Trade & FA 2023-24: Stein-Ingram Trade Inevitable| LAL Want Lebron Back On Any Terms

[Jason Terry]

Philly doesn't need to trade for him. They can just sign him in summer. Rumors Siakam wants to be there because of old coach and countryman Embiid. Their easiest way to do it would be SnT and operate over the cap, which would keep their flexibility for further trades. Of course Toronto could be open to a similar deal at TDL, but can't expect much from Philly. If Siakam really wants to go there, they have all the leverage. Expiring contracts and pick is what they can get from Philly imho.

This seems to be the crux of it all. Is this an OG situation where he’s going to sign with Philly no matter what if Toronto doesn’t give him supermax? If so then we should be out. All Philly can really offer is expirings and they have LAC 2028 unprotected and their own 2030 unprotected. If this is what it is then Toronto should take the deal, but it sure seems like Toronto would rather have players than picks. Picks that far away don’t do anything for the Barnes/Barrett/Quickly/Poeltl core they’ve already invested heavily in

It’s a similar situation to Kyrie. If we know we can re-sign him then perhaps we can pay rental prices for a long term investment. Siakam(29) and Kyrie(31) would be on a similar timeline. This iteration of the Luka Era mavs would run it’s course and then we build another team after Luka’s extension kicks in 

There’s Luka, Kyrie, Kidd, Nico…..that’s a strong team of player friendly recruiters we haven’t had in the past (Dirk, Cuban, Rick, Donnie was so weak). There’s Siakam ties to Texas. Siakam and Omax have the same agent. Omax was born in Canada (same as Barrett) and his folks are former Canadian basketball players. Omax could be the best asset on the table for Toronto, so they could have motivation. Omax alone is a strong offer after Toronto did us the favor of waiting too long to trade their guys

The basketball fit is there. Siakam checks all the major boxes of size, toughness, defense, rebounding, offense generation for self, offense generation for others. The biggest warts are the 3pt shooting and the contract size he will demand(max). Luckily we have new owners with deep pockets and if it makes basketball sense to go deep over the 2nd apron for a bit, then we have that ability. 

The cost for a comprable player like Jerami Grant seems like it would be higher. This doesn’t feel desperate or rushed. Feels more opportunistic if the price is low enough.