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

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The difference with PJ vs 2022 Dinwiddie though is age and upside. He's 3 years younger than Dinwiddie with clearly more upside than Dinwiddie's at the time he was traded for.

I also don't really have an issue with people saying it's risky, but you literally said you hate PJ Washington. It's like, that's a step above simply feeling like it might be too risky and not work out well, or even not really liking the trade.

Another thing people aren't mentioning when considering the assets given up for both PJ and Gafford is their value as assets in and of themselves moving forward. They aren't 30+ year olds on terrible contracts. Both these guys are fairly likely to at least maintain the value they were traded for, with the potential to increase in value when you consider their age and the situations they have been in, vs coming into. Even players that don't perform quite as expected, tend to have more trade value having been part of winning teams with playoff experience, vs players who've maybe put up better numbers on perennial losers. Like one or both could have great performances rest of the year and play well in the post season, and someone comes up in the off season we want, they will have plenty of value. What we gave up isn't value simply lost.

I don't hate PJ Washington.  I just hate the trade.  We gave up our best available asset for him.  If that was the market price for a player like PJ Washington, I think we should have waited.  As many have said before me, we would have had more assets available this coming summer and could have afforded a better player who came available by combining those.  I really like the Gafford trade and I think he will make a big difference to our team.  I think our smaller 4s like DJJ and Grant Williams would have looked better next to another hot-blocking, rebounding big.  I don't see why we needed a desperation trade for PJ Washington.

As to PJ, he's only 25 but he's actually become worse with age.  His 3-point percentage has declined 4 straight years.  His defensive metrics on LEBRON and DPM are all negative.   There may be some talent there to reclamate.  Is Jason Kidd the coach to inspire PJ Washington to actually practice shooting and playing hard on defense? 

I expressed a lot of concerns when we traded the 2030 swap rights for Grant Williams.  I was fine with the Grant Williams contract.  I just couldn't believe we gave up the 2030 swap for him.  We gave up valuable asset for a guy who Boston wasn't going to re-sign anyway.  7 months later, Grant Williams became a negative contract.  Apparently, part of the function of the 2027 1st was to get off that bad contract.  There's a real possibility that the PJ Washington contract will also be considered a bad contract in a year.  

We'll all get to watch PJ play here over the rest of the season.  I hope he plays well and I'm wrong.  I'll acknowledge if I was.  I think there's real chance that plays no better than Grant Williams.  If his 3-point shot stays at 32.4%, then he will be a huge problem for our offense.  

If his DPM stays at -1.0, then he'll be another poor defender on the Mavs.  

We spent a lot in order to get a guy who has been bad this season.  So bad that he's backup on a team on pace to win only 16 games.  There should be more concern on this board about this trade.