NBA Intel (Gossip) And Analysis: Dreams And Nightmares

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This a reminder that I am not attempting to cosplay as Jake Fischer, Shams Charania, or Chris Haynes, and while I have done the work to find multiple sources for these things, I am still very much aware of how 95 percent of all things shared this time of year is nonsense.

The most interesting thing to me in the NBA world right now is what the Hawks are going to do. We’re talking a lot about Jimmy Butler as if he still matters at age 35.¹ But teams like Atlanta and New Orleans have players who can make short and long-term impacts for trade partners.

Some teams and some slop and some thoughts:

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS

Hey, just gonna throw this out here: I have a terrible hit rate on Golden State stuff. I have reasons to trust the information, but I reported on talks between them and Boston for Marcus Smart years ago, and they still maintain that never happened.

Keep that in mind, but Golden State remains very much “out there” in trade discussions.

I wrote on the Warriors and their Three-Body Problem this week:

If you want proof of how confusing this can be, here are three things that I heard from not one, but multiple sources, independently, over the last several weeks.

• The Warriors have had talks with the Bulls for Nikola Vucevic, trying to find a structure that works. The Bulls’ insistence on first-round compensation stalled those conversations, however preliminary they were.

• Golden State remains in the mix for Butler, with a potential multi-team deal involving role players like Andrew Wiggins and others possible. When Brian Windhorst went on SVP the other night and said that “teams in the middle” have re-entered talks now that the price for Butler has come down, everyone assumed he was talking about the Warriors.

• This last one is both not a secret at all and far from reality. The longterm goal remains being in position for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Now, look, if I’m a Bucks fan, I’m livid over this. This has to be the reaction to every single time the idea of Giannis skipping town comes up:

“Giannis is going to ask out!”

/The team trades for Jrue Holiday, the team wins a title

“Giannis is going to ask out!”

/The team fires its coach, hires his preferred choice (no matter how bad that choice was), trades for Damian Lillard, and signs a max extension

It is what it is at this point.

But one thing that gets misconstrued is the idea that teams have one plan instead of wanting to open themselves to many plans. You can’t control free agency destinations or trade demands, but you can control your ability to capitalize on those decisions.

To trade for Giannis, you need salary to fill the gap, preferably expiring. You need young talent that the Bucks can build around. And you need draft equity. Or maybe you don’t! Maybe you can get him for a sweetheart deal. But if you’re looking to make the process painless instead of risking what happened to the Heat with Butler, you need to be able to meet the demands.

If the Warriors can add an expiring contract like Vucevic, a young potential star (though I’m dubious) in Kuminga, and use their powder-dry reserve of firsts, that sets them up well, whether for Giannis or another star.

UTAH JAZZ