Serge Ibaka Trade Proposal

#1
Serge Ibaka has been relegated to bench big in Toronto with the emergence of Pascal Siakam and the trade for Marc Gasol. He has 1 year and $23.72 million left on his contract and has been averaging only 21 min/game since the trade deadline.

Toronto will have to spend big to re-sign Kawhi Leonard and they will be way over the Luxury Tax and will be repeater offenders next season. Provided that Toronto will need to clear salary to re-sign Leonard, they may be looking to move salary and take back minimal salary.

Here is a proposal that may benefit both teams. Since the Kings will be way under the salary cap this summer, we won't need to take back equal salary in a trade. We can trade Nemanja Bjelicia (2 years and $14 million contract) and a second round pick to Toronto for Serge Ibaka ($23.72 million, 1 year left).

Why Toronto does it? Ibaka has been relegated to very high priced 3rd big in Toronto. They will be repeat tax offenders and need to move salary to re-sign Leonard. Toronto will want to stay in the championship race if they resign Leonard, so Bjeli gives them a good priced bench stretch 4. Toronto will remain a top contender if they re-sign Leonard. Toronto saves over $16 million off their salary cap and even more savings from the repeat offender luxury tax.

Why the Kings do it? Serge Ibaka is a good 3 point shooter (career 35.7% 3 point average), protects the paint (1.4 blk/gm) and rebounds (8.1 reb/gm) at a decent rate. He only has one year left on his contract and he provides a good 1 year filler, while Harry Giles prepares to take over the starting Center position in the 2020 season. Giles can learn under Ibaka for a year. The Kings keep the young core intact and adds an upgrade at Center for next season. Ibaka comes off the Kings salary cap after next season or they can re-sign him to a lower salary next off season.

PF: Bagley / Weynen Gabriel
SF: Barnes / Brewer or Shump
C: Ibaka / Giles
SG: Hield / Bogdan
PG: Fox / FA PG (Ausitn Rivers or Jeremy Lin?)
 
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#2
Is ibaka strong enough to hold down the center spot against the plethora of large dudes at yhe center spot? Or does he get pushed around like gilea and bagley did last year?
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#4
Serge Ibaka has been relegated to bench big in Toronto with the emergence of Pascal Siakam and the trade for Marc Gasol. He has 1 year and $23.72 million left on his contract and has been averaging only 21 min/game since the trade deadline.

Toronto will have to spend big to re-sign Kawhi Leonard and they will be way over the Luxury Tax and will be repeater offenders next season. Provided that Toronto will need to clear salary to re-sign Leonard, they may be looking to move salary and not take much salary back.

Here is a proposal that may benefit both teams. Since the Kings will be way under the salary cap this summer, we won't need to take back equal salary in a trade. We can trade Nemanja Bjelicia (2 years and $14 million contract) and a second round pick to Toronto for Serge Ibaka ($23.72 million, 1 year left).

Why Toronto does it? Ibaka has been relegated to very high priced 3rd big in Toronto. They will be repeat tax offenders and need to move salary to re-sign Leonard. Toronto will want to stay in the championship race if they resign Leonard, so Bjeli gives them a good priced bench stretch 4. Toronto will remain a top contender if they re-sign Leonard. Toronto saves over $16 million off their salary cap and even more savings from the repeat offender luxury tax.

Why the Kings do it? Serge Ibaka is a good 3 point shooter (career 35.7% 3 point average), protects the paint (1.4 blk/gm) and rebounds (8.1 reb/gm) at a decent rate. He only has one year left on his contract and he provides a good 1 year filler, while Harry Giles prepares to take over the starting Center position in the 2020 season. Giles can learn under Ibaka for a year. The Kings keep the young core intact and adds an upgrade at Center for next season. Ibaka comes off the Kings salary cap after next season or they can re-sign him to a lower salary next off season.

PF: Bagley / Weynen Gabriel
SF: Barnes / Brewer or Shump
C: Ibaka / Giles
SG: Hield / Bogdan
PG: Fox / FA PG (Ausitn Rivers or Jeremy Lin?)
Logically, it makes sense. I like the idea of Giles having a mentor for another year. But here's where my problem is. We would be absorbing $16,446,604.00 in the deal, taking up close to half, and maybe more, of the available cap space we would use to pursue any other free agents. I have no idea who or how many free agents the Kings have targeted, but this deal would seriously limit what they can do in free agency.

Now we could still have 25.5 mil available if we let Willie, Mason, and Yogi walk. That's with Barnes opting in. That number could go up if the Kings are able to sign Barnes to an extension for 4 years, but for less money per year. Still, my gut tells me the Kings would like to enter free agency with the ability to sign a big time player. Of course the nice part of your deal is that the Kings would free up 23.2 mil the following summer.
 
#5
Logically, it makes sense. I like the idea of Giles having a mentor for another year. But here's where my problem is. We would be absorbing $16,446,604.00 in the deal, taking up close to half, and maybe more, of the available cap space we would use to pursue any other free agents. I have no idea who or how many free agents the Kings have targeted, but this deal would seriously limit what they can do in free agency.

