View attachment 39494
Here is my deal that gets us Simmons without trading CJ:
Some nuances. Yes this trade works even with Powell's BYC status. His S&T deal is 18M in the first year with the standard 8% raises that the Blazers can give him. This puts his full deal at 4 years/81 million, which is around the range he's looking for. His BYC status means he's worth 10.8M to the Blazers outgoing, and the full 18M to the team incoming. In this deal they are taking in 41.2M and sending out 33.4 M (10.8+12.9+9.7). 33.4*1.25 = 41.75 so it just fits under the salary cap. For the Sixers who are taking in Powell, they are taking in 50.9M and sending out 41.2. 41.2*1.25 = 51.5 so it does work for them as well. Also another thing to note is that the Sixers are hardcapped at the apron after this move (~143M). By my calculations they are at 128.5M after this deal with 5 spots left. Filling out 5 spots with 14M should be easily do-able with ring-chasers or veterans. Another nuance is Lowry's contract needs to be 3 years minimum. Here I have him at 3 years/20M, but they numbers can be fudged to make the deal work incase more pieces have to be moved around. Paying him 20M at age 38 isn't ideal, but hey Stockton at age 40 was still a starter, and Lowry hasn't shown signs of decline yet at 35. Plus this is a win NOW move for Philly.
Anyways for the rationale:
Philly:
This starting lineup is just killer on both ends
Lowry
Powell
Covington
Tobias
Embiid
Doesn't really matter what depth pieces you get on the bench. This is a clear starting/closing 5 that can play modern NBA basketball. Creators, slashers, shooters at every position. Hard to say they are not a top contender in the east on paper.
Blazers:
Dame
CJ
Nassir Little?
Simmons
Nurkic
It's a bit more hazy on the Blazers end. But this is a way to get Simmons without dealing with the CJ side of the equation since that has been beat to death. I think this deal would need to be done in conjunction with some other deals. Possibly one that moves CJ anyways. I don't have the Blazers actually valuing Seth Curry here as a roster piece. I think he's good, but unnecessary. I think I needed to move his contract though, because I needed to send out additional money in order to compensate for Powell's BYC status, and his contract fit exactly the amount needed. Also, keeping him on the Sixers as an 8 million dollar bench piece didn't make much sense considering they would then need to fill out 4 roster spots with 6 million dollars. It's also some value coming back to the Blazers. But the Curry part is interesting because I think he can be routed to another team and that team can send some value back to the Blazers (or which ever team here thinks they deserve more value).
Raptors:
Pretty simple, get some assets for Lowry. They have the cap space to absorb Jones.
Curious what other people think of this framework. There are smaller pieces that can be moved around, ie. Portland sending an additional first, Portland sending Anfernee Simons instead of a first to Toronto, etc. I think the Blazers would prefer to keep Little around though, because 1.) he's a wing, and 2.) he's got another two years on his rookie scale contract.
But the basic framework is:
Simmons --> Portland
Powell/Lowry/Covington --> Philly
1st/Jones --> Toronto