Lets say Atlanta is a borderline playoff team (which I think they can be if Young, Collins, and Huerter all make a jump). What about this series of trades?
MIN Gets: Kent Bazemore, Mario Hezonja, Anthony Tolliver
POR Gets: Robert Covington, Gorgui Dieng
Why MIN Does It: They're reportedly looking for MAX cap space next summer. They save $27M next off-season which is almost worth a MAX slot. We helped them land a cheap possible replacement for Covington in Layman, which could benefit us in terms of good graces with Minny, and also help make Covington more gettable. We take on Dieng's contract to make this happen without picks.
Why POR Does It: We get our 3&D SF.
Then:
ATL Gets: Hassan Whiteside
OKC Gets: Gorgui Dieng, Jabari Parker, Allen Crabbe
POR Gets: Steven Adams, Patrick Patterson, Deonte Burton, Future ATL 2nd, $16.2M TPE (Dieng)
Why ATL Does It: Allen Crabbe has no value for them, so essentially it's swapping Jabari Parker for Hassan Whiteside. Jabari Parker doesn't have a role as a starter going forward, and ATL could use a starting caliber C. If they're making a possible playoff run, they'd definitely value one. Whiteside is a great fit defensively for Atlanta as well, as Atlanta is a defensively challenged team. Plus, they got shooters.
Why OKC Does It: They save $9M per year on an Adams for Dieng swap, which allows them to take on Jabari Parker. Parker would have the chance to immediately start for OKC (assuming they trade Gallo) and would fit their timeline moving forward. They'd likely need to save money in trades elsewhere to make this happen.
Why POR Does It: First off, Whiteside matches all incoming salary by himself which allows Portland to throw Dieng into the deal. Adams would be much more likely7 to accept a backup role behind Nurkic than Whiteside is, and Adams isn't really a downgrade. Plus, he'd be a $25M expiring contract headed into the off-season. With Adams and RoCo being added, we'd be a noticeably better team, and we'd have much more flexibility to make trades happen with the $25M expiring contract of Adams and the $16.2M TPE. Allen Crabbe's $18M contract got traded for the 17th pick and a 2020 first last summer so the TPE might allow us to do something similar for an expiring contract. We could then use the picks we got along with Adams for a Blake Griffin or Otto Porter Jr. type of player. Or we could keep Adams and use the TPE to get a player that could help.
This trade could be done without Dieng which would save OKC a lot of money, and therefore Portland could probably get a 1st round pick from OKC:
ATL Gets: Hassan Whiteside
OKC Gets: Jabari Parker, Allen Crabbe, Future ATL 2nd
POR Gets: Steven Adams, Patrick Patterson, Deonte Burton, 2020 DEN 1st (via OKC)
Portland would then have a $25M expiring, a $17M expiring, and all their picks plus an additional first to make moves that summer, and they'd have a better roster than they do now.
Either way, this would be a creative way to multiply assets.