Now we could still have 25.5 mil available if we let Willie, Mason, and Yogi walk. That's with Barnes opting in. That number could go up if the Kings are able to sign Barnes to an extension for 4 years, but for less money per year. Still, my gut tells me the Kings would like to enter free agency with the ability to sign a big time player. Of course the nice part of your deal is that the Kings would free up 23.2 mil the following summer.
I would think that if the Kings were to make a trade for Serge Ibaka, it would be with the intention that he would take Willie's place as starting Center and thus Willie would be let go.

I think this assumption would also be predicated that Vlade feels that Harry Giles is the future starting Center on this team and he is about one year away from being able to start at center. Otherwise, Vlade may want to just re-sign Willie or sign a stop gap center to a 2 year contract (i.e. Brook Lopez).

The good thing about trading for an established center with a short term contract is that it guarantees you a solid starting center for next year and then opens a starting spot for Giles the next season. If we were to re-sign Willie, it would be for starter money and probably a 4 year commitment.

With Ibaka, you buy a 1 year window to see if Giles will be ready. If Giles is ready, you can plug him in at starting center in 2020. If Giles is not ready, you can try to re-sign Ibaka next summer.
 
#6
Pretty solid idea. Ibaka is quite a bit better than most of the FA big options sans guys we'd have to give huge long-term deals to and he'd be a great role model for how our young bigs can learn to be effective on defense. Bjelica is basically an expiring too for Toronto, would save them a bunch of money and provide really great floor spacing for their main cogs.

Even though I think we probably extend Barnes, its wouldnt be the worst idea to get a look at what Fox/Buddy/Bogdan/Barnes/Bagley/Ibaka/Bogdan/Giles core looked like for a year before having to commit to it long-term. Barnes and Ibaka would be $50 mil coming off the books if it didn't look good next season.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#7
Pretty solid idea. Ibaka is quite a bit better than most of the FA big options sans guys we'd have to give huge long-term deals to and he'd be a great role model for how our young bigs can learn to be effective on defense. Bjelica is basically an expiring too for Toronto, would save them a bunch of money and provide really great floor spacing for their main cogs.

Even though I think we probably extend Barnes, its wouldnt be the worst idea to get a look at what Fox/Buddy/Bogdan/Barnes/Bagley/Ibaka/Bogdan/Giles core looked like for a year before having to commit to it long-term. Barnes and Ibaka would be $50 mil coming off the books if it didn't look good next season.
I wouldn't have a problem with Barnes opting in, but that's in his hands. I think the Kings would like to get a deal done so it's not an issue next offseason when both Buddy and Bog's freeagency comes up. I think Ibaka would be fine for on year, but make no mistake, Ibaka isn't the same player he used to be. But for one year I could live with it.

If I wanted to get a center at a reasonable price I would target Dedmon. You could likely sign him for between 8 and 10 mil a year. His per 36 numbers are very similar to Willie's, and he's a much better outside shooter than Willie. He averaged about one and a half rebounds less than Willie, and about a point less, but he also played about 6 minutes less. Plus, I think the offensive scheme the Kings play fits Dedmon's strengths
 
#8
I wouldn't have a problem with Barnes opting in, but that's in his hands. I think the Kings would like to get a deal done so it's not an issue next offseason when both Buddy and Bog's freeagency comes up. I think Ibaka would be fine for on year, but make no mistake, Ibaka isn't the same player he used to be. But for one year I could live with it.

If I wanted to get a center at a reasonable price I would target Dedmon. You could likely sign him for between 8 and 10 mil a year. His per 36 numbers are very similar to Willie's, and he's a much better outside shooter than Willie. He averaged about one and a half rebounds less than Willie, and about a point less, but he also played about 6 minutes less. Plus, I think the offensive scheme the Kings play fits Dedmon's strengths
Yeah Dedmon is absolute quality. He's one of those guys that would be playing consistent minutes for every team in the NBA. Heunderstands who is he as a talent and sells out completely to maximize that when he's on the floor. He's not going to be taking guys 1on1 or ever look for his own offense. Cleans the glass, protect the rim, take efficient shots when they're there. He'd be a great flex guy too if we wanted to start him the first 30-40 games of the year and then give Harry the reins a little later in the season.
 
#9
Bjelica's only request a year ago was to sign a long term agreement with some club and to actually stay in the same city as long as his contract lasts, because he wants stability for his kids. On top of that, Divac is his countryman and a close personal friend, so I am pretty sure Bjeli is not going anywhere this summer.
 
#10
Bjelica's only request a year ago was to sign a long term agreement with some club and to actually stay in the same city as long as his contract lasts, because he wants stability for his kids. On top of that, Divac is his countryman and a close personal friend, so I am pretty sure Bjeli is not going anywhere this summer.
Of course, that’s not going to stop the trading card GMs from swapping Beli for anything from cigarette butts to Anthony Davis.