Here’s a thought that’s tilting me more in the trade for Conley camp.
Rubio is a free agent next year. This leaves us with two likely outcomes.
1. He re-signs (likely.) odds are its in the $17-19m, 3-4 year range. Just an estimate based on the market for PG’s, and the Jazz re-signing Ingles, Favors, and Exum to somewhat above market value (but good) contracts. 0% chance he doesn’t get a raise.
So we’re locked in to his production for that contract, Ricky probably doesn’t improve much.
2. We don’t re-sign Ricky. Maybe he gets a godfather offer from Phoenix or someone else desperate for a PG with cap space. We could get in a bidding war and have to overpay him. Maybe we let him walk and acquire an upgrade beforehand, but if he signs elsewhere we could be left with just Exum and Neto and have to find someone worse.
We trade for Conley and it’s a guaranteed upgrade for 1-2 years. We see if Exum can take over when Conley is done, and/or find a long term solution in the interim. Conley also becomes a gigantic expiring contract in 2 years, maintaining flexibility.
Food for thought but it’s another incentive to do what it takes (within reason) to make the trade.