This is all hypothetical since we don't know what the Pellies want for Davis. Or if Masai/Bobby would even want to trade Pascal/OG for a 1.5 year rental. Also don't forget Masai is a Jedi. He could hoodwink Demps into giving us AD for pennies on the dollar. I mean we didn't give up either for Kawhi in the summer.
But let's go with the most likely scenario where to get AD we'd need to trade both these guys.
Pascal is playing like an all-star (didn't make it but I'm sure it was close). He's in his 3rd year but is also already 24 years old. He's got 2 more years on a rookie contract (after this year) before he gets a big raise (most likely in the mid to high $20M mark.. probably not a max, but that could still be a possibility). But he'll also be an RFA.
OG has regressed. Some of that could be because of his dad passing. It could be because of his role (he used to start, and now he's playing off the bench). At this point his ceiling seems to be a role player. Maybe someone like Aminu but his IQ needs a lot of polishing (OG is still only 21 years old). If he gets his 3pt shooting back to what it was like last year, he'd be coveted by most teams.. and could be useful on a rebuilding team. He's still a decent defender.
Anthony Davis has made it clear. He wants to go to LA. He may consider NY but that could be coming from NY and not him. Davis wants Legacy and his agent is Rich Paul who's besties with Lebron James.
If you consider Kawai most likely leaving at the end of the year. Davis is definitely leaving at the end of 1.5 years. I'd give it less than 1% chance that he stays in Toronto. Kawhi's motivation is family. Davis' is glory/fame. He's not getting glory/fame in Toronto. And Paul/Lebron would never want that who all seem to be controlling Davis behind the scenes.
If we trade for Davis.. we will have a massive 1-2 punch on the team. Two of the best two-way talents to ever play the game. We wouldn't have to worry about facing guys like Embiid, Horford, Giannis or KD in the playoffs. We'd have two legit top 5 talent that can go toe to toe with those guys. We'd give GSW a hard time as well.. but would probably still not be considered the best team in the league on paper. We'd have a very short time to figure out chemistry which has been an issue all year.
If we fail to get to the finals or win it all.. and Kawhi leaves we'd have the ability to flip Davis to LA and try to get some assets back for losing Siakam and OG.. but I would think the value of those assets would be a lot worse (especially if LA is the only team listening to offers). It could be like Colangelo getting a TPE and their protected pick back for Bosh. Is swapping Siakam/OG for a TPE worth it for a better shot at a championship right now?
If we have to rebuild we'd basically have to do it from scratch with only a guy like Norm on the roster (and any players we can salvage from an AD flip). But we wouldn't have our best prospects we have right now on the team.
But let's go with the most likely scenario where to get AD we'd need to trade both these guys.
Pascal is playing like an all-star (didn't make it but I'm sure it was close). He's in his 3rd year but is also already 24 years old. He's got 2 more years on a rookie contract (after this year) before he gets a big raise (most likely in the mid to high $20M mark.. probably not a max, but that could still be a possibility). But he'll also be an RFA.
OG has regressed. Some of that could be because of his dad passing. It could be because of his role (he used to start, and now he's playing off the bench). At this point his ceiling seems to be a role player. Maybe someone like Aminu but his IQ needs a lot of polishing (OG is still only 21 years old). If he gets his 3pt shooting back to what it was like last year, he'd be coveted by most teams.. and could be useful on a rebuilding team. He's still a decent defender.
Anthony Davis has made it clear. He wants to go to LA. He may consider NY but that could be coming from NY and not him. Davis wants Legacy and his agent is Rich Paul who's besties with Lebron James.
If you consider Kawai most likely leaving at the end of the year. Davis is definitely leaving at the end of 1.5 years. I'd give it less than 1% chance that he stays in Toronto. Kawhi's motivation is family. Davis' is glory/fame. He's not getting glory/fame in Toronto. And Paul/Lebron would never want that who all seem to be controlling Davis behind the scenes.
If we trade for Davis.. we will have a massive 1-2 punch on the team. Two of the best two-way talents to ever play the game. We wouldn't have to worry about facing guys like Embiid, Horford, Giannis or KD in the playoffs. We'd have two legit top 5 talent that can go toe to toe with those guys. We'd give GSW a hard time as well.. but would probably still not be considered the best team in the league on paper. We'd have a very short time to figure out chemistry which has been an issue all year.
If we fail to get to the finals or win it all.. and Kawhi leaves we'd have the ability to flip Davis to LA and try to get some assets back for losing Siakam and OG.. but I would think the value of those assets would be a lot worse (especially if LA is the only team listening to offers). It could be like Colangelo getting a TPE and their protected pick back for Bosh. Is swapping Siakam/OG for a TPE worth it for a better shot at a championship right now?
If we have to rebuild we'd basically have to do it from scratch with only a guy like Norm on the roster (and any players we can salvage from an AD flip). But we wouldn't have our best prospects we have right now on the team.
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