The trading of Domantas Sabonis.

[SacTownKid]

Yeah, if you start Devin Carter at PG next year, you would need a strong ball handling and scoring SG, like Monk next to him. I don’t think DC would be a high assist type PG. More of a 3 and D Point Guard like Marcus Smart.

The good thing is that Carter and Monk look like a pretty good fit. They seem to really have some synergy and Carters strength and physicality matches Monk quite well. Carter might not be a high assist guy but he is already showing that he does see what's happening out on the floor. We have to see where his court vision goes from here. Christie already made it sound like the Kings do view him as someone learning the PG position.

 

[ESP47]

The good thing is that Carter and Monk look like a pretty good fit. They seem to really have some synergy and Carters strength and physicality matches Monk quite well. Carter might not be a high assist guy but he is already showing that he does see what's happening out on the floor. We have to see where his court vision goes from here. Christie already made it sound like the Kings do view him as someone learning the PG position.

His vision looks fine to me. He just needs to work on the other half of the equation, which is beating his man. There's no one open if you can't either beat your man off the dribble or get open off a screen. If you don't give the opposition a reason to leave their guy to come stop you, then you don't get many assist opportunities. This is partially why Keegan doesn't get a ton of assists.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Who are you thinking is tradeable?

You know the cap and how close we are to the second apron?

As of March 20, 2025, the Sacramento Kings are projected to be $15.7 million below the first luxury tax apron ($178.7 million) and $26.5 million below the second apron ($189.5 million), though they are $34.7 million over the salary cap ($141 million).

Zach is at 45M and isn’t tradable. Maybe you can trade Malik but you have the same trading a small for a big is always really hard. Maybe DeMar.

Zach LaVine SG $44,531,940
Domantas Sabonis PF $40,500,000
DeMar DeRozan SF $23,400,000
Malik Monk SG $17,405,203
Jonas Valanciunas C $9,900,000
Keegan Murray PF $8,809,560
Trey Lyles PF $8,000,000
Devin Carter PG $4,689,000
Jake LaRavia PF $3,352,680
Keon Ellis SF $2,120,693
Doug McDermott SF $2,087,519
Jae Crowder SF $1,655,619
Markelle Fultz PG $731,831

If you make Ellis a restricted free agent his cost will go up quite a bit. LaRavia is going to cost you to resign. Maybe we can trade into our trade exemptions but good luck getting a forward in that.

I'm not sure where you are getting your numbers. Here are the current estimated levels, as best as I can tell (via Spotrac, except for the luxury tax - for some reason they are not currently listing it but it is calculated as 121.5% of the salary cap).

2025-2026
Salary Cap: $154.6M
Luxury Tax: $187.9M
First Apron: $195.9M
Second Apron: $207.8M

We have all been running under the assumption that the Kings will decline the option on Ellis in order to make him an RFA. Thus the Kings have seven players under contract for '25-'26:
LaVine: $47.5M
Sabonis: $43.6M
DeRozan: $24.8M
Monk: $18.8M
Murray: $11.1M
Valanciunas: $10.4M
Carter: $4.9M

Total **salary cap** allocations: $161.2M (over the cap)
Total **apron** allocations: $163.5M (higher because Domas [$1.3M] and DDR [$1M} have unlikely bonuses that have to be included)

Thus, as the team is currently constructed we should have more than $26M space under the luxury tax, more than $32M space under the first apron, and more than $44M space under the second apron.

LaRavia cannot cost us more that $5.13M to sign, because that is the maximum contract we can offer him by rule, thanks to Memphis declining his fourth-year option. Now, this means he may go elsewhere, but if he stays, that's as much as he will cost.

So that's our cap situation for next year.

With respect to who I think is tradeable, I thought my original post made clear that any of our three SGs is tradeable. It also made clear that I don't think that finding ideal trades to go from SG-SG-SG to PG-SG-SF will not be easy. That said, none of those three SGs are untradeable. LaVine, you may notice, was just traded. His salary does make things difficult, but that doesn't mean that he's untradeable, though he may be less easily tradeable than the other two.

