NBA 2025-26 Season Thread: THE NY KNICKS ARE CHAMPIONS! BING BONG!

For all the negatives, LaMelo has been what ole Dean said Lonzo was going to be - guaranteed good to great offense when he’s on the floor.

Weren’t they like a 60 win pace after all star break or something? Don’t get the need to do this now. Wait and see if they can keep it up next year.

But then you can't sell high if you don't.

I'm surprised both teams did it but understand it at the same time. Minny has to placate Ant with continual moves to keep him energized and content playing there.

They're seemingly going with a three-guard lineup w/ DDV as sixth man along with JMcD and Gobert. LaMelo isn't a serious person but should def make life easier for Ant and teams can win big with a single knucklehead on the team.

My main takeaway for Charlotte is they should've drafted Stirtz if this was in the fold. I'm not going to criticize too much bc I don't think hitching their future to LaMelo is necessarily wise with the other stable pieces they have, but they're definitely lacking in playmaking for others now. All these guys are shotmakers that will give the ball up but are looking to gun ftmp.

Crazy how much Minny's profile has changed this offseason. Used to be a big team with Ant and now they're a light, mobile team with Gobert.

Plenty of time to sell high on Melo, unless he somehow completely tanked, which seems very unlikely. He's only 24 years old. He's on year 3 of his first supermax, plus is eligible for a 2 year $119 mil extension, which I'm expecting Minn to give to him.

We were a borderline top 5 team the second half of last season, beating both good teams and bad teams, and not only beating them, but blowing a lot of them out. The Orl play-in game showed a lot of things we needed to work on for playoff basketball, but I thought it was a good building block. I was really hoping to mostly run it back.

Seems like the Hornets have a lot of confidence in Coby White and Calvin Anderson Jr. being able to take over the playmaking role, plus both being great shooters themselves. Management clearly soured on Melo enough to make this deal. No telling if Charles Lee was involved or not.

Melo is different, though. When he's on, he does things that only a few guys in the world can do. Hell, even at the end of the first play-in game against Mia. He commits an awful foul and an awful turnover in the endgame, yet finds a way to get to the hoop and finish the game winning layup. He is simply an incredible offensive player, even if some of it is unconventional.

And the Hornets took extra steps to keep Melo healthy, including having him come off of the bench a few times on back to back nights. It's no concidence that he played his lowest MP of his career at 28 and also played the second most games of his career. Minn is going to need him to a 30+ MP player.

And you're right, part of Charlotte's bet is that this doesn't work out for Minn. They are certainly all in now, or else they could be blowing it up in a few years when it's time for the pick swaps to come due, plus the 2033 first. Granted as you mention on the pick swaps, I also saw some details, and we don't have as much control as it sounds, because of some other pick swap deals.

I think a big part of management being willing to make this deal is maintaining our flexibility, so we do have a lot to work with to build around Kon and Miller.

What are the Wolves doing?

lose/lose imo

they went from having a super strong and successful frontcourt who were winning playoff series (as opposed to never getting in the playoffs in the past 20 years) to having basically no depth in their frontcourt? Gobert is turning 34 tomorrow - who is going to play 96min of PF & C per game for them?

Just very weird - also wonder why LaMelo suddenly got shopped now when he could have been before for a long time, feels like a story is going to come out soon

I forgot about DDV's injury

I like the deal for charlotte, made the judgement they won't ever be a top half playoff team with LaMelo as a core guy and sold high off his healthy season. One way playing guards like him are becoming a dime a dozen, albeit he is better than the others on offense but that type of player is not hard to acquire. Hard judgement to make but I think it'll prove correct over time.

I don't hate the deal for the wolves I guess? I get why they did it and the timeline of their players aligns now, going to be very fun to watch too. But it probably isn't improving their lot in the West much. I'm not sure who you can get better than LaMelo for what they had to give. Atleast he has upside, worth the gamble. They just need more offense vs the best defenses in the West.

