> I feel like I’m going crazy when I hear national podcasts talk about an Ayton-for-Ingram trade. BI is fine but you have to max him next summer and then it’s just the Jerami “problem” all over again. Not a fit at all, to me.
Man, I’m glad Highkin tweeted this. I’ve been immensely frustrated listening to three different podcasts in the last week (Lowe, Ringer NBA, Simmons) that each either brought up Ingram to Portland or expressed confusion about what Portland is doing.
How is it possible that people are confused? We are clearly building around our young core. Scoot is 20. Sharpe is 21. Clingan is 20. Rupert is 20. Avdija is 23. Murray is 23. Camara is 24. Walker is 21. Some of those guys (namely Sharpe and Scoot) are guys who potentially become stars. The others can develop into solid role players.
There is no desperation to trade out the veterans on the team (Grant, Ayton, Simons, Thybulle) because their presence (with the noted exception of Simons… maybe) doesn’t really block our young players’ development and the veterans aren’t good enough to carry us to a lot of wins. We are going to be bad in 2025 – probably the worst team in the west unless Utah really strips their roster down – and shipping out Grant, Simons, Ayton, et al. isn’t a necessity to ensure we can effectively tank. We’re under the tax, too, so there’s no financial incentive to dump our veterans for nothing.
Why the hell would we be interested in Brandon Ingram the player? Let alone Brandon Ingram on a $50m/yr contract. It makes as much sense as Utah trading Lauri for picks and then trading for Ingram. It’s non-sensical. I want more from the national nba pods.
TheLegendofTyler
The whole tweet if you do want to click: “I feel like I’m going crazy when I hear national podcasts talk about an Ayton-for-Ingram trade. BI is fine but you have to max him next summer and then it’s just the Jerami “problem” all over again. Not a fit at all, to me.”
OG_Kazaam
Trades happen when the specifics of the exchange works well for both teams; usually that’s a baton pass of sorts from a tanking team to a team looking to compete. I see no benefit from acquiring Ingram from Portland’s perspective. Just because the team would have cap-space to sign BI to a big contract, does not mean that we would do that…
invokereform
Yeah, it’s almost like some of these guys aren’t the knowledgeable experts they represent themselves to be…
Unfortunately, a lot of them also fall into the pitfalls that other media does: they prefer to focus on clickbait speculation rather than substantive reporting. Would be a shame for them to stop and have to actually focus on creating quality content!
be__bright
Glad he’s spoken out because it’s been driving me nuts too. Keep seeing media articles and the Pels sub pushing for an Ayton trade when there is no benefit for us and seemingly no indication of interest from our FO.
AltruisticVisual2633
No more half measures. I hope they not prioritizing selling tix over a solid rebuild
Aehnu3
I think it’s a great idea – if we could relay Ingram to a third team for appropriate assets.
Randvek
Bill Simmons (I know, a lot of people don’t like him) said much the same thing on his podcast. Yeah, the trade “works” if Portland is looking to clear up its center rotation, but wtf does Portland do with BI? That trade only makes sense if you’re looking to dump salary next year, and Ayton is way too good and way too young for us to be trying to dump his salary.
DanDan85
We already have Brandon Ingram at home on a budget his name is Jerami Grant!
9 Comments
Full tweet here: https://x.com/highkin/status/1810348588888936813
> I feel like I’m going crazy when I hear national podcasts talk about an Ayton-for-Ingram trade. BI is fine but you have to max him next summer and then it’s just the Jerami “problem” all over again. Not a fit at all, to me.
Man, I’m glad Highkin tweeted this. I’ve been immensely frustrated listening to three different podcasts in the last week (Lowe, Ringer NBA, Simmons) that each either brought up Ingram to Portland or expressed confusion about what Portland is doing.
How is it possible that people are confused? We are clearly building around our young core. Scoot is 20. Sharpe is 21. Clingan is 20. Rupert is 20. Avdija is 23. Murray is 23. Camara is 24. Walker is 21. Some of those guys (namely Sharpe and Scoot) are guys who potentially become stars. The others can develop into solid role players.
There is no desperation to trade out the veterans on the team (Grant, Ayton, Simons, Thybulle) because their presence (with the noted exception of Simons… maybe) doesn’t really block our young players’ development and the veterans aren’t good enough to carry us to a lot of wins. We are going to be bad in 2025 – probably the worst team in the west unless Utah really strips their roster down – and shipping out Grant, Simons, Ayton, et al. isn’t a necessity to ensure we can effectively tank. We’re under the tax, too, so there’s no financial incentive to dump our veterans for nothing.
Why the hell would we be interested in Brandon Ingram the player? Let alone Brandon Ingram on a $50m/yr contract. It makes as much sense as Utah trading Lauri for picks and then trading for Ingram. It’s non-sensical. I want more from the national nba pods.
The whole tweet if you do want to click: “I feel like I’m going crazy when I hear national podcasts talk about an Ayton-for-Ingram trade. BI is fine but you have to max him next summer and then it’s just the Jerami “problem” all over again. Not a fit at all, to me.”
Trades happen when the specifics of the exchange works well for both teams; usually that’s a baton pass of sorts from a tanking team to a team looking to compete. I see no benefit from acquiring Ingram from Portland’s perspective. Just because the team would have cap-space to sign BI to a big contract, does not mean that we would do that…
Yeah, it’s almost like some of these guys aren’t the knowledgeable experts they represent themselves to be…
Unfortunately, a lot of them also fall into the pitfalls that other media does: they prefer to focus on clickbait speculation rather than substantive reporting. Would be a shame for them to stop and have to actually focus on creating quality content!
Glad he’s spoken out because it’s been driving me nuts too. Keep seeing media articles and the Pels sub pushing for an Ayton trade when there is no benefit for us and seemingly no indication of interest from our FO.
No more half measures. I hope they not prioritizing selling tix over a solid rebuild
I think it’s a great idea – if we could relay Ingram to a third team for appropriate assets.
Bill Simmons (I know, a lot of people don’t like him) said much the same thing on his podcast. Yeah, the trade “works” if Portland is looking to clear up its center rotation, but wtf does Portland do with BI? That trade only makes sense if you’re looking to dump salary next year, and Ayton is way too good and way too young for us to be trying to dump his salary.
We already have Brandon Ingram at home on a budget his name is Jerami Grant!