With regard to Monk and DeRozan, I have a nice heuristic that I like to use for free agent contract value. For a long time, it has turned out that the average free agent contract ends up being worth 1 WS for each 3% of the salary cap spent. That's just the way the numbers fall out. Thus, based on his salary (and the cap) next year, Monk would need to be worth 4.1 WS to come out even on his contract. Monk is on pace to finish this year with 3.9 WS, and he spent about 10 games injured. So his contract is in line with his value. That's tradeable. DeRozan would need to be worth about 5.3 WS based on his contract, and he is on pace to record 7.3 WS this year. That means DeRozan is a bargain, and he should be quite tradeable.

 

[sactowndog]

I'm not sure where you are getting your numbers. Here are the current estimated levels, as best as I can tell (via Spotrac, except for the luxury tax - for some reason they are not currently listing it but it is calculated as 121.5% of the salary cap).

2025-2026
Salary Cap: $154.6M
Luxury Tax: $187.9M
First Apron: $195.9M
Second Apron: $207.8M

We have all been running under the assumption that the Kings will decline the option on Ellis in order to make him an RFA. Thus the Kings have seven players under contract for '25-'26:
LaVine: $47.5M
Sabonis: $43.6M
DeRozan: $24.8M
Monk: $18.8M
Murray: $11.1M
Valanciunas: $10.4M
Carter: $4.9M

Total **salary cap** allocations: $161.2M (over the cap)
Total **apron** allocations: $163.5M (higher because Domas [$1.3M] and DDR [$1M} have unlikely bonuses that have to be included)

Thus, as the team is currently constructed we should have more than $26M space under the luxury tax, more than $32M space under the first apron, and more than $44M space under the second apron.

LaRavia cannot cost us more that $5.13M to sign, because that is the maximum contract we can offer him by rule, thanks to Memphis declining his fourth-year option. Now, this means he may go elsewhere, but if he stays, that's as much as he will cost.

So that's our cap situation for next year.

With respect to who I think is tradeable, I thought my original post made clear that any of our three SGs is tradeable. It also made clear that I don't think that finding ideal trades to go from SG-SG-SG to PG-SG-SF will not be easy. That said, none of those three SGs are untradeable. LaVine, you may notice, was just traded. His salary does make things difficult, but that doesn't mean that he's untradeable, though he may be less easily tradeable than the other two.

With regard to Monk and DeRozan, I have a nice heuristic that I like to use for free agent contract value. For a long time, it has turned out that the average free agent contract ends up being worth 1 WS for each 3% of the salary cap spent. That's just the way the numbers fall out. Thus, based on his salary (and the cap) next year, Monk would need to be worth 4.1 WS to come out even on his contract. Monk is on pace to finish this year with 3.9 WS, and he spent about 10 games injured. So his contract is in line with his value. That's tradeable. DeRozan would need to be worth about 5.3 WS based on his contract, and he is on pace to record 7.3 WS this year. That means DeRozan is a bargain, and he should be quite tradeable.

I got it from AI. I trust your numbers more but I think you are missing to maintain our rights to Keon we will have some sort of cap hold. I also think we will have no choice but to keep Lyles given we are short in the front court. So you need to add in that cap hold.

DeRozan might be tradable but I don’t think Zach is. Yes Monte inexplicably traded for him but I don’t think that means other GM’s will without attaching assets. I am curious what your heuristic shows for LaVines value? I’m guessing it is significantly negative.

I think getting a 2 way forward for 36 year old DeMar will be really tough. Zach has to be paired with a defensive 3 just like DeRozan is better paired with Keon. That leaves you trading Monk and you are going to not be able to trade small for big and get a 2 way wing.

Had we not traded for LaVine we might have been able to sign a 2 way wing to a large contract. But LaVine puts us in a box.

 

[twslam07]

I got it from AI. I trust your numbers more but I think you are missing to maintain our rights to Keon we will have some sort of cap hold. I also think we will have no choice but to keep Lyles given we are short in the front court. So you need to add in that cap hold.

