yeah, I got a little lost.....Somebody said Ant + 7 for Keldon Johnson + 4 and it immediately morphed into a discussion on #5 Ant for 5 with no salary coming back is interesting but Detroit has no cap-space
It will be fascinating to see, if and when we trade him, what value we get (or give up) to move Grant. The Blazers got him for essentially a first and two seconds (and unfortunately we still need to send those in 2025 and 2026) along with Detroit not having to take any contracts back since we had a trade exception. He's now two years older, he's had two more injury-shortened years (that's four in a row now, for those keeping track!), and he's owed $132m over the next four (while he was only owed $21m for a single year at the time the Blazers acquired him). I look at that and I wonder... do we get a second rounder? Do we have to give up a second rounder to get rid of him? While it hurts that we won't have the Bucks' first rounder next year, the amount of value we gave up for Grant just wasn't that much, and he's less valuable now than he was two years ago, so... **shrug**
If I were Orlando I would seriously look at Ant, #7, #14 for Franz. They get his replacement at #7 Now I said Orlando should offer it, I am not saying Portland should accept it. Not if Cody Williams is available. But Orlando does have the cap space to do it.
It would have to be a pre-draft trade agreed to be consummated after the beginning of the new league year (at which point Detroit would have plenty of cap space).
Also, we haven't really talked about why Detroit wants another guard when they have Cade/Ivey/Sasser on board...
Well, they would be sending Ivey over, and they need outside shooting. Ant and Cade would complement each other nicely.
I must have missed this. Detroit is trading Ivey/#5/salary filler for Ant? Seems like a stretch. Even with the Ivey misfit with Portland's roster, value play makes it a no brainer
It's not pressing for me, other than he's taking minutes other players need (and he's not the kind of player I want to build around). But if we can get a better player who will fit our future better I think we should do it. It seems like we should be able to do that picking #5 almost any draft. It's not a guarantee, but...
Moving up makes no sense unless you think there's someone at the top who you think can be a significant difference maker. If that's Risacher or Buzelis, but there's a good chance that someone equally as interesting could drop to 7. So really the only reason to move up is because this is a year that high lottery picks might be available. And we have veterans to move. So we could potentially roll the dice on multiple guys from this draft in hopes that they develop into stars.
The Blazers need to hold out for a team that is a bit desperate and projects Grant to be their 4th starter to just possibly push them over the hill and contend. Maybe they have an injured player on a worse contract to give us with a pick. If thats not available this summer the Blazers should just wait until the trade deadline - perhaps another teams starter gets a season ending injury and then they explore that deal. I wouldn't give up value to dump Grant - makes more sense to keep him and hope the dynamics change so he has value later - as well as when there are fewer seasons on his contract. Might be reasons that any of Brogdon/Grant/Ant/Ayton/etc don't have value now on the trade market and the Blazers should keep one of them. But when shopping all of those guys I'd suspect one or two of them will have a good trade offer this summer.
Feels very likely to me. They are desperate for shooting and don't want to play the development game.
Detroit has been doing this forever. They aren't as interested in picking and developing. They'd rather have t the sure thing at this point. Ant would immediately be there #2 next to Cade.
"Worst draft" is a meaningless term. If the Blazers do this, they do it with a specific player in mind like Clingan.
You're making it a mythical number. This is a weaker draft. What does Detroit need? Shooting. Ant is one of the best and he'd immediately be a 20+ point a night scorer. Detroit would be all over this.
Contract and upside is irrelevant. Ivey had upside. How has that turned out? Detroit is ready to get better. Reed and Dalton are not sure fire starters in this league. Ant would be for Detroit and be there #2. Ant at 25 mil is not a bad deal at all.
