Is it possible to trade for SPURS Leonard in offseason?

What about a sign and trade sending Cousins and Solomon Hill to the Spurs for Leonard? Would you rather have cousins or Leonard on this team? Honestly, if we could sign a healthy Leonard to a long term deal to play SF I would probably prefer that over boogie.

Or, could we pull off a trade to get Kawhi without trading cousins?

What about sending Miritich, 2018 2nd round pick, and Jrue Holiday?

I think the spurs would consider a trade with us if we offered Jrue and another valuable player.

I don’t see any way we could get Leonard without giving up a star player. I’d love to keep Jrue, Cousins and AD and add Leonard but that seems impossible. Is it?




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Originally Posted by pelicanchamp

What about a sign and trade sending Cousins and Solomon Hill to the Spurs for Leonard? Would you rather have cousins or Leonard on this team? Honestly, if we could sign a healthy Leonard to a long term deal to play SF I would probably prefer that over boogie.

Or, could we pull off a trade to get Kawhi without trading cousins?

What about sending Miritich, 2018 2nd round pick, and Jrue Holiday?

I think the spurs would consider a trade with us if we offered Jrue and another valuable player.

I don’t see any way we could get Leonard without giving up a star player. I’d love to keep Jrue, Cousins and AD and add Leonard but that seems impossible. Is it?




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No. Never will happen.

Why would the Spurs want Cousins?

As much as it would be awesome to get Leonard, I don't see us being able to trade for him.

I think we'd have higher odds of getting Paul George in free agency.

I highly, highly, highly, HIGHLY doubt the Spurs would make a division rival that much better. But the Thunder helped create the Rockets by trading them Harden. Though...Harden wasn't the Harden we know today back then.

I'd say there's like a 10% chance it happens where the Spurs trade him at all.


I'd rather set our sights on Paul George. He'd be so perfect it annoys me that many will just dismiss the possibility because of our market and LAKERS.

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

I highly, highly, highly, HIGHLY doubt the Spurs would make a division rival that much better. But the Thunder helped create the Rockets by trading them Harden. Though...Harden wasn't the Harden we know today back then.

I'd say there's like a 10% chance it happens where the Spurs trade him at all.


I'd rather set our sights on Paul George. He'd be so perfect it annoys me that many will just dismiss the possibility because of our market and LAKERS.

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Not to outright dismiss the idea, but where do we even get close to having the cap room without completely gutting the team?

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Originally Posted by Mythrol

Why would the Spurs want Cousins?

As much as it would be awesome to get Leonard, I don't see us being able to trade for him.

I think we'd have higher odds of getting Paul George in free agency.

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How could we get George? You mean instead of resigning cousins get George? I don’t think we could sign both of them.


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How does every other team get to pay the lux tax but us? We have Cousins’s Bird rights. But can’t go into the lux tax to sign anyone else too? But the Warriors can pay Steph Curry $34 mil a year or whatever, already have Durant, and somehow still be considered willing and able to go after LeBron?

I wanna piece of that pie. Maybe Gayle says Dell Demps can take off the weighted armor. I dunno. Let me dream.

The NBA's entire salary situation is dreadful. You have teams like us with a total salary of around $119m and we're headbutting the hard cap so furiously we're indenting the metal, whereas you also have teams like the Cavs who have spent closer to $140m (before you even consider luxury tax) and they seem to have unlimited pockets. It's kind of ridiculous.

Yeah I don't even pretend to understand the salary cap in the Nba. It's not a hard cap if you can go over it??

It is frustrating to be hamstrung like this but hear about other teams with max players considering big moves.

Could we wait to sign Boogie since we have Bird rights until after signing another high profile player? Does that even work?


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The Pelicans are taking the right approach to avoid paying the luxury tax until they're a real contender. The repeater tax will force teams into hard decisions, and there is no reason to bring those forward sooner than you have too.

For a championship, I think this leadership group is perfectly willing to pay the tax. They've demonstrated their willingness to pay for success via the amount of dead money the Saints have been allowed to carry in the past and consistently spending every dollar possible even if it will eventually create more dead money.