DeRozan might be tradable but I don’t think Zach is. Yes Monte inexplicably traded for him but I don’t think that means other GM’s will without attaching assets. I am curious what your heuristic shows for LaVines value? I’m guessing it is significantly negative.

I think getting a 2 way forward for 36 year old DeMar will be really tough. Zach has to be paired with a defensive 3 just like DeRozan is better paired with Keon. That leaves you trading Monk and you are going to not be able to trade small for big and get a 2 way wing.

Had we not traded for LaVine we might have been able to sign a 2 way wing to a large contract. But LaVine puts us in a box.

——————————

BKN GETS: Daniel Gafford, Caleb Martin, 2026 BOS 1st (top 8 protected), and 2031 DAL 1st (top 14 protected)
BKN GIVES: Cam Johnson
WHY FOR BKN? The Nets get the two 1sts they reportedly want for Johnson and can also look to flip Gafford at the deadline for some more assets.

——————————

BOS GETS: Malik Monk
BOS GIVES: Jrue Holiday & 2026 BOS 1st (top 8 protected)
WHY FOR BOS? The Celtics shed a considerable amount of salary and save them a lot on their tax bill while still replacing Holiday with a productive player on a decent long term deal.

——————————

DAL GETS: DeMar DeRozan, 2026 CHA 2nd, & 2027 CHA 2nd
DAL GIVES: Daniel Gafford, Caleb Martin, & 2031 DAL 1st (top 14 protected)
WHY FOR DAL? Nico is obviously all in on trying to win now. With Davis and Lively on the roster, Gafford is less of a need and they bring in DeRozan who can give them a legitimate scoring threat from the wing to paid with Irving and Davis. I’d probably look to have DeRozan come off the bench and start Irving, Thompson, Washington, Davis, & Lively. That’s a very good starting lineup and their bench would be really strong with guys like Christie, DeRozan & Marshall leading the way.

——————————

SAC GETS: Jrue Holiday & Cam Johnson
SAC GIVES: DeMar DeRozan, Malik Monk, 2026 CHA 2nd, & 2027 CHA 2nd
WHY FOR SAC? Holiday gives them a legit PG to help run the offense (something I think you need next to LaVine) and he’s also an elite guard defender (something that’s ideal next to LaVine). Johnson gives them more size, length, shooting, and defense on the wing while also being another good secondary scorer. LaVine and Sabonis would really be our only average to below average defenders and I think the offense would look way more free flowing and allow someone like Murray to develop offensively. If we resign LaRavia & Lyles, we’d have a starting lineup of Holiday, LaVine, Johnson, Murray, & Sabonis and a bench of Ellis, Carter, LaRavia, Lyles, & Valanciunas.

——————————

 

[sactowndog]

——————————

BKN GETS: Daniel Gafford, Caleb Martin, 2026 BOS 1st (top 8 protected), and 2031 DAL 1st (top 14 protected)
BKN GIVES: Cam Johnson
WHY FOR BKN? The Nets get the two 1sts they reportedly want for Johnson and can also look to flip Gafford at the deadline for some more assets.

——————————

BOS GETS: Malik Monk
BOS GIVES: Jrue Holiday & 2026 BOS 1st (top 8 protected)
WHY FOR BOS? The Celtics shed a considerable amount of salary and save them a lot on their tax bill while still replacing Holiday with a productive player on a decent long term deal.

——————————

DAL GETS: DeMar DeRozan, 2026 CHA 2nd, & 2027 CHA 2nd
DAL GIVES: Daniel Gafford, Caleb Martin, & 2031 DAL 1st (top 14 protected)
WHY FOR DAL? Nico is obviously all in on trying to win now. With Davis and Lively on the roster, Gafford is less of a need and they bring in DeRozan who can give them a legitimate scoring threat from the wing to paid with Irving and Davis. I’d probably look to have DeRozan come off the bench and start Irving, Thompson, Washington, Davis, & Lively. That’s a very good starting lineup and their bench would be really strong with guys like Christie, DeRozan & Marshall leading the way.

