This is my assessment as well but I don't mind if the team wants to try it out. They'll likely see very quickly that we won't have the requisite foot speed in the front court to be effective defensively and that will dictate future moves. I still think that it would take a very nice return to move Deandre at this point. It makes sense for him to start, Clingan to back him up and play around with the rotation to see what does and doesn't work. Maybe it will make sense to do that the entire season and maybe it will only make sense to do that until the trade deadline. At the same time maybe Joe really wants to move Deandre and all of this talk about Ayton being down for whatever and the team wanting to see how the two work together is just posturing. The funny thing is that regardless of the eventual outcome, we will never know the truth because we're not privy to the trade negotiations or what is said in our front office.
Edwards isn’t a Top 10 player by any metric. Slightly above average player who is overrated because his dunks are cool.
1. A trade during the season with his size of contract and with moves made during the draft and free agency is less likely, IMHO. 2. The current free agents of 2025 is a long list of serious players. Many of these will be resolved with extensions, RFA, staying put … but it will still be some serious shopping next summer. And with the 2025 draft being a huuuuuuge focus, next summer is interesting for Ayton having a year left on contract. 3. I’m not seeing an Ayton-Clingan twin towers working … and Clingan just picked as their guy … making Ayton less likely to remain. That’s why I picked this summer … as less likely as I thought it was prior to the draft. After the stars get re-aligned in the next day or so, the perceived need for size among contenders and wanna-be contenders is a right now thing. Parity rules … until Wemby comes of age … maybe.
I think with his 3 pt shooting that Duop can play the 4 alongside any of our centers and we'll be good. Ayton at times plays like Lamarcus from the midrange so he can play that role as well. See what coaching brings to the mix..It's nice to have the option to use two sets of twin towers with one starting and the other off the bench
Let’s move Ayton to Memphis for Edey plus their unprotected 2025 1st pick and their own 2027 (1-4 protected) 1st round pick. Of course we then trade Grant and Ant for additional draft capital along with a couple young prospects. 2024/25 will be a lottery year and we try for Flagg
I don’t think DA is going anywhere until January - deadline, or at least the FO knows what they are getting in Clingan. Clingan is probably going to be playing around the 20mpg mark, I don’t think they are in a rush to get rid of Ayton if he doesn’t return at least a first or any kind of young piece in return.
