So you would give up Tatum in a trade for Leonard?
Here was the rumor/speculation that I heard:
Celtics get: Leonard. Spurs get: forward Marcus Morris, guard Terry Rozier, forward Jayson Tatum, forward Daniel Theis, 2019 top-eight protected first-round pick (from Boston, via Memphis). So, is that too steep of a price to pay for one of the NBA’s best players? Perhaps, and Leonard is just one year away from free agency. But such a deal would give Boston a starting lineup of Leonard, Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Jaylen Brown and Al Horford. If you ask us, that squad could rival — and even surpass — the Golden State Warriors’ star-studded unit.
Read more at: https://nesn.com/2018/04/should-celtics-offer-this-hypothetical-trade-for-spurs-kawhi-leonard/
4 players and a Memphis protected pick for Leonard? Would you really do this trade?
That trade isn't able to happen. We would need to add more salary. Probably need to send Yabu too.
So
Tatum, Rozier, Morris, Theis and Yabusele plus a pick or picks
For
Kawhi.
No way. Too much.If I could trade just Tatum and picks, I woukd do it but given we would need to shred the roster and rotation to get him, I would pass.
so you wouldn't want to give up Tatum and the 3rd PG, the 4th swing, the 4th big man, and a guy who spent most of the year in the GLeague for Leonard. That seems a bit strange to me.
So post-trade, you'd have a starting 5 of Irving, Hayward, Leonard, Horford, Baynes. The team would have Smart, Brown, and Monroe as the first 3 off the bench. It would still have its own 2018 1st, Larkin, Semi, Nader, and Bird/Allen, plus whatever free agents could be added for the deeper bench.
I just don't get why all of the deep bench players would somehow be a deal breaker. I like Tatum, but if Tatum is even 90% the player Leonard is, he would be a huge homerun and the odds of that happening are small. Leonard also fits the Irving/Hayward/Horford timeline so much better, that the team has to make that trade.