——————————

SAC GETS: Jrue Holiday & Cam Johnson
SAC GIVES: DeMar DeRozan, Malik Monk, 2026 CHA 2nd, & 2027 CHA 2nd
WHY FOR SAC? Holiday gives them a legit PG to help run the offense (something I think you need next to LaVine) and he’s also an elite guard defender (something that’s ideal next to LaVine). Johnson gives them more size, length, shooting, and defense on the wing while also being another good secondary scorer. LaVine and Sabonis would really be our only average to below average defenders and I think the offense would look way more free flowing and allow someone like Murray to develop offensively. If we resign LaRavia & Lyles, we’d have a starting lineup of Holiday, LaVine, Johnson, Murray, & Sabonis and a bench of Ellis, Carter, LaRavia, Lyles, & Valanciunas.

——————————

I think you should post it on RealGM and see what other fan bases think.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

SAC GETS: Jrue Holiday & Cam Johnson
SAC GIVES: DeMar DeRozan, Malik Monk, 2026 CHA 2nd, & 2027 CHA 2nd

Seems great for us, even with Holiday's age/contract, but I can't see Boston's side of this deal working for them.

 

[sactowndog]

Seems great for us, even with Holiday's age/contract, but I can't see Boston's side of this deal working for them.

Curious on your Win Shares Hueristic, since I can’t find it online and I’m too cheap to spend money on cleaning the glass, what does your model indicate for Keon and LaRavia salary offers for next year. I’m curious if it will be high enough ownership refuses to match it.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Curious on your Win Shares Hueristic, since I can’t find it online and I’m too cheap to spend money on cleaning the glass, what does your model indicate for Keon and LaRavia salary offers for next year. I’m curious if it will be high enough ownership refuses to match it.

Following is the relevant clip from a post I made elsewhere (that, for your own sake, I will spare you the remainder of). It's just a rule-of-thumb abstracted from some work that Nate Silver did about 11 years ago. Bolded text is a link.

Fortunately, there has been research done in the not-too-distant past which has attempted to determine the relationship between monetary value on the free agent market and the expected on-court value in terms of Win Shares. This research was done by none other than Nate Silver over at 538.com in 2014, and there he estimated that the value of one Win Share was $1.75M. At the time, the salary cap was $58.7M, which means that one Win Share was worth 2.98 pSC ("percent of the salary cap") - let’s call it an even 3 pSC. Without bothering to go into Silver’s methodology, this value makes some sense. We can do a very simple back-of-the-envelope calculation and point out that the average team should have about 41 Win Shares, as they win half of their 82 games. One Win Share would then be 1/41 = 2.4% of the total (and thus 2.4 pSC, if all teams spent at the salary cap). Now this is a bit lower than 3 pSC, but between the fact that the average team salary tends to be above the salary cap, and the fact that rookie salaries (which make up a decent part of the league) are artificially deflated relative to the Win Share value they provide, this would bring the value of free agent Win Shares up a bit – at a glance, 3 pSC per Win Share looks about right.

Keon is on pace to record about 4.7 WS (!!) this year, which would put his fair market free agency salary at about $21M. I doubt he gets that much as an RFA (which usually seems to artificially deflate salaries a bit) but if we could give him 4/$40M it would be an absolute steal. He probably pushes towards $15M/year I'd guess.

LaRavia is on pace to record about 3.3 WS this year, that puts his value at about $15M. Unless the NBA is stupid, he's gone.

 

[iowamcnabb]

LaRavia is on pace to record about 3.3 WS this year, that puts his value at about $15M. Unless the NBA is stupid, he's gone.

well let’s hope we have Laravia 2.0 in iCraw then.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

well let’s hope we have Laravia 2.0 in iCraw then.

In the Apron Era I think successful teams will need to develop unheralded players into real contributors (e.g. Keon) just to fill out their rotations as the star players keep making very silly money. Fortunately we've shown the ability to do it once, time will tell if we can find more players like Keon going forward.