McDaniels will play a lot of the "4" minutes, Shannon will play more, Ayo....They're gonna kill teams in transition.

Kawhi and Raps both have interest in a reunion. Not sure how I feel but feels meh.

BRING HIM HOME

RUN IT BACK 7 YEARS LATER

what about Uncle Dennis?

For BI and a pick, sure, anything more, hard no!

I have a lot of trouble imagining the Celtics trading Jaylen Brown for a giant grab bag of draft picks unless they have a plan to flip those picks quickly for current high level NBA players. The Celtics are drawing very live to win the East next year if they keep Jaylen. I just can't see the Celtics trading him unless they get someone like Durant, Sengun, Trey Murphy, or Mobley back in the deal.

Maybe they feel like that's not an option at this point?

I know it's not apples to apples but you don't want to go down the Jimmy with Miami path. Jaylen does feel like a guy willing to go places most guys aren't. Hell hath no fury like certain temperaments scorned and all that.

Get your 70% on the dollar compared to where it could end up as a true distressed asset. And Trey Murphy is not like the others listed imo. That's an example of said 70% even with a few sweeteners. (Reducing salary is a real benefit tho ldo.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY20fr_e...

yeah my guy rusty hates that deal for the hornets, says it's maybe the worst trade since luka
(sorry heals, but hey at least the canes exist)

I hate it too.

Canes are all I've got these days.

Hornets have never been good and are determined to never change, Panthers still have Bryce, Heels basketball can't afford top players and are running a washed NBA coach, Heels football still have Belichick, Heels baseball can't win a finals. Just brutal out there. Haha.

I could be wrong, but I don't think Jaylen will go down the path of Jimmy, Harden, etc. I don't think he has the personality to deliberately tank a highly competitive team to force a trade. And Brad has never gotten truly crosswise with a Celtics player.

Mobley? he got stomped by Obi

don't really like any of the Brown deals, to the point I wonder if I am overrating him

Charlotte gave up the best asset in the trade so feels like a loss for them.

Yeah, I don't know. I could see him being a bigger sourpuss than he has been to this point but sucking it up.

But if Boston is actively shopping him I think it belies that.

They also gave up the biggest liability.

Yeah, but when your franchise has never even made the conference finals, you should probably just keep trying to make it work with someone like Melo. Especially when progress seemed to have been made.

But the FO and owners clearly have a plan (or I hope), so we'll see how it goes. They've been much better than previous owners and FO thus far, so I'm willing to trust them for now.

I think they have the bones for something real good down the line sans Melo.

It's one step back for two steps forward if they can hit something... like a Bennett Stirtz (he would've been perfect for this team of play-finishers).

I don't think anyone on the team is a #1 but Melo is never going to be either imo. Him being a wildcard next to Ant is a much better fit. I like this for both teams the more I think about it, except for all the draft capital Minny had to give up. I have to imagine this was Minnesota driving this from the get-go or I would've held way more firm, reading between-the-lines that the unload was just as big of the carrot for Charlotte. (Like Pelinka did with Luka before he was due that huge extension; TC seems crazy flippant re: draft capital between this and Rudy tho.)

Just hit me that this is what they were dreaming about with the Dillingham trade.

At the time I remember the commentary was that Connelly was trading everything he had available left (shocking) to get him at the #8 from SAS. This player type is what they always wanted next to Ant and Melo is obviously better when healthy than they could've hoped RD would've been.

They didn't want Randle taking touches from either guy with his ball-stopping so that one is obvious in retrospect. Losing Naz is unfortunate.

Hornets sold high on Lamelo and could look brilliant if he’s injury riddled for the next few seasons.

The other thread had to be closed anyway because we ran out of guys to put in the thread title after Wemby's goat choke.

1 by 1 they fell until there were no names left except...... mine?!..

This gave MJ the victory that we already knew anyway and was definitively proved throughout the thread both quantitatively and qualitatively by the fallguy, and others, so we move on.