NBA Offseason in Full Swing

 Here I was thinking that the NBA finals would end and I'd be left with nothing to write about. After I wrote my post yesterday about the Celtics/Blazers and Rockets/Suns trades, 2 more trades went down that are noteworthy enough for me to discuss. I'll do the exact same format as yesterday, why not! Tonight is the NBA draft so I guarantee Thursday will be an easy day for ideas. The week's shaped up pretty well if you ask me! Trades to discuss are below:

Trade 1: 

Wizards get: CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk, second round pick

Pelicans get: Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey, second round pick

Trade 2: 

Hawks get: Kristaps Porzingis

Celtics get: Georges Niang, Hawks second round pick

Nets get: Terrence Mann, #22 overall pick in 2025

Washington Wizards

I don't know, I guess I wanted to start with the best player since I have 5 teams to go over. I kind of like this move for Washington. After trading Kyle Kuzma at the trade deadline, the Wizards now move off of Jordan Poole and they can begin to think about playing serious basketball once again. This was purely a salary move by the Wizards with Poole being owed a little over $30m for the next 2 seasons and CJ's contract coming off after this one. They get 2 vets who if they stick around can help mentor all the young talent they're building up, but also could be decent trade chips for contenders either this offseason or down the line. I'd personally like to see CJ in a 6th man role somewhere, I picked him as my 6th man of the year winner last offseason before I realized what a dumpster fire the Pelicans would be. Kelly we just saw with the Raptors doesn't offer very much trade value, but he's a good bench piece if you need 15 minutes of offense at the 4 or 5. The most important thing here is they got off of Poole who was definitely exciting, but frequently made head scratching decisions. The Wizards have Bub Carrington who they picked in the draft last year as well as the #6 pick in this year's draft that appears decently stacked with point guards. I think it's smart to move on from Poole and hand the keys over to some young talent. Ultimately, I don't see this as super consequential for the Wiz. It will be interesting to see if they move on from CJ who can be helpful on a good team, but he's also seemingly a really nice guy and good vet that they might just want to keep around to try and show some growth next season. 

New Orleans Pelicans

I don't care what they do, I'm not falling for this team ever again. I kid, but this is a somewhat interesting move for the Pels. They have a weird offseason ahead of them, their star Zion Williamson can't seem to stay on the court, and off the court he's now in headlines that aren't the prettiest. I'll let the readers do their own research on that. Their long term solution at point guard, Dejounte Murray, went down in the second half of last season with an Achilles tear which figures to keep him out of most if not all of next season. With that in mind, they needed to take a swing at someone who can run the offense. While Poole isn't the guy I'd want running my offense, they definitely need shooting and playmaking and Poole on paper does that. At this point, I don't think Poole is a guy who's driving winning on your team, although he can get hot and have some big games. The Pelicans can be good next year if Zion plays and if he plays, Poole is a pretty good compliment to him on offense. The other guy they got Saddiq Bey is a classic looks like an NBA player guy but he's kicked around multiple teams now failing to stick in a rotation. I think unfortunately for him New Orleans might be his last chance. They do need depth though so he'll get a lot of looks. My overall thoughts are the Pelicans might not have gotten better, but they probably got more fun to watch. 

Atlanta Hawks

If you could delete all bodily ailments from existence in the world, this trade would've been an absolute coup for the Hawks. When healthy, Kristaps Porzingis is a rare breed in the NBA. A center who can shoot from deep and play defense is something every team covets. I often see fans online talking about how they need a stretch 5 to optimize their team's offense, Kristaps is one of the only guys in the NBA who actually is that. Not only that, the Hawks had a pretty big hole at the 5 with Clint Capela getting older and likely out the door and Onyeka Onkongwu being pretty good but undersized. Trae Young can make bigs into the best versions of themselves with his elite playmaking and Kristaps offers him a pick and pop option that he's never had before, without taking away the lob threat that makes Trae so dangerous. All of this sounds like it's a no brainer of a trade, especially only giving up Georges Niang. The problem is, Porzingis always seems to be hurt or ill at the least opportune times. The only time he's played 65 games since 2017 was 2022/2023 with the Wizards, a team that didn't go anywhere. People forget but in the Celtics title run KP went down pretty early in the playoffs and didn't return until the finals where he was a shell of himself. This past postseason KP was severely limited with an illness that just didn't get better. For his sake, I hope he's recovered by the start of the season, but it's certainly a risk for Atlanta. Still though, why not take the risk, it's not like it cost them very much and if it pays off it makes the Hawks a much better team. 

Boston Celtics

Fire sale! I guess they pretty much told us they were going to do this, trading either Jrue or KP or both to duck under the second apron. They have now successfully navigated that and are under the second apron for next season. It's a weird one, they're in a definite gap year while they wait for Tatum's recovery. That being said, with Jalen Brown and Derrick White still on the team I can't really see them being that bad of a team next season. Trading Porzingis leaves a big gap at center for the Celtics, but they only had him for 42 games last year so they're no strangers to solving that problem. The guy they got, Georges Niang, is a fine role player. He's kind of a traffic cone on defense but he's a lights out shooter and a guy that plays hard every night. In getting Simons and now Niang, the Celtics are still equipped to play their annoying, jack 60 threes a night style of offense, only this time I can't see their defense holding up. Not really much else to say about this one, it was a straight salary dump nothing more. I will say though if you showed me a picture of Georges Niang and explained to me how he played, I would've guessed that he was a Boston Celtic so maybe this trade was the universe making things right. 

Brooklyn Nets

Remember that Game of Zones episode with the guy ringing his bell saying "BRING OUT YOUR BUSTS, BRING OUT YOUR BUSTS" that's what the Nets are doing with their cap space right now. You can't really hate it, the Nets gave up nothing except for the agreement to take on Terrence Mann and in exchange they got the 22nd pick in the draft tonight. Good idea for Brooklyn. No point in commenting on what Mann will do with the Nets because who on earth knows who will be on that team by season's end. It looks pretty clear that the Nets are looking to move up in the draft after accumulating I believe 6 first round picks in this 1 draft alone. It was projected that they'd be a salary dumping ground and they're living up to it, no surprises here! 

That's that! This is fun, I understand why the NBA media likes to spend all its time talking about trades and drama. Draft tonight, tons of guys in play at 9 for the Raptors. Could Masai trade the pick in a surprise move on draft night? Find out at 8pm! See you tomorrow!