https://fanspo.com/nba/s/rockets/trades/SFmxxZbDeMx_z3/3-team Some version of this as the core trade. Porter - Green - Tate - Smith - Ayton Tyty - Christopher- Eason - Martin - Sengun Nix - Mathews - Brown - Nwaba - Garuba
Ayton can’t be traded until January and has an automatic no trade clause (for 1year) now that Phoenix has matched. So he will have to consent to any trade for 1 year
Who wants to pay Ayton $33M/year? I thought the point of acquisitions was to make the team better especially with our potential future window the size of the Grand Canyon. Two max slots should not be wasted on players that will not lead to us being a winning team. This team could have had cap space to spend this summer instead of next. They would not have offered the max offer sheet that the Pacers did. Only one team did that probably because they knew Phoenix would match it immediately with no other options. No poison pills. They made ZERO effort to work with Phoenix on a trade when Phoenix told them they would match immediately. Therefore NO team in the NBA wanted to pay Ayton. Why is that the case?
Rockets get: Westbrook Lakers 2027 1st Lakers 2028 pick swap Lakers get: Eric Gordon Kyrie Irving Nets get: KJ Martin Dallas filler Nwaba Bucks 2023 1st Lakers 2029 1st Rockets swap Bucks low 1st for a likely higher Lakers 1st and a likely good 2028 pick swap. Lakers get 2 good guards and with some health and luck could be contenders. Nets get 2 1sts which I'm sure is better than any other available offers and reduce their cap by ~$20MM.
Because of the pick obligations to OKC, the Rockets can't afford to take back contracts that extend beyond the end of this year. We need that cap space to make additions in the offseason be that via trade or free agency and trade is probably the way it has to go down in a poor year for free agents. They just don't have the luxury of being bad another year as they'll send any draft pick outside the top 4 to OKC in 2024/25 - top 10 swap in 25/26 and 1-4 in 26/27. That cap space is critical to avoid sending OKC prime draft assets.
If EG isn't traded before rosters are reduced to 15, he won't be traded at all. They just won't have the roster spots during the season to accommodate a 2 or 3 for 1 deal like we saw with Wood going to South Oklahoma. The one exception to that is a player in his contract range getting injured and being the matching salary in return - and that player must be on an expiring contract as the Rockets aren't taking back contracts that interfere with that $71m in cap space next offseason.
These are good points. I don’t think Gordon is moved. They might buy him out as a courtesy at the deadline so that he can have a go with a playoff team. I honestly don’t think they want to move him, but do want to reward his professionalism.
We would still have cap space, just not two max slots. Also to make trades we will need contracts to match and Fournier would be an expiring after this season. I get what you are saying but I don’t think we need to go all in next season with our cap space just to avoid sending OKC a pick in the 8-14 range. We still need to have future space to presumably sign Green and Jabari, not to mention Sengun and Eason.
Someone pointed out to me that if you are under the cap you don’t need players to match salary and we will be 80M under the cap.
Two things you are wrong about: We don't need contracts to match trades. That can be done with actual cap space. We don't need future space to "presumably sign Green & Jabari - Sengun & Eason" , the CBA allows you to resign your own free agents above the salary cap with bird rights which we'd have on all of the above. Strategically using that cap space on a superstar or two (be that via trade or FA) before you pay your own players is the advantage that Stone had built into this rebuild that can create the next dynasty in the NBA. that was me ....
The CBA let's you go over the cap and into the luxury tax to sign your own players, but our owner is Tilman Fertitta. There is no way Tilman is going to load up on free agents with all our cap space and then go deep into the luxury tax to pay our young guys. Not sure if this is what OP meant, but that's why practically we do have to save cap space (or at least 'under the tax' space) to sign extensions for our Rooks. Hope I'm wrong. You all feel free save this and call me an idiot when Tilman is a paying a $100mm luxury tax to field the best contender money can buy, but I seriously doubt that happens unless you all are planning to eat an irresponsible amount of Landry's.
We're going to be $71m under the cap this offseason and another $29m under the luxury tax. (with current contracts) For all those complaining about Tilman being cheap, he paid John Wall a $90m to go away. Les owned the team for two decades and paid the tax once, Tilman has owned it for half a decade and paid it once. I do not expect him to pay $100m in taxes but I expect he'd be pay, to a certain extent to keep the critical pieces of a winning team together. The Warriors have been a financial winner paying huge amounts of repeater tax .... No reason the Rockets shouldn't be as well if they are contenders. But let's be honest here - we are 3 years away from that reality as Green (and last years rookies) have this year and two more on his rookie deal before he's eligible for an extension which right now would be a 25% max, not a 30 or 35%. You say no way, I say wait and see .... it all begins with next offseason. Spending big next offseason is where the potential dynasty begins .... or doesn't.
The hypothetical Fournier trade is also about getting a better haul since we'd be taking back an additional year of a bad contract. Also, what if the player we want isn't a free agent? We need future space as even adding 2 max players while resigning all 4 of our best rookies is a lot of salary.... that might be close to the most salary in the league. Taking on Fournier wouldn't prevent us from signing 1 max player. I just don't see the necessity for having the maximum capo space allowable for next offseason, especially with the potential 2023 free agents.
Les also has 2 championships under his ownership. Plus the most winning seasons in franchise history. Tilly has quite a ways to go before he can be mentioned in same sentence as Les. And I was not a Les fan.
EGo is on fall-back plans. Mitchell/Durant/Russ/Kyrie need to fall into whatever finality before our guy gets gone. Fearless prediction: on or before 8/24 when the Mavs’ pix can be aggrieved err reaggregated. ‘We’ may know the deal but not have it official until a month + down the road.
You know what? At this point, I don’t want to trade Gordon. There, I said it. Why, you ask? Because I want Green to absolutely blow up next season, and Gordon will provide much better spacing than Tate or Eason.
Id imagine by the time they trade Gordon. Wife will be assistant, and all his brother, cousins will be on the roster or working for the Organization.
@tinman Les walked in and bought a championship team from Charlie Thomas built by GM Steve Patterson. He didn't sniff that level of success again and we spent much of that time on the mediocrity treadmill.....
