You have overlooked one thing my friend, Minn's core is much younger and picks will have value to them continuing to grow. Plus Butler is now a 1 year rental.Come on, even “adequate” small forwards are a rarity, so when a half way decent one comes along they get a Solo type deal, and then a year or two later teams realize those “adequate” small forwards are less than adequate, and move them because their contracts don’t match their value. These guys like Butler and Hayward match their contracts (actually they are on sweetheart deals if anything. So why would a team move on from such a scarce commodity? Nobody is rolling 2 deal at sf, so if a team trades their starting sf, they don’t exactly have equal value sitting on the bench, and what we are sending isn’t going to equal that production. I’m not trading away my 2018 Ferrari for your 89 Camry, old lawn mower, and $15.
Also, you have guys saying that we can land Butler or Hayward by including protected picks. Why not say it’s #1 overall ? The other pick can resign themselves to the fact that by trading you their player you won’t be drafting anywhere close to the top 10 picks (not with Jrue, and AD), so why play around with the thought that we might have a top 5 pick? If you land one of those top small forwards you will not be drafting anywhere close to the middle of the draft, so protecting the pick is useless.
I just find some of these trades to be silly. Keep dreaming though, because what’s the worst that can happen? You get a Vlade Divac type who goes stupid and makes a weird trade.