 

[iowamcnabb]

In the Apron Era I think successful teams will need to develop unheralded players into real contributors (e.g. Keon) just to fill out their rotations as the star players keep making very silly money. Fortunately we've shown the ability to do it once, time will tell if we can find more players like Keon going forward.

iCraw and IJ appear to be far ahead of the Kyle Guy, Ramsey, Justin Jackson types.

the interesting thing about iCraw is he shot 40 plus percent from 3 his last two years in college and is at 46 percent in the Gleague. At 6’6 with a 7 foot plus wingspan there is at least a chance he can be a rotational player in this league.

 

[sactowndog]

Following is the relevant clip from a post I made elsewhere (that, for your own sake, I will spare you the remainder of). It's just a rule-of-thumb abstracted from some work that Nate Silver did about 11 years ago. Bolded text is a link.



Keon is on pace to record about 4.7 WS (!!) this year, which would put his fair market free agency salary at about $21M. I doubt he gets that much as an RFA (which usually seems to artificially deflate salaries a bit) but if we could give him 4/$40M it would be an absolute steal. He probably pushes towards $15M/year I'd guess.

LaRavia is on pace to record about 3.3 WS this year, that puts his value at about $15M. Unless the NBA is stupid, he's gone.

Yeah I think we may see a slight overpay on Keon to steal him from the Kings. I don’t know if Vivek would go into the tax to pay Keon.

 

[sactowndog]

Following is the relevant clip from a post I made elsewhere (that, for your own sake, I will spare you the remainder of). It's just a rule-of-thumb abstracted from some work that Nate Silver did about 11 years ago. Bolded text is a link.



Keon is on pace to record about 4.7 WS (!!) this year, which would put his fair market free agency salary at about $21M. I doubt he gets that much as an RFA (which usually seems to artificially deflate salaries a bit) but if we could give him 4/$40M it would be an absolute steal. He probably pushes towards $15M/year I'd guess.

LaRavia is on pace to record about 3.3 WS this year, that puts his value at about $15M. Unless the NBA is stupid, he's gone.

You didn’t mention it so I’m guessing by the win share metric Zach is significantly over paid.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

You didn’t mention it so I’m guessing by the win share metric Zach is significantly over paid.

I didn't check but I assume so.

 

[twslam07]

I think you should post it on RealGM and see what other fan bases think.

I probably will at some point.

 

[twslam07]

Seems great for us, even with Holiday's age/contract, but I can't see Boston's side of this deal working for them.

That’s fair. I think it’s the largest question mark of the deal. It really comes down to how much tax BOS is willing to pay.

The casual fan will look at the deal and say “why would BOS breakup their championship core? Holiday is a terrific fit there. Zero chance BOS trades him.” But again, it really comes down to the financials as well as extending their contending window (since Monk is 8 years younger).

 

[twslam07]

Here’s the general framework for another deal…

——————————

BOS GETS: Malik Monk
BOS GIVES: Jrue Holiday
WHY FOR BOS? The Celtics shed a considerable amount of salary and save them a lot on their tax bill while still replacing Holiday with a productive player on a decent long term deal.

——————————

DAL GETS: DeMar DeRozan
DAL GIVES: Caleb Martin, Naji Marshall, & Dwight Powell
WHY FOR DAL? Nico is obviously all in on trying to win now. They bring in DeRozan who can give them a legitimate scoring threat from the wing to paid with Irving and Davis. I’d probably look to have DeRozan come off the bench and start Irving, Thompson, Washington, Davis, & Lively. That’s a very good starting lineup and their bench would be really strong with guys like Christie, DeRozan & Gafford leading the way.

——————————

PHI GETS: Zach LaVine, Caleb Martin, & Naji Marshall
PHI GIVES: Paul George & Jared Butler
WHY FOR PHI? The 76ers get out from underneath George’s contract and replace him with another scorer who is much younger. They also get some solid role players in Marshall and Martin to help bolster their rotation.

