Alright so I’m now sort of leaning towards trading for Grant Williams. Hear me out…
A lot of my posts have been centered around finding that 3rd star to put next to Fox and Sabonis (or to be patient) in an effort to elevate us to a contender. Our hope is that Murray becomes that player but there is no guarantee that he reaches that ceiling. And if we were to trade for another high usage scorer, we very well may “block” Murray from even having a chance of reaching that potential.
So let’s get to the proposed trade…
Kevin Huerter
Sasha Vezenkov
Chris Duarte
#45
2025 SAC 2nd
for
Grant Williams
Cody Martin
Aleksej Pokusevski
The Hornets would do this to get off longer term contracts, add a couple 2nd round picks, and potentially use Huerter and Vezenkov as reclamation projects (as I could see both of them starting on the Hornets) to flip for more assets later. Their roster would be…
PG - Ball / Mann / Micic
SG - Huerter / Smith / Curry
SF - Miller / Duarte / McGowens
PF - Vezenkov / Bertans / Thor
C - Williams / Richards
As for us, trading for Williams would give us a player that…
- Wouldn’t block Murray’s offensive growth (if he can actually reach that ceiling) since he’s a low usage player (15.9% last year).
- Has length (6’9.75” wingspan & 8’8.5” standing reach) and strength (240.2 lbs, 5.4% body fat, & 20 reps on bench press), and he’s also pretty quick for his size (10.83 sec lane agility and 3.27 sec shuttle run).
- Is a good 3PT shooter who is particularly good from the corners. He had a bit of a dip last season but his previous 3 seasons in BOS, he had a .397 3P% on 4.8 3PA (per 36 min) and he had a .445 Corner 3P% on 2.1 3PA (per 36 min).
- Is not careless with the ball (1.6 AST to TO Ratio the last couple seasons)
- Is a decent rebounder (around 5-6 rebounds per 36 min the last few seasons which would be an upgrade over Barnes)
- Is a good defender who plays with that edge and toughness we often lack (“he’s got that dawg in him”). And he could be that defensive guy/voice to help hold our team accountable
- Is young enough to grow with our core as he’s only 25 years old
Having said all of this, I’m not confident that Williams is the PF we need to ultimately become the contending team we want to be, but I think he upgrades this roster in the meantime since losing Huerter likely doesn’t impact us (Fox, Ellis, Monk, and Mitchell can take all of the guard minutes) and now we have a strong forward rotation of Murray, Williams, Barnes, and Lyles. I like the idea of starting Williams over Barnes for his defense and toughness (and considering our spacing should be just fine with him out there too). It also allows Barnes to dip back into his “bag” as he would take on a higher usage, bench scoring role and be an awesome 1-2 bench punch with Monk.
But not only does this trade improve our roster for next year, but it buys us time to see what Murray will become while maintaining our assets, and the other great thing about adding Williams is the flexibility we’d still have when building out this roster. His contract is dirt cheap ($13-$14 mil a year which is only 8-9% of the cap each year). This contract paired with his impact gives McNair various options:
- If Murray becomes that 3rd star we need, but we observe that Williams size & length is still not enough at PF next to Sabonis, his contract is small enough where he can come off the bench and it not be an issue
- If Murray does not become that 3rd star we need, we could include Murray in a trade for that 3rd star and have Williams slot in as the other starting forward to play the 3&D role
I haven’t come right out and said it yet, but you’ll notice this trade doesn’t include #13. Depending on how Murray looks this season, having #13 and all of our future 1sts available to trade next offseason (assuming the 2025 pick will convey to ATL) will come in handy if we do need to make a move for a 3rd star.
Lastly, this trade shaves off around $6 mil of our payroll allowing us to avoid the 1st apron this year (which I’m sure is a goal of McNair’s).
We’re left with a roster of…
PG - Fox / Mitchell
SG - Ellis / Monk / Jones
SF - Murray / Barnes / Martin
PF - Williams / Lyles / Poku
C - Sabonis
Picks - #13