The Audacious John Wall trade idea...
Hear me out...and before I suggest something this audacious (possibly ludicrous), know that I don't even know if this would work and certainly I'm not at the point of advocating that this should happen. It's just an idea.
Let's assume we do a trade with the Knicks.
My assumption is we'd be getting 1 player on a rookie scale contract until summer of 2021 (DSJ), 2 players on rookie scale contract until summer of 2022 (Robinson/Knox), and at least 1 pick in this year's draft that would be on a rookie scale contract until summer of 2023. I assume depending on how high the Knicks pick is, we'd also get other future 1st round picks. Going forward we'd have that stash, as well as our own 1st round picks, and we're absolutely loaded with 2nd round picks. In theory, we'd be adding young talent every year and in no rush to add other big contract talent.
This next part is very complicated, because it would involve Randle opting in, trade kickers being waived, etc etc... but follow along...
What if we added Washington to the deal and made it a 3 way trade, that involved Washington dumping Wall, Beal, and their 2020 1st (top 6 protected, unprotected if it conveys in 2021) to the Pels? Randle, Solo, Moore, Trier, Frank, Jah, Ntilikina, Dotson, Lance Thomas would all have to go to the Wizards in this deal. Knicks would get AD and have literally no one else on the roster. That's perfect for Knicks to build the way Heat did, and Wizards get to wipe the slate clean as well while keeping their 19 pick and looking at some other young prospects like the two Franks, Trier, and Jah.
Pels would have Jrue, Beal, Kenrich, Knox, DSJ, Robinson, 2 lottery picks from 2019, amazing draft capital going forward, and admittedly the worst contract in the NBA in John Wall. With just those 8 players, you're over the cap but $19m from the luxury line. You can stay out of the tax by signing minimum salary vets and 2nd rounders.
How fun/competitive would this team be?
Jrue/Elfrid
Beal/DSJ
Knox/Kenrich
Zion/Jason Smith
Robinson (Bruno Fernando or Jaxon Hayes)
Pels stash going forward of draft picks could include all their own firsts, those two Dallas picks from Knicks, and a super valuable Wizards pick.
Jrue and Beal account for ~$55m over next two seasons, and both can become free agents in 2021. Ideally this team is as accomplished as Portland has been with their backcourt, but the 2021 trade deadline is when you'd be looking to cash out of either or both if you're not really a contending team. Both players would still be in their prime and valuable assets. A lot can happen in 2 years, but you'd have to think either would be in a position to net at least what Tobias just got traded for (2 1st and expirings). The only way we keep both guys pass that deadline is if we have a legit shot at a championship because our young guys are ahead of schedule. Let's say we keep Jrue because he is part of the culture now and we can actually get more by trading Beal at 27 vs Jrue at age 30. We'd net 2 more 1st to go into our war chest (plus expirings). Only DSJ is exiting rookie scale contract in 2021, so we can resign Jrue if he opts out. Luxury tax is projected to be $143m, so we're still good there.
It's hard to predict a lineup going into 21/22 season, but we'd have multiple guys we drafted in 2020, multiple 1st in 2021 - in addition to Knox, Robinson, Zion, and our own 2019 pick on rookie deals - and looking forward to multiple picks in 2022
Some of you may be thinking, what about John Wall. I don't even really consider him a part of the team. If he comes back in 2020 and gives us anything going forward, that would be great as a 3rd guard. The first year that we have to pay one of rookies is going to be the 21/22 season. That's when we have to pay DSJ, but by then we've flipped Beal. If DSJ isn't the player we hoped and isn't ready to be a well paid starter on the 2nd contract, we've probably traded him too.
By the time we get to the 2022/23 season, and we're possibly now paying Knox on his second contract, John Wall is either an average 3rd guard, retired due to injury, or the largest expiring contact in NBA history. Which means we can either use his contract and future 1st to take on a disgruntled NBA superstar or have a ton of space available to us in the summer we sign our two 2019 picks to second contracts.
I'm not saying I'd do this, lol. Just wanted to regurgitate all this out of my head and onto the screen. Pairing Jrue/Beal while having a super young team that gets do develop winning habits, and what should be a great Wizards draft pick in 2020 or 2021 is the reason to do this trade. By the time this years picks (Zion and whoever) are about to get paid on 2nd contract, Wall is off the books.