I consider Hayward for Griffin but not Smart too. Griffin has been a pretty consistent 20'ish and 9'ish player for years. He is only 30. His rebounds are down this year but he plays alongside Drummond who sucks up all the rebounds.
I think add what we need most. If we asked him to focus on rebounding and less on scoring he would be fine with that and would be a good rebounder. Maybe he gives us 15/10. That would be huge. Hayward is good but redundant. We need what Griffin can do more than what Hayward can do.
Now on the downside, he has a lot of miles and still 3 years on his contract. Probably more injury risk with him than Hayward. There is a sentimental or personal aspect too. It would hurt a little to trade Hayward.
Hayward is anuthing but redundandt. He is far and away our best and arguably only playmaker in the starting 5 and arguably on the team (Smart is the 2nd IMO). Have you seen Tatum and his tunnel vision, burping up those ugly turnarounds and awkward floaters, while shooting 40% from the field (I have nothing against turnarounds, they're beautiful, but you mist be able to hit them, like KG). Well, Hayward always looks to make the right basketball play, and he is IMO more entitled to take as many shots as Tatum, since he is shooting waaay over 50%.
In short, Hayward is anything but redundant. Hard pass.
Hayward is our only playmaker? Boy, I don't see it that way, arguably or otherwise. And FWIW, Griffin has a career average of 4.4 Assists per game and Hayward 3.4. I know that a singular stat does not tell the whole story but I do not buy that lack of play-making would be an issue if we traded Hayward to bring in Griffin.
I am not saying that Hayward is not a play maker in his own right, just that positionally, we have way more play making at the guard/wing right now than we do at the big. We would have far more play making from the front court with Griffin and Smart, Brown, Tatum, and Walker would provide ample play making from the back court/wing even without Hayward.
That to me is the whole point. Hayward gives us more of what we already have, Griffin gives us a play-making big, something we don't have. No one WANTS to trade Hayward, for a number of reasons, but Griffin would be a nice add.