——————————

SAC GETS: Paul George, Jrue Holiday, Dwight Powell, & Jared Butler
SAC GIVES: Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, & Malik Monk
WHY FOR SAC? Holiday gives them a legit PG to help run the offense while also being able to defend at an elite level, space the floor, and provide some scoring. He’ll also be a good mentor for Carter and Ellis. George gives them more length, shooting, and defense from the wing while still giving them a go-to option. This also frees up Ellis to start at SG and you all of a sudden have a very elite defensive 4 around Sabonis who can all space the floor for him (Holiday, Ellis, George, and Murray). If we resign LaRavia and Lyles, we’d have a solid bench in Carter, LaRavia, Lyles, and Valanciunas to help fill in when injuries hit.

——————————


Unlike the other trade proposal, we could get some trade assets back in this framework as well considering how negative George’s contract so the trade could do a few things…

• Make us more competitive next season (the team is MUCH more complementary)
• Established a tough, hard nosed, defensive culture (essentially the entire roster is filled with good defenders/players that don’t take plays off)
• Improve the future outlook of our team. We’d still have the extra MIN and SAS 1sts (as well as all of our future 1sts) and any additional 1sts we squeeze out of this deal
• Holiday is a great mentor for Carter & Ellis and can hand over the reigns as he continues to age. George is a solid mentor/archetype for Murray to emulate and can hand over the reigns as he continues to age.

 

[Kingster]

What do we get in return? Multiple 2nd round picks and a #1 in 2040?

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

What do we get in return? Multiple 2nd round picks and a #1 in 2040?

The NBA will NEVER do that for us.

 

[Kingster]

The NBA will NEVER do that for us.

Only one 2nd round pick and a 2045 1st round pick?

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

Only one 2nd round pick and a 2045 1st round pick?

Nope.

 

[captain bill]

Feels like time for a tear down. Sabonis & Monk are very attractive assets. Deebo should be trade able but likely just for picks. LaVine we may be stuck with but his contract will be a massive expiring soon. No idea what that’s worth these days. I like Doug coaching a rebuild and teaching young guys.

of course that’s prob not gonna happen and we’re gonna be stuck fighting for the play-in and going nowhere until Vivek sells or hands the reigns off to someone else

 

[iowamcnabb]

of course that’s prob not gonna happen and we’re gonna be stuck fighting for the play-in and going nowhere until Vivek sells or hands the reigns off to someone else

I get the appeal of a tear down and rebuild but I think people should also prepare themselves for some rough years if that happens. Everyone points to the Thunder as the gold standard but they didn’t make it past the first round until SGA’s fifth season and he is one of the best players on the planet. That’s in most cases best case scenerio. 4 or 5 years is an awful long time to wait for stability given our history, and that’s only if the rebuild works.

personally I say shuffle the deck a bit. Build around a defensive identity and shooting. Those are fun teams and if you are good defensively you always have a chance to win (see this years Clippers team even with James Hardees). Keegan is second team all defense next year imo. Keon is among the most disruptive, just needs to get stronger and Devin Carter is a stud. Keep Laravia and find two more stud defenders with size.

 

[captain bill]

I get the appeal of a tear down and rebuild but I think people should also prepare themselves for some rough years if that happens. Everyone points to the Thunder as the gold standard but they didn’t make it past the first round until SGA’s fifth season and he is one of the best players on the planet. That’s in most cases best case scenerio. 4 or 5 years is an awful long time to wait for stability given our history, and that’s only if the rebuild works.

personally I say shuffle the deck a bit. Build around a defensive identity and shooting. Those are fun teams and if you are good defensively you always have a chance to win (see this years Clippers team even with James Hardees). Keegan is second team all defense next year imo. Keon is among the most disruptive, just needs to get stronger and Devin Carter is a stud. Keep Laravia and find two more stud defenders with size.

1 playoff appearance in 18 years and never a full rebuild. I think this fan base can weather some rough years lol. I’d rather go thru a few lean years with a good FO if it means we can believe in what’s being developed, rather than endless seasons of getting bounced around the play-in window.

