Rockets acquire Suns picks, return Nets picks to Brooklyn

Rockets are in a great position. Trading the Nets picks for Suns picks was a smart move even if it doesn’t land Booker or KD. By trading for the Suns picks, the Rockets have 3 chances instead of the 2 with the Nets to get into the lottery. Who would have thought the Suns would be this bad and one of the picks is now lottery bound this year.

If Booker can’t lead their team to the playin now then it’s unlikely to change in 2027 and 2029. They would have to trade KD which would net little value seeing he’s a free agent after next year. Beal is a negative value. If they let both stars walk after their contracts end in 2026, the only free agents that are worth going after that year would be Doncic, Irving, Fox, Randle, and JJJ who aren’t likely to leave their teams.

Keeping the Nets picks would not have been lottery bound this year as they would have kept Bridges. Even without Bridges the Nets could still make the playin this year. The 2026 pick would have also likely been outside of the lottery if the Nets actually played their starters more. Therefore the trade is already paying off and it’s only going to get more interesting.

 

Keep pushing those FRPs forward.

 

I think you are being generous.

I'm not sure the MLE is available to the Suns due to their 2nd tier status. Their only current option is to add min salary vets, trade or use their crappy picks.

 

I’m wondering how far up the board we could get if we offered the Phoenix pick plus Cam Whitmore and maybe future considerations?

 

I see, i mean that makes sense then why it is all doom and gloom for them. I was just reading the above post which shows it as just being Wizards swap, and that is the first time i've seen it presented that way.

 

It looks to me like the PHX pick itself will be either 8 or 9, but I could also see Stone trading it for someone (Book?).

 

PHX has lost the chance to trade Booker for the pick.
Their only hope now is that we offer the pick plus FVV in a sign and trade.

But really that would be a waste of their time - they had one good chance to throw it all in the bin, get their pick back, and tank hard for Flagg
Back in Jan they were 15-18 and it was obvious it was never going to work. But they pulled out a 10-4 stretch against a soft schedule and convinced themselves they were contenders.

LOL.

They could be sitting comfortably in the bottom 5 right now, and could have accumulated some assets already by trading KD and Booker. Instead they tanked their value and have no shot at Flagg.

 

I'm assuming that they get under 2nd apron by trading Durant either immediately or within a year from the trade.

 

I just looked at their stats recently and just by box score they are pretty close. I wouldn't take on his salary right now. I like the idea of letting our young guys grow, like how the Celtics built their team.

 

Umm, yes please!

 

Okay? Brooklyn right now has a 38% chance of landing a top 4 pick and a 9% chance at Cooper Flagg.

It would be awesome if the Suns pick landed on Cooper Flagg or a Harper....... but lets not act like our odds improved with the pick swaps.

 

Brooklyn is 2.5 games out of the play-in right now while doing everything they can to lose.

To me at least, it seems very clear that if Brooklyn hadn't gotten their picks back from HOU and weren't making clear tanking moves like excessively sitting Cam Johnson and Cam Thomas and trading Dorian Finney Smith and Dennis Schroder, that the Brooklyn pick would be equal or worse than the Phoenix pick right now. Not even considering the possibility / likelihood BKN would still have Mikal Bridges and would have made other moves to be competitive if HOU still had their pick.

That's the real counterfactual to evaluate. Do we think our odds improved this year relative to the scenario where we still had Brooklyn's pick and they were trying to win? I think yes.

 

Hm, great point. I never thought about that.

 

lol at these delusional Suns fans

 

We gave Brooklyn control of their pick this year and next for additional future assets. It was never about maximizing this year's lotto odds. That we're getting a lotto pick from Phoenix via swap is just a lucky bonus. It could have easily been in the 20s if Phoenix lived up to their expectations.

Would you trade the 2025, 2027, 2029 Phoenix picks and the 2029 Dallas pick for Brooklyn's 2025 and 2026? I know some of those are swaps (like the 2025s) rather than straight up picks, but that was basically the trade. I'd rather have Phoenix's and Dallas' picks personally.

 

I think the big question now is "what does PHX get in return for Durant?"

They can forget about some fantasy world where they get Jalen, Jabari and tari along with 2 picks. That ain't happening.

Only 1 team has the cap space this offseason to take on his contract but I'm not sure that team or Durant want that - Brooklyn.


Every other team will have to send out at least 43,766,887 in matching salary. With that return, PHX is still over the 2A.


Durant will be a one year rental, teams are only making this trade to roll the dice on that one year - what teams have 43.8m in salary to send back that doesn't include much, if any of their starters / rotation pieces?

 

Don’t know what the Mavs finances look like but I see them going all in on KD to add with Kyrie and AD.