Was thinking about my own post (man, am I a genius or what?) and…
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Why the Kings do it:
A rebuilding move in which they get a good young big (albeit one who is on the verge of a big extension/new deal), a good wing/forward prospect in Ron Holland, and a big expiring deal in Tobias Harris (who the Pistons probably don’t want to take but this is just who I had to include to get the salaries to work), and Funcan Robinson who I just had to include to get the money to work (Beef Stew also works but I’d assume the Pistons would still want some sort of back up big depth). They also get the Pistons pick this year (in a strong draft) and in 2028 and the right to swap in 2027 on the off chance the Pistons suck worse than the Kings. Moving Malik also helps clear a bit more of a runway for Nique and Dev.
Next year, would look like:
Duren/Maxime/Cardwell
Keegan/IJ
Hypothetical high lotto pick stud rookie/Holland
Lavine/Keon
Nique/Dennis/DC
Why the pistons do it:
Domas gives the Pistons their second star to put next to Cade, who he would instant form an elite two man game with. Malik gives them a secondary release valve for Cade in crunch time since they lost Dennis and never really replaced him. I’m sure they’d hate to lose Tobias Harris but he was also on the last year of his deal and on the backend of his career.
They’d have a top eight of
Cade
Domas
Ausar
Malik
Levert
Ivey
Beef Stew
Sasser
That would probably be able to convince an ownership they could make a run in the east for the next couple of years since they’re apparently not very into Duren for some reason.