Phenom wrote: ↑Thu May 18, 2023 12:28 am
I think if Portland wants to flip Scoot for Towns, it would be a great play for the Wolves. It frees up the upcoming cap constraints and aligns the cap well through the last few years of Goberts deal. It brings in another high level, on the ball guard, to pair with Ant and Jaden for the long term. It creates an opportunity to create a serious role for Naz which the team reportedly wants. It will also put the timeline squarely back on Ant, which the fans and front office (now) wants. I'll be shocked if this conversation doesn't happen considering the reports about Lillard urging the team to look for veteran help.
And if it also nets the team Simons and Nurk, I would rather flip them somewhere else. Maybe Simons can get the team a first in 25.
I get some people might expect a huge haul for Towns but I think it is hard to argue that Towns is at peak value and may very well not get there with his pending jump in salary. Then again, Scoot may be that good.
I agree that KAT’s value is not at its peak and that’s one reason why trading him this summer would be a bad idea. I still think KAT’s value is very high because front office executives aren’t fixated like some local fans on KAT’s annoying qualities. Moreover, KAT’s value will go up significantly if he simply stays healthy, in which case he’ll at least replicate the production we saw from him the previous season. And he’ll still be in his prime at age 28 next summer. If we’re going to trade him, next summer is the time to do it.
I’ll admit that I get kind of excited at the prospect of trading KAT in exchange for the opportunity to draft one of this year’s top a top three players, but other than Wemby, it’s hard to know what you’re getting in this year’s pool. As you noted, we don’t know how good Scooter will be. He doesn’t hit threes and his G-League stat weren’t all that impressive. I’d prefer Black over Scooter, but who knows.
Further, if we’re going to trade KAT this summer, Portland just isn’t a good trade partner without a third team involved because I don’t see any players on their roster who would make sense for the Wolves. So we’d probably need a third team involved.