Random Trade Thread 2025-26

Pretty incredible that the Heat drafted well in the mid-late 1st for 6 yrs and used those guys to go out and get a top 5 player. Now that’s asset mgmt!

 

Sarcasm?

 

Durant and JB wouldn't coexist.

 

We need shooting. I’d swing for Trey Murphy and Quentin Grimes. Trey and Durant would be deadly from the outside and give us the elite spacing we need with Amen and Sengun. I think Trey is a better perimeter defender than Jabari too. Grimes gives us the shooting we need off the bench paired with Reed.

Trade:

Rockets receive: Trey Murphy III

Pelicans receive: Jabari Smith Jr. + 1-2 unprotected (or lightly protected) future first-round picks (e.g., 2028 and/or 2030 Houston picks)

• Salary match is very close ($23.6M vs. $27M) — could add a minimum-salary player or use exceptions/cash to balance.

Sign Grimes:

Offer him the non-taxpayer MLE (starting ~$14-15M) or a short deal (1-2 years) with incentives. Rockets have the cap room/tools under apron rules to do this without major salary shedding, especially if they manage Eason/VanVleet carefully.

 

I like Murphy and would do this trade but it doesn't solve the Sengun/Amen issue. You can't have 2 non shooters out there now.

 

I would like this deal for Murphy.

Grimes, if the Rockets could get him, that would be good. I don't think the Rockets would be able to make the NT-MLE work.

 

You have to consider that Brown is about to be on the wrong side of thirty and being paid nearly double what Sengun is annually. He's a better player than Sengun, but I don't think he's twice as good as Sengun, and there's a good chance he's already about to be past his peak as a player.

Sengun, salary filler, and a single first round pick I could see. Sengun, Jabari, and three first round picks? Umm... no.

 

Would love to get Scotty Pippen Jr on the cheap coming off an injury

 

Zero change anyone gives up 1st rounders for Murphy AND a player of Jabari's calibur.

 

the potential Jaylen brown acquisition is interesting to me. I don’t think we can get him for Sengun and a pick. But more to the point, do we have the foundation to contend next season (and the next 3 seasons) with JB? Is he a good fit with our best prospect? Does he address our biggest needs (Shooting, ball handling, rim protection)? I would be willing to overpay for JB if he was gonna be the contending piece, but I just don’t have the faith that kD, Fred and Steveo will stay healthy or be at the top of their game. I don’t think we have the other underline players to truly be contenders. And I think we’d still have shooting, ball handling and rim protection problems to address.

 

Yeah, and the other issue with trading Sengun + multiple picks for Brown is that now you have a massive hole at center and not much flexibility to fix it. Adams/Capela isn't going to cut it. If you could somehow swing getting Turner for salary filler... maybe the roster starts to make more sense. I'm still not sure we're a real contender though, and even if we are, it's only for a year or two before KD is done, and then we're out most of our draft capital to rebuild again