We Have A Trade! Surprising Multi-Player Impact Of Georges Niang Deal With Celtics And Jazz

We Have A Trade! Surprising Multi-Player Impact Of Georges Niang Deal With Celtics And Jazz

Hello everybody. We have a trade. No, it’s not a massive trade, but it actually is a pretty interesting one between the Utah Jazz and the Boston Celtics that has a lot of ramifications for other players and other trades that have happened. I’m Trevor Lane. This is the Basketball Bulletin. Make sure you do subscribe right here to the channel. We’ve said it before, but 70% of you are still not subscribed. Let’s fix that. Hit that subscribe button. Joining me is Donnie Freeman. Of course, as soon as we finished recording our show earlier today, boom, Shams Terania hits us with the with the trade news. Isn’t that funny how that’s always how it works out? Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. As soon as we got off, boom, here’s some stuff. It’s like, oh, well, guess we got to run back and see what we can do. Thankfully, I didn’t leave because I was planning on it in in August. I can’t complain. Anytime we anytime we get anything going on in August, I’ll take it. So, the Boston Celtics send George Niang and two future second round picks to the Utah Jazz for rookie RJ Lewis Jr. Uh whether or not RJ Lewis will actually stay with the Celtics, we’ll see. This is essentially a salary dump for uh for Boston. Nang returns to Utah and his salary goes into the massive John Collins trade exception along with two draft assets. This move allows the Celtics to have more salary relief below the second apron. So, I think that’s the important part. Yes. For the Celtics, this is about clearing salary. Um, we’re going to talk about what they did with a little bit of that flexibility in just a second because they are actually signing somebody and we’ll get to that. But for the Utah Jazz, this is where I think this is fairly interesting. The Jazz, what they’re doing is they’re bringing in Nang. They’re getting paid two second round picks, but they’re bringing him in to the big trade exception that they generated when they traded John Collins to the Clippers in that three-team deal that also sent Norman Powell to the Miami Heat. So the Jazz in that deal brought in Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson plus got a big trade exception. They’re now using part of the trade exception to bring in George Ning and getting two second round picks. So if you remember at the time we talked about how a return of just one second round pick wasn’t much for John Collins that I think higher of him than that. Essentially, the way we should see this for Utah is now for John Collins, they’ve received three second round picks, and that’s a much better return because they use that Collins trade exception to absorb Nang salary. And maybe Nang, he’s done some things in Utah before. Maybe he winds up being a guy who sticks with them, but in exchange for taking on his salary, plus Kevin Love, and we’ll talk about him in a minute, plus Kyle Anderson, the Jazz are getting paid three second round picks. So Donnie, at least this to me, well in and of itself as a standalone move is just kind of like, okay, big whoop. But when we really, the way we really need to look at this is it’s attached to the John Collins. It’s part of the John Collins trade. And to me, this makes the John Collins trade look much better for the Utah Jazz. Yeah, absolutely. I think that when you look at it from that lens, it absolutely does look really good because like you said, there were questions about that return. I mean, they could have potentially got a better one, but they used that slot to bring in the Yang. And, you know, maybe he sticks around or not, but I think in aggregate 3 seconds, I’m pretty happy with that. And I think it’s pretty savvy um GM work over there from uh the Jazz to be able to recoup some of those assets and just keep on building that portfolio. Yeah, that’s what uh what Utah is working to do right now. Just try to build things moving forward. And if you can stack up some second round picks, great. Those do have value, particularly in today’s NBA. Now, that doesn’t mean the Utah Jazz are done making moves, though. Now, they’ve got too many players on their on their books, and they are heavily rumored to be in in the Kevin Love is actively seeking a buyout with the Utah Jazz. And Donnie, when we talked about this a few days ago, you joked that the perfect landing spot for him is with the Clippers. And then Brett Seagull of Clutch Points did say today that Kevin Love when he gets bought out would like to land in Los Angeles. So that would mean either the Lakers or the Clippers. The problem being both teams are hardcapped at the first apron and don’t have enough flexibility to sign even a veteran minimum right now. So some other move would have to be made. But Kevin Love gets bought out. Should he go to the Lakers or should either team be interested in Kevin Love? Yeah. So, we actually dug pretty deep into Kevin Love’s production. So, I would implore you guys to check that video out, but yeah, I don’t know that either team necessarily needs him as a player. And if you wind up needing Kevin Love, unless he has a resurgence and it’s a renaissance year for him, then maybe things went pretty badly for your team if you wind up actually needing to play him because I don’t know if he’s a rotation player anymore. he does still have the superpower of rebounding and that could be useful, but I don’t know that either of these teams particularly needs him. Um, and they can’t even get him right now anyway. And is Kevin Love the type of player in 2025 that you are going to make a move to clear room to bring him in? I don’t think so either. So, in terms of him, he may just want to go to a big market. Maybe he’s somebody that resides in LA, wants to go. Actually, he