 

[Joshyjosh31]

I get the appeal of a tear down and rebuild but I think people should also prepare themselves for some rough years if that happens. Everyone points to the Thunder as the gold standard but they didn’t make it past the first round until SGA’s fifth season and he is one of the best players on the planet. That’s in most cases best case scenerio. 4 or 5 years is an awful long time to wait for stability given our history, and that’s only if the rebuild works.

personally I say shuffle the deck a bit. Build around a defensive identity and shooting. Those are fun teams and if you are good defensively you always have a chance to win (see this years Clippers team even with James Hardees). Keegan is second team all defense next year imo. Keon is among the most disruptive, just needs to get stronger and Devin Carter is a stud. Keep Laravia and find two more stud defenders with size.

Yes but those 3-4 years of watching the young guys grew is better than the nonsense we have out there with a ceiling of the 8th seed.

 

[iowamcnabb]

Yes but those 3-4 years of watching the young guys grew is better than the nonsense we have out there with a ceiling of the 8th seed.

For some it is. I doubt many season tickets holders want to sit through a string of 25 win seasons. The West is what it is. The Suns have two guys that this fan base would trade half our roster for and they are under .500. It’s really hard to win in the NBA.

if you like rooting for young guys ( I do as well) we already have the start of a nucleus: Keegan, Devin, Keon, hopefully Jake. Maybe IJ or iCraw. Plus we will have a second rounder this year, a first rounder next year (if we convey this season). Move Deebo for Jaimie Jaquez and salary filler and you would have a pretty fun squad next season. If they still suck, they then fall into a high draft pick plus the second rounder from the hornets that will likely be top 40. Most of your roster would be under 25 at that point.

 

[Joshyjosh31]

For some it is. I doubt many season tickets holders want to sit through a string of 25 win seasons. The West is what it is. The Suns have two guys that this fan base would trade half our roster for and they are under .500. It’s really hard to win in the NBA.

if you like rooting for young guys ( I do as well) we already have the start of a nucleus: Keegan, Devin, Keon, hopefully Jake. Maybe IJ or iCraw. Plus we will have a second rounder this year, a first rounder next year (if we convey this season). Move Deebo for Jaimie Jaquez and salary filler and you would have a pretty fun squad next season. If they still suck, they then fall into a high draft pick plus the second rounder from the hornets that will likely be top 40. Most of your roster would be under 25 at that point.

The young guys we have don’t have the star potential to get excited for though Keegan/carter don't have potential to even be a second scorer on a serious team.

My first choice would be getting Zion but everyone here is against it I’d rather rebuild than fight for the 9th seed every year

Sabonis, jones , and picks for zion
Derozan and picks for Isiah Stewert

Monk/Carter
Lavine/Ellis
Keegan/Jake
Zion
Stewart/Jonas

Stewert and Keegan can anchor the starting unit and if possible just start ellis over Lavine. Zion can be our 1A and the pick and roll with Monk would be elite. In the 20-30 games Zion could miss you look for Keegan to take the next step and average 20ppg and Carter can step up as well which helps the team long term

 

[sactowndog]

For some it is. I doubt many season tickets holders want to sit through a string of 25 win seasons. The West is what it is. The Suns have two guys that this fan base would trade half our roster for and they are under .500. It’s really hard to win in the NBA.

if you like rooting for young guys ( I do as well) we already have the start of a nucleus: Keegan, Devin, Keon, hopefully Jake. Maybe IJ or iCraw. Plus we will have a second rounder this year, a first rounder next year (if we convey this season). Move Deebo for Jaimie Jaquez and salary filler and you would have a pretty fun squad next season. If they still suck, they then fall into a high draft pick plus the second rounder from the hornets that will likely be top 40. Most of your roster would be under 25 at that point.

you keep saying that. Why don’t you ask those of us who are?

I would much rather watch Carter, Keon, LaRavia and Murray play and watch them develop and know we had the potential of a top 5 pick coming than what we are seeing today.

with the former we have hope. With this team hope has died.

 

[Section 101]

1 playoff appearance in 18 years and never a full rebuild. I think this fan base can weather some rough years lol. I’d rather go thru a few lean years with a good FO if it means we can believe in what’s being developed, rather than endless seasons of getting bounced around the play-in window.

There was a full rebuild. It really comes down to Vlade not taking Luka and we're not having this discussion