I'm not stoked on Lavine because he's been shopped for literal years, is super injury prone, is another all-offense piece, and that contract makes me sad.
And unless you have a trade in place with DeRozan you're rebuilding the 23/24 Bulls 2.0. Except our version has Sabonis as Point Center flanked by Lavine, DeRozan, Murray, and Monk. So Kings score like 190 a night, while giving up 210.
And those 3 first rounders (and 3 second rounders) are cool on the surface, but only the Minny one in 2031 seems to have a puncher's chance of being really worth something. The Charlotte one is just gonna be two seconds and the Spurs one will likely be well out of the lottery in 2 years (Now that they have their Wemby/Fox core courtesy Kultch).
Was liking the Monk/Ellis/Murray/DeRozan/Sabonis starting lineup before Fox submarined the season, and thought a Sochan, Cam Johnson addition (and a cache of FRPs) would be the push to get that scrappy group into the playoffs while still building a foundation for the future.
I acknowledged this is real value for a team that usually gets the likes of Kenny Thomas, Grievas Vasquez, and Buddy Hield when trading away its franchise players. So, even though I’m mildly disappointed, I'll take mild disappointment compared to the apocalyptic book of revelations level pandemonium from the recent past.
Even in saying that, I don't think Monte's done. Playing with Lavine again is not what DeRozan signed up for.
And we need a forward who isn't 35.
The real winner of this trade though is Klutch Sports. Got their client exactly where he wanted to go in under a week and without that team giving up any important assets.
Gives me Cushlash.