has the UCLA stuff, too. So, he does have a UCLA connection, but he also has a certain friend in purple and gold that maybe would like to hang out. There’s that as well. Yeah. And and I’m sure that his friend would probably be happy about that. They’ve remained good friends and he’d be somebody on his wavelength, especially age- wise. Um, and they have a, you know, championship history, so I’m sure that he would like that a lot. But I just don’t know if that team would be willing to give up assets in a salary dump and that that they don’t really have assets to give up in the first place either. So, I think it’d probably be more likely if it’s the Clippers, but again, I don’t know if you’re making a move like that for Kevin Love. So, I I just I’m glad you had that analysis, Donnie, because that actually matches I was just looking I posted something on Lakers Nation a little bit ago about Kevin Love wanting to go to LA and should the Lakers sign him? And I ultimately I I Well, I had the same analysis you did that I don’t think he’s worth it. what you would you would have either you would have to wave and stretch somebody or attach assets to somebody in order to get them off your books to open up flexibility. And I just don’t think Kevin Love is worth doing that. But I I am seeing I just looked at the comments and I am seeing a lot of people telling me I’m crazy and that Kevin Love is a great locker room guy and and would be if you told me the the Lakers have an open roster spot right now and this is true of the Clippers as well. If you told me that you could sign him for the veteran minimum, sure. Yeah, I have no I have no problems with that. End of the bench. It’s because it’s the pain of waving and stretching someone or attaching assets to someone. And again, that’s true of the Clippers, too, that I think that’s where it’s not worth it. You’re better off just keeping your flexibility moving forward. Yeah, he’s if he’s going to be your end of the bench veteran leadership, championship experience, uh, quintessential Jared Dudley type on the back of the bench that doesn’t really get many minutes unless it’s garbage time and and you wanted somebody like that, then fine. I don’t really have a problem with that. And and I think he can still play a little bit, but like I said, if you have to go to him, that may be a bad thing. Unless he’s, you know, having positive regression or maybe he’s just blistering hot from three during the year. That could be a thing, too. But, um, yeah, for both of these teams, it’s just tricky to get it done because of the restrictions that they have. If they didn’t have the limitation at the first apron, they could just outright sign him. But with that being the case, they have to clear room. And so, is is is he worth it? I don’t really know. Is is Kevin Love better than Maxi Kleba? I was thinking about that. Maxi hasn’t been great the last couple years, but I would I logic tells me it’s still Maxi at this point. I I think there’s an argument you could make for Kevin Love there. But how much better is the question, right? Even if if he is better, how much better? And is if that is that a little bit better, whatever it is, you know, is it enough to where it’s worth giving up what you would have to give up in terms of your future flexibility? Whether that’s dead money on the books, surrendering an asset to get somebody to take a contract, whatever, in order to to upgrade your third string center, you know, I just I I don’t know if that makes sense. You know what? What? Kev may be better than Maxi. I think I think you could have I don’t disagree. I think he very well might be, but how much better is the question, but Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s where it’s I mean maybe Maxi is it’s the exact same thing. Maybe he has a good season this year. He’s hot from three, but uh he’s his statistical output has not been great. So at least Kevin is still a top tier rebounder if he gets the opportunity. If you told me Max That’s not hyperbole, by the way. Don’t try to kill me for that. No, he actually is. That the numbers bear that out. But don’t kill me for that. If if you told me that Maxi Kibba was a non-g guaranteed salary and he would have already been waved. But if you told me there was a way just to swap the two out straight across. Nothing else happens. Just swap them out. Yeah, I’m on board. No, no problem. Right. You’re bringing in LeBron’s buddy. That probably helps. You know, I I can make that argument. It’s that too. Yeah, for sure. Do you want to give up what it would take to get him though? Whether you’re the Lakers or the Clippers, that’s the that’s where I I run into some some problems with that. But maybe one of those two teams does it. The Clippers. He certainly there’s a lot more guys his age on the Clippers than on the Lakers. Um, again, I don’t see the obvious player that the Clippers would part with. Now, maybe there’s the added benefit like if you were to take Maxi Clea, let’s say, trade him into somebody’s cap space, you give up a future second round pick to do it, and then you bring in Kevin Love, then your added benefit is you have that much more clearance of the first apron because you’d be taking a larger salary and turning it into a minimum salary for Kevin Love. So, there there are some other things. That’s their only second, right? That’s the problem. I wouldn’t I just wouldn’t do it because it’s only second. I could That sounds good. They just don’t have the things to trade. That’s just it. I And that’s ultimately where I land. Why why I wouldn’t do it. That’s ultimately why why I wouldn’t do it. If you told me I could swap him straight across, if you told me I could just use an open roster spot, whether it’s the Lakers or the Clippers. Yeah. He’s the kind of end of the bench guy you could use. If I have to feel any kind of pain