filled with them already.)
Smith is a UFA at the end of the year, so even if you like Smith, that's a guy you should a) be able to sign and b) not have to trade KAT to get him.
I understand this team needs bigs in the worst way, but the next 2 drafts are rich with young bigs. This team in a return for KAT needs to land a young wing or PG with immense upside who can be what you expect Ayton to be without having to commit max money for him already. I just don't see a good team being built off Anthony Edwards and the expendables of the Phoenix Suns. If that's the best package they can get, so be it, but I'd be rerouting Ayton immediately for something else.
and for the record, I don't even think Phoenix agrees to adding 3 picks to this if the Suns are so gun shy about paying the luxury tax. Towns is basically gonna command what Vucevic got: 2 firsts, a big expiring and a young big Orlando believed in. This team is probably gonna wind up doing the same shit. They'll ask for future picks, an expiring to guarantee they won't be near the luxury tax and someone on their rookie deal who they pray can be a core foundational piece (and may have to settle for one of those things not being part of the return)