The blow-up is imminent. While it’s not likely that everyone gets shipped out, in a world where they are all traded away, where do they all realistically end up?
My own opinions:
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Zach LaVine to the Miami Heat.
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DeMar DeRozan to the New York Knicks.
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Nikola Vucevic to the Memphis Grizzlies. (Vucevic to the Phoenix Suns for Jusuf Nurkic also works almost too perfectly salary-wise.)
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Alex Caruso to the Cleveland Cavaliers. (I also like the idea of Caruso to the Timberwolves to solidify their defense even more, but not sure how they can make that deal work.)
Wouldn’t hate Vuc on the Thunder to help solve the rebounding problem. He’s not exactly a sniper but can keep a defense honest from 3.
But, that doesn’t seem likely to happen unless it’s closer to the trade deadline
Vuc for Bertans with a couple of 2nd round picks makes a lot of sense, especially if the Thunder are looking like real contenders near the trade deadline. 3/$60M is a very manageable salary number and he gives enough rebounding/scoring while Chet plays a supersized 4 as the rim protector. He’s then off the books right when Chet/JDub are up for new contracts. I’m just skeptical it happens unless it looks like the West is super wide open (eg something catastrophic like Jokic and Curry both having season ending injuries) and the Thunder could do more than just make some noise in a first round series.