Haliburton Sabonis trade, relate to JB JT

[Ed Monix]

I am really curious if offering Jaylen Brown would have trumped the Pacers package of Sabonis.

Obviously the Celtics would never have made that proposal at the time, but I wonder how Sacramento viewed Brown in 2022.

I would imagine if Haliburton arrived at in Boston, Smart would have been moved out sooner too.

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Boston Celtics

Haliburton
White
Tatum
Horford
Williams III

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Sacramento Kings

Fox
Huerter
Brown
Barnes
Thompson

[Smartacus]

I think that the Zion for Brown package is still the most interesting if you were just going talent for talent. Zion and Tatum have the Duke connection. New Orleans would have a more steady hand ready to step up into a leadership role in Jaylen.

When healthy Zion is unequivocally better than Brown but JB has been arguably more professional. Maybe bringing Big Zion into this culture with Tatum watching his back could be enough to keep him on a solid conditioning regimen.

[Kernewek]

I think that the Zion for Brown package is still the most interesting if you were just going talent for talent. Zion and Tatum have the Duke connection. New Orleans would have a more steady hand ready to step up into a leadership role in Jaylen.

When healthy Zion is unequivocally better than Brown but JB has been arguably more professional. Maybe bringing Big Zion into this culture with Tatum watching his back could be enough to keep him on a solid conditioning regimen.

One might hope the ~$250M Zion's been paid by the Pelicans would have incentivised that already, though.

[Smartacus]

I think that the Zion for Brown package is still the most interesting if you were just going talent for talent. Zion and Tatum have the Duke connection. New Orleans would have a more steady hand ready to step up into a leadership role in Jaylen.

When healthy Zion is unequivocally better than Brown but JB has been arguably more professional. Maybe bringing Big Zion into this culture with Tatum watching his back could be enough to keep him on a solid conditioning regimen.

One might hope the ~$250M Zion's been paid by the Pelicans would have incentivised that already, though.

Might be getting in the weeds of armchair psychology here but IMO Zion is like LeBron. He’s probably had people his whole life telling him how much he was going to dominate in the NBA and the money is just becomes expected. Whether or not that is a good thing, I don’t think money is his primary motivating factor.

What I do think he needs to motivate him is to be held accountable by a team full of high character individuals, ideally for a franchise with a proven track record of success. Zion had that at Duke and was an exceptional player, I think the low expectations and low effort reputation of the Pelicans and the city of New Orleans has contributed to his lack of discipline.

Get him in a locker room with Tatum, Jrue Holiday and Porzingis with Horford still kicking around and KG waking him up on Sunday mornings to go on beach runs and maybe he develops into the all NBA player that he’s proven to be in limited minutes.

[lbgreen33]

I think that the Zion for Brown package is still the most interesting if you were just going talent for talent. Zion and Tatum have the Duke connection. New Orleans would have a more steady hand ready to step up into a leadership role in Jaylen.

When healthy Zion is unequivocally better than Brown but JB has been arguably more professional. Maybe bringing Big Zion into this culture with Tatum watching his back could be enough to keep him on a solid conditioning regimen.

I did a whole post on this trade. So, I agree, the challenge is that it's far off. Zion lost some weight and looks good. JB is up and down, some games it seems he forgets how to pass. So many times I see him going into a double and even triple team and not kick it out. so frustrating.