2024-25 NBA Thread

[pwaldo]

So Luka goes to the Lakers for only 1 of 3 reasons.

1. Mavs GM is incredibly dumb
2. The league rigs it to improve ratings/interest and to the save the Lakers long term
3. There is something wrong with Luka injury wise or Wander Franco/Diddy level so the Mavs dump him immediately

Nothing else makes sense to me

[WilyWestbrook0]

LOL Cavs up 91 to 45 at the half on the shocked Mavs
The Cavs scored 50 in the first quarter alone
I legitimately felt bad for Dallas and chose not to watch this game today because I figured it would be a massacre -- looks like I was right

[WilyWestbrook0]

Another trade today - reportedly DeAaron Fox is heading to the Spurs, Zach LaVine to the Kings (with some first round picks), and Kevin Huerter, Zach Collins, and Tre Jones are heading to the Bulls. Some of these names are from a Reddit post that may not be entirely accurate, but Fox and LaVine are confirmed via ESPN:

Sources - Kings' De'Aaron Fox set to land with Spurs in multiteam trade - ESPN

[WilyWestbrook0]

Competitive game with Boston and Cleveland tonight, but Cleveland can't win when Evan Mobley plays that poorly. They had a chance to make it a one possession game and he throws the ball away on a risky and stupid cross court pass toward the end. Terrible shooting numbers on the night, looked soft in the paint, weak rebounding, probably his worst game of the season.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Trade deadline is tomorrow.

First major deal today is Milwaukee and Washington swapping Khris Middleton and Kyle Kuzma:

Sources - Bucks trade Khris Middleton to Wizards for Kyle Kuzma - ESPN

Kuzma has had a down season and is probably thrilled to be out of Washington. Middleton I'm sure is very disappointed, and it's terrible for a classy guy like him to be dumped on the lousy Blizzards, but he's admittedly past his prime and with a ton of recent injury problems, so the Bucks surely felt they had to move him somewhere. Kuzma is honestly a nice return, so I see why they did it.

[pwaldo]

Trade deadline is tomorrow.

First major deal today is Milwaukee and Washington swapping Khris Middleton and Kyle Kuzma:

Sources - Bucks trade Khris Middleton to Wizards for Kyle Kuzma - ESPN

Kuzma has had a down season and is probably thrilled to be out of Washington. Middleton I'm sure is very disappointed, and it's terrible for a classy guy like him to be dumped on the lousy Blizzards, but he's admittedly past his prime and with a ton of recent injury problems, so the Bucks surely felt they had to move him somewhere. Kuzma is honestly a nice return, so I see why they did it.

I'm not really sure this move helps the Bucks but I guess they have to do something to try. They started off horrible and have moved up to the #5 seed in the East but they can't win on the road and I don't really see them making much noise in the playoffs with or without Kuzma

[WilyWestbrook0]

Pat Riley sending Jimmy to the Warriors, where he didn't want to go; Pat as usual gets his way in the end:

Sources -- Heat finalizing Jimmy Butler trade to Warriors - ESPN

[WilyWestbrook0]

Trade deadline for the season is the afternoon today. Still a few more deals that can be made.

A few more from late last night and early today that are of note:

- Brandon Ingram to the Raptors for Olynyk, Brown, first round pick, second round pick
- Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, and picks to Hornets for Mark Williams

It will be interesting to see if the Cavaliers make a deal including Caris LeVert for De'Andre Hunter, as has been rumored, or if the Thunder do actually pursue and get Cam Johnson. I think the Cavs need to consider making a move more than the Thunder. If they can get Hunter without sacrificing Okoro's wing defense, they can add another wing with both shooting and defense that could be of great use against teams like Boston. I think it'd be smart if they deal LeVert and someone like Tyson or especially Niang and maybe their 2031 pick for Hunter, if the Hawks accept that. But I don't think they should throw Okoro and Wade in the deal because they also need depth at the wing and Hunter is admittedly injury prone.

[WilyWestbrook0]

WOO HA !!!!! THE CAVS GOT DE'ANDRE HUNTER, AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO GIVE UP OKORO OR WADE OR TYSON!!!!!!!!!!

I *TRIED* to tell some of their stubborn fan base on RealCavsFans (most of their fans are great, btw, just a few knuckleheads here and there) to believe more in Koby Altman's competence, that they could do better than Cam Johnson, and that they needn't trade away all their depth at the wing to get him. Some of them kept complaining about Altman, that he'd never get a wing, and that they absolutely needed Cam, even if it meant giving up all their other wings to do so.

But they proved me right -- Altman is shrewd, they didn't have to give up all their wings to get a good wing, and they got a wing who can actually play defense!

Hunter is a MUCH better fit for them than Cam Johnson. He's ALMOST as good as a shooter, he's much better defensively, and he has the same height. Moreover, they got rid of Niang, who sucks defensively, and didn't have to give up their defensive wing stoppers in Okoro and Wade!

I think the Cavs can beat the Celtics now.

VERY excited by this move!!!!!!!!!!

[WilyWestbrook0]

With the deadline over, I'm assessing what the Thunder and Cavaliers have done, and I'm pretty happy for the most part.

While the Thunder didn't land Cam Johnson (he would have been a much better fit for the Thunder than the Cavs), they got another pick, opened up a roster spot for Ajay Mitchell, signed him, and opened up a 2 way spot for Branden Carlson, who is back on the team. Plus, Chet is coming back! Him coming back alone will make them a better shooting team and less reliant on Shai. They also now have depth at the bigs with Carlson back, which can get them to move JWill back to backup 4. They have four bigs with Chet, IHart, JWill, and Carlson. They still have a lot of small but versatile 6'5" wings, so even though they didn't get a big 6'8" one in Cam Johnson, they may not need one with their swarming perimeter playstyle.

I mentioned I love the Hunter deal for the Cavaliers. However, they still lack depth at bigs to help out Mobley and Jarrett Allen when they need subbing out (Wade is nice and can guard four positions when healthy, but he's seldom healthy, and Tristan Thompson is too limited at this stage of his career), and unlike the Thunder, haven't really addressed that. There's a rumor going around that they're very interested in Ben Simmons, who's getting bought out by the Nets. Simmons does have size at 6'10", but he obviously comes with a ton of baggage to say the least. I wonder if they'll take him on anyway. But I'd hope they could do better.