Trade idea: Shedding Kristaps Porzingis’ salary in 3 team deal (from Game Theory podcast)

There are a ton of trade ideas floating around the internet, and not all are worth the effort of passing along (and frankly many aren’t possible under the rules of the current CBA). However, I thought it would be instructive to take a look at one of the more reasonable ideas I’ve seen.

I heard this on a podcast called Game Theory with the great Sam Vecinie. Here’s the link to the specific Game Theory podcast on YouTube I’m talking about. (They do great stuff, like and subscribe and all that.)

• If you can’t read the image below, here’s the 3 team deal proposed.
• The Lakers get Nic Claxton
• The Nets get Porzingis, Gabe Vincent, Maxi Kleber, and a top 10 protected 2027 pick from Boston
• The Celtics get Keon Johnson

The rationale for the Lakers is obvious. They get a good big man that they desperately need. Honestly I’m skeptical that they could get this much return while just sending out contracts, but that’s another topic. Also, trading with the Lakers? Ew.

The Celtics clear over $30M in cap space and take a flyer on a young player. (They note on the podcast that this could be any number of low cost players on the Nets roster)

The Nets get a protected pick, three expiring contracts, and essentially kick the can down another year on their cap space. In fact, they also clear Claxton’s contract off the books as well.

The pick coming from Boston would be protected and it would be in the year that Tatum is back and presumably back at full speed, so the hope there is that it would be in the late 20’s anyway. In theory the Celtics reset their books under the 2nd apron (and then some) and can either make more moves to get under the repeater tax or they can do a soft reboot and run it back with mostly the same roster, minus KP.

Here’s where I have to note that there are a lot of factors going against this kind of deal. First of all, Brooklyn is the only team with significant cap space ready to take in contracts this size. A lot of teams around the league are going to be looking to shed salary and the Nets are going to be the belle of the ball, being asked to dance by every eligible bachelor in the room. Furthermore, there’s a strong likelihood that some big names could be traded this summer (Giannis, Durant, etc.) and it is almost always necessary to involve a 3rd team with cap space to get deals like that done. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them walk away with multiple 1st rounders for the use of their cap space. Oh yeah, and the Nets have been known to be interested in Giannis themselves.

As usual, this is not a prediction that this deal will happen, nor is it an endorsement of this kind of trade. Just an interesting scenario that I thought I’d pass along as discussion fodder. So what do you think? Would you do this deal? If not, what would you propose instead?