Oof. That would hurt. I could see GSW being at least somewhat interested in Hayward. He'd be a great fit in their scheme. If there was one place the Cs could trade Hayward and not be the bad guys, it would have to be the Warriors, right? Great area to live in. Great franchise. Great scheme. Great teammates. Playing for a championship.
However, the Cs can't take back the years of Wiggins salary without diverting him to a third team. in the 21-22 season, Tatum's new contract will kick in. With Wiggins too, we'd be against the hard cap pretty quick. We just can't.
Hornets
One possibility that could be interesting would be to divert Wiggins to a team like the Hornets with Zeller coming back. The Hornets have a lot of cap space, which means they could absorb the extra salary. They could could use some extra scoring on the wing and Wiggins is probably a better fit and better player for them than Zeller. For the Cs, Zeller is an expiring contract, which means he doesn't complicate our cap figure when Tatum's new salary fits in. I've also thought for a long time that Zeller would be a perfect big for CBS system. He screens well. He's unselfish. He's tough inside. He's a good team defender. He'd be similar to Theis and probably slightly better in different ways.
Hawks
Another possibility could be the Hawks. Same as Hornets, they could absorb the salary without needing to send much back out. Wiggins would give them another playmaker and scorer to go with Young, which is something they desperately need. The Hawks could send back one of Capella, Dedmon, or Collins. Rumor was that Collins was on the trading block at the deadline and the Cs were making calls about him. I don't think I'd do the trade if I were the Hawks, but the Hawks might do it.
Knicks
Another possibility could be the Knicks. Same as the other two, they could absorb the salary without needing to send much back out. They'd have a 20ppg scorer in Wiggins to go with Barrett, Robinson, and their pick this year. The Knicks would send out Randle, Portis, or Gibson. I'm not a fan of any of them, but maybe Randle or Gibson would fit well on this team.
Kings
The only other one that could work would be the Kings for Bjelica. Not sure that's fair value though.
In each case of the examples above, I wonder if Ainge could convince the third team to send a pick back. Nothing big, but like a highly protected first that converts to a second.
These are the ones I've come up with, assuming the pieces with the Cs and Warriors could be worked out so that Hayward goes to the Warriors with 14 and Wiggins and 2 go back to the Cs.
In any of these trades, the key piece is the 2nd pick. If you think that player can be part of the core high level talent with Tatum and Brown for the next 6-8 years or more, then you have to consider it. If you, like many draft scouts, aren't thrilled with the top level talent, then it might not be a great decision.
Topic: Who says no GSW or Celtics? (Read 2310 times)