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GIANNIS

OK, so just pretend that Giannis puts Utah on his list of teams he would be interested in going and willing to sign an extension with.

What is your maximum offer for him?
I guess I just don't really want him because I don't want to include Ace, Lauri, or this years pick lol.

A After enduring the past 4 years or whatever, I want see this rebuild though and grow mostly organically with the players we have and draft and players we add through free agency.
 
On draft night Miami could send their 2026 pick (after making the pick) and 29/31/33 picks plus Ware/Herro/Kas/Jacquez/Jovic. I'd probably wait that out. If they did it now they can't send the 26 pick or the 33 pick.
 
OK, so just pretend that Giannis puts Utah on his list of teams he would be interested in going and willing to sign an extension with.

What is your maximum offer for him?

The Foundation:
- Their pick of expiring Salary (Nurk/Anderson/Niang/Love/Svi),
- Their pick of rookie contract players from: (Cody, Collier, Flip, Brice, Hendricks, Walt),
- Our 3 2027 draft picks

The sticking points would be:
- Our 2026 pick
- Ace Bailey
- Walker Kessler
- Additional draft assets

The No's would be:
- Lauri
- Keyonte
 
I simply wouldn’t consider doing a trade before the deadline. Everything gets much clearer in May/June for all parties.

I’m at the point where I might do some stupid **** to get the bird in hand because I’m sick of the draft dice roll. Case in point: I think Boozer is the safest high-calibre player in the draft but I also get defensive and fit ick from him. DP might be kind of a turd, AJ might not be able to shoot. Kingston is short, Wagler is unathletic. Wilson hasn’t produced at a level commensurate to the hype. And on down (which doesn’t mean all these players suck, I’m just tired of the dice roll as I mentioned).

If Giannis sits the rest of the year and is handled more gently moving forward he can probably still be a tier 1 player for… 2-3 more years or so? Probably another 2-3 as a borderline all-star?? If we can get 5 golden years and keep most of our own picks then that’s probably a fair trade.
 
In a vacuum, I'd love to have Giannis on the Jazz. Who in their right mind wouldn't? In the real world, Giannis is an aging superstar (31 years) with growing injury concerns. Without taking the time to look at it, I'd suspect that the experience of teams pushing all their chips in for a superstar on the wrong side of 30 has very mixed results. If we denude the Jazz of serviceable players and draft picks to get Giannis, it would give us a window of only a few years, and after that relatively short window, we'd be likely find ourselves right back to where we are now: rebuilding. Do we really want to have endured four years of losing for 2-3 years of "glory." Even then, the odds of winning a ring would still be long given the magnitude of the competition in the West--Jokic and SGA aren't going away soon. The entire rebuild is premised on the outcome of an extended run of playoff success (i.e., deep playoff runs) (a premise lacking confirmatory empirical evidence, from where I sit). I don't want to have endured these last four years of tanking for a short-lived playoff run that's as likely to end in the second round as in a ring, only to be back to tanking again a few years later. I don't see this scenario as an acceptable return on investment for the last four years.

Of course, since we can't know what the actual counterfactual is, it may play out quite differently than this, and we go on an extended run of deep playoff pushes. But I come back to be wary of cashing in the last four years of misery for an aging, injury-plagued, or high injury-risk, superstar.
 
I simply wouldn’t consider doing a trade before the deadline. Everything gets much clearer in May/June for all parties.

I’m at the point where I might do some stupid **** to get the bird in hand because I’m sick of the draft dice roll. Case in point: I think Boozer is the safest high-calibre player in the draft but I also get defensive and fit ick from him. DP might be kind of a turd, AJ might not be able to shoot. Kingston is short, Wagler is unathletic. Wilson hasn’t produced at a level commensurate to the hype. And on down (which doesn’t mean all these players suck, I’m just tired of the dice roll as I mentioned).

If Giannis sits the rest of the year and is handled more gently moving forward he can probably still be a tier 1 player for… 2-3 more years or so? Probably another 2-3 as a borderline all-star?? If we can get 5 golden years and keep most of our own picks then that’s probably a fair trade.

I think you are right, but I think we have a better chance at outbidding teams now vs later and I think Giannis being hurt for the next 6 weeks helps us with our goals of keeping the pick.
 
I think you are right, but I think we have a better chance at outbidding teams now vs later and I think Giannis being hurt for the next 6 weeks helps us with our goals of keeping the pick.
Nah. We will have to throw in the ‘26 pick which we haven’t secured. That will be the whole foundation of the offer.
 
OK, so just pretend that Giannis puts Utah on his list of teams he would be interested in going and willing to sign an extension with.

What is your maximum offer for him?
Ace, Kessler, whatever other players (not Lauri and Key) and 5 FRP but NOT 2026. Rookie contracts are kind of a big deal in current apron era, and getting to select a guy top 8 who fits that new core would be great.

Besides we (or lottery) can screw the pick so I dont know how Bucks would value it rn.
 
Nah. We will have to throw in the ‘26 pick which we haven’t secured. That will be the whole foundation of the offer.

I think we can make a compelling offer now that could outbid most teams, but I don't know how interested Milawaukee is in our 2026 draft pick if it isn't guaranteed.

The deal is more concrete after the lottery for both teams once the 2026 pick number is known, but then we are competing more teams that have future draft picks opened up on draft day.
 
I definitely get the sentiment of wanting 8+ years of building/growing a team vs 3+ years of contending. I guess I'm not super in love with the way we have built our team so far, so I'm less excited about where this is going and more willing to get back to rebuilding sooner.
 
First off, Giannis won't want to come here.

You get Giannis for a guaranteed year, and he likely opts in for year two. You are also paying 60mm in salary to him and Lauri $46mm when Kessler is due to be paid and Keyonte due to be paid in year two with Giannis. I'd love Giannis, but don't think he gets this team to the finals.

It would likely push us into luxury tax to keep Kessler and Keyonte while keeping a good supporting cast. It would likely preclude us from going after some UFAs like Reaves (assuming he declines PO) in 26 and a number of great players FAs in 27.

With the new salary rules, I'd prefer to keep the picks and take a swing at acquiring good free agents and not take on ****** salaries for older players that underplay what they are getting paid.
 
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