though in order to do it, I don’t think it’s worth it. I don’t think it’s worth the pain. And it’s doubly not worth it if you’re robbed because he doesn’t like doing those in the first place. He hates attaching assets to things. He does not like doing that. That’s for sure. He He does not like doing that. Now, that is not so this, as I said, this what seems like just a minor like who cares George Nang type situation. It’s bleeding into all of these other conversations. It’s the John Collins trade. It’s now Kevin Love’s buyout. It’s now the Lakers and the Clippers. And guess what? We’re not done because the Boston Celtics took the flexibility that they now got by trading George Nang and opening up that that salary. George Nyang at 8.2 million and they’re going to sign Chris Boucher for a one-year $3.3 million contract. Now, that’s a veteran minimum contract, which means it’s subsidized by the NBA. So, the Celtics won’t be on the hook for the full 3.3. Instead, it’s going to be uh I think it’s like 2.2 off the top of my head. Let me check spot track here. It’s It’s on here already. Uh, yep. I was right. Well, 2.3 we round up. So, the Celtics are are going to save somebody there. They’ll get a little bit more room under that second tier apron because they’ll take an $ 8.2 million hit under their cap and turn it into a $2.3 million hit. So, there’s about $6 million uh in in difference there. and they get an interesting, you know, switchy big in Chris Buchet who also happened to be the last standing Raptor, the last surviving Raptor from the 2019 championship team. So, yeah, I I like this for the Celtics. the two second round picks. Maybe it’s, you know, a little bit much, but but you’re turning Nang into not just Buchche, but it’s Buché and significant flexibility under the second apron. And that may open up other possibilities for the Celtics, for example, using their final remaining roster spot is now something they could actually do and still have wiggle room. Uh, or they could potentially use it in a trade somewhere down the line here. So, that’s something to to factor in here, too. Yeah, I agree with you. And uh with them, they it’s it’s just remarkable the way that they were able to tear that team down. Yeah. This offseason uh start to finish. The way they were able to tear this team down once it was, you know, the Tatum injury came down, the offseason, the clock strikes nine, and they’re like, boom, get get these guys out of here. Him, him, let’s do it. And uh and I think that they’ve got some decisions to make, but they’ve got plenty of time to do it. Like what’s up with Anthony? is Busher a guy that’s going to be a long-term piece for them because I think he could be interesting. Um because they they needed another uh front court player. He could slide into that could potentially be a long-term piece for them too. But ultimately it’s all about the flexibility right now and they accomplish their number one goal. Yeah. And they’ve done that. They’ve got the flexibility. They do probably take a step back. Although Peyton Pritchard did say today that he thinks they’re a playoff team and they’re trying to win. I wouldn’t expect the player to say otherwise. Um but nonetheless, you know, Boston without Jason Tatum for the year. We’ll see what they can do. Chris Buchchet gives them a little bit more versatility as a big, but the big thing of course it’s going to be more flexibility below that second tier apron at the cost of a couple of second round picks, but um they do move George Yank. So again, a lot of domino effects here. It changed. Now we got one of the more noteworthy free agents that’s still out there on the market. still a number of guys and we’ll talk about them more in the future, but Russell Westbrook, Malcolm Brogton, guys like that are still out there. Amir Coffee somehow is still out there, right? Those guys are still out there. Yeah. Now I really, man, I really wouldn’t boo in LA, man. I really did. You did? I did. You’re you’re a fan. And now he’s with Boston, so now you’re I know. I know. That’s as opposite as it can get. Right. Right. They went the other way with it. Um, but Bush Buchcher his free agency obviously impacted by the Nang trade. Kevin Love his situation impacted by that trade. The overall value of the John Collins deal impacted by this trade. All these things are coming together. So, uh, a lot to get into here on a what on the surface looks like a kind of just meh whatever type of move. But yeah, everybody give us your thoughts in the comments section. What do you think about George Niang and all of the domino effects that this has across the NBA across a number of teams including of course the Jazz, the Lakers, the Clippers, the the Celtics, the Raptors now with one of their free agents. Give us your thoughts on the entire situation in the comments section down below. Donnie, do you have a last thought you were going to there? Nope. Nope. Okay. I mean, I did, but you know, you you just wrapped it up so perfectly that I was, you know, I as I’m not used to you throwing it back to me. I’m not used to you doing that. Well, I saw like as I started talking, I I I saw that you were about to say something and I went, “Oh, Donnie was gonna say something.” Right. Right. No, no, no. You’re good. I didn’t want to cut you off, man. You’re good. You’re good. But, uh, I I’ll say this. Um, I lost it. This video is off the rails. I lost it already. I lost it. The video’s just end the video. Anyway, happy August everybody. This is We are in August form right now. Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below. God, we have fun with this. Till next time, see you and stay safe.

In this video Trevor Lane and Donnie Freeman take a look at the surprisingly important implications of the Celtics trade of Georges Niang to the Jazz…

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