The Nets are a complete dumpster fire, especially in the wake of this latest Kyrie headache. Kyrie surely must realize how much trouble he is in considering Nike’s cancellation. Basically, I bet he’ll soon be outreaching his big brother from his time in Cleveland, the one person who managed to keep him under control, begging for a chance to redeem himself. The Lakers are a complete dumpster fire, too. That’s two of the six biggest franchises in the dumpster fires, so I see an opportunity to buy-low on KD just before Christmas by helping these two dumpster fires try to fix themselves:
BOS In: KD
BOS Out: JB, Gallo, Kornet, 2024 BOS 1st, (2) 2023 2nd round picks (we keep ORL)
And as part of this three-way deal, LeBron forces the Lakers into an all-in move like he did his final year in Cleveland at the deadline:
LAL In: JB, Kyrie, Joe Harris, Simmons
LAL Out: AD, Westbrick, Lonnie Walker IV, Patrick Beverley, 2026 LAL 1st, 2028 LAL 1st, 2029 LAL 1st swap, 2027 LAL 2nd, 2028 LAL 2nd, 2029 LAL 2nd
BKN In: AD, Westbrick, Lonnie Walker IV, Patrick Beverley, Gallo, Kornet, 2024 BOS 1st, 2026 LAL 1st, 2028 LAL 1st, 2029 LAL 1st swap, (2) 2023 2nds, 2027 LAL 2nd, 2028 LAL 2nd, 2029 LAL 2nd
BKN Out: KD, Kyrie, Simmons, Harris
That’s called cashing-in on JB’s great start and buying low on one of the top 15-20 NBA players of all-time. Check out our new team:
Smart/White
Brogdon/Pritchard
JT/Hauser
KD/G. Williams
Timelord/Horford
Reserves: Top Buyout TBD, Griffin, Jackson, Vonleh, Davison
That’s ten deep with three of the best shooters in the league bookended by two of the best defenders in the league. Off the bench, a player who would start on 1/3rd of the teams in the league in D-White, two guys who would start on 5-10 teams in the league in Horford/G. Williams, and respectable/blooming rotation players in Hauser and Pritchard. KD finally comes where he belongs with good pal Horford, which is what he should have done in 2016. KD finally gets the championship partner in JT that he always wanted.
Brooklyn would be well-served by then shipping AD somewhere for more picks, followed by moving Royce O’Neal, Beverley, Claxton and Curry for picks and buying out Westbrick, so they can go all-in on a tank to try to win the Wembanyama sweepstakes, especially since the consolation prize for getting number two would be Scoot Henderson, a guy who would be number one probably 6-7 times every decade. In other words, this is the year for the Nets to tank and then reevaluate the available free agents later this decade.