There is no way we have the assets to trade for Leonard right now. The only hope is somehow missing the playoffs and lucking into the #1 pick, and having the Spurs really like a guy they can only get at #1; the teams with picks #2-4 would likely have additional assts they could add that would surpass what Pelicans could offer. So a math guy could look at the Pels odds of missing playoffs and look at the odds of the team with the worst chance of winning the lottery actually winning the lottery, and then figure out what that is and take a guess at whether the Spurs would be interested.... But off the top of my head I'd put the odds at being able to trade for Leonard at less than .0967%.

But greater than zero!

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Originally Posted by NMThreeMVP

The Pelicans are taking the right approach to avoid paying the luxury tax until they're a real contender. The repeater tax will force teams into hard decisions, and there is no reason to bring those forward sooner than you have too.

For a championship, I think this leadership group is perfectly willing to pay the tax.

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I think the problem with that is this: if you're only willing to pay the luxury tax for a contender, you'll never be a contender.

We're not a contender now. Imagine we resign Boogie, and then we can shed some dead salary: Ajinca, etc. In that situation we're maybe a fringe contender: we're also butting up against the cap, especially if we resign Rondo and the like.

But we're not a real contender. Not unless absolutely everything clicks and Boogie comes back just as good as he was and Jrue continues to be a 20ppg guy. Even then, we aren't high level contenders, we're on the fringe.

In order to make any move above that, into sure fire contender status, we need one more high quality piece. Signing that piece or trading for them will almost certainly take us into the tax. So now we're a team that's not a contender, entering the tax.

Tldr; if you aren't a contender they won't spend the tax, but you can't be a contender unless you're spending the tax. You've just got to bite the bullet and spend.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I think the problem with that is this: if you're only willing to pay the luxury tax for a contender, you'll never be a contender.

We're not a contender now. Imagine we resign Boogie, and then we can shed some dead salary: Ajinca, etc. In that situation we're maybe a fringe contender: we're also butting up against the cap, especially if we resign Rondo and the like.

But we're not a real contender. Not unless absolutely everything clicks and Boogie comes back just as good as he was and Jrue continues to be a 20ppg guy. Even then, we aren't high level contenders, we're on the fringe.

In order to make any move above that, into sure fire contender status, we need one more high quality piece. Signing that piece or trading for them will almost certainly take us into the tax. So now we're a team that's not a contender, entering the tax.

Tldr; if you aren't a contender they won't spend the tax, but you can't be a contender unless you're spending the tax. You've just got to bite the bullet and spend.

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I don;t think we're saying different things. I think if the opportunity is out there to add a player that will make the Pelicans a legitimate contender, but it brings them into the tax, they'll pay the tax. I don't think a year from now, they'd be willing to go into the tax for the version of Niko we've seen thus far. But for Kemba Walker? I think they'd be willing to go into the tax to create a Jrue/Kemba backcourt paired with a AD/Boogie "frontcourt".

You just don't go into the tax for the Niko Mirotic type players of the world.

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Originally Posted by NMThreeMVP

I don;t think we're saying different things. I think if the opportunity is out there to add a player that will make the Pelicans a legitimate contender, but it brings them into the tax, they'll pay the tax. I don't think a year from now, they'd be willing to go into the tax for the version of Niko we've seen thus far. But for Kemba Walker? I think they'd be willing to go into the tax to create a Jrue/Kemba backcourt paired with a AD/Boogie "frontcourt".

You just don't go into the tax for the Niko Mirotic type players of the world.

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I mean, there's some truth to this, but the fact is that we already have to overpay for anyone. Even paying for decent role players. So other teams like Golden State might be able to pay their role players slightly less and then blow up the tax on four all stars, but we're fighting the hardcap to get even 2 all-stars. So if we want to compete for rings, which we do, we have to essentially forget the luxury tax exists, like Cleveland (another unattractive market) has had to do.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I mean, there's some truth to this, but the fact is that we already have to overpay for anyone. Even paying for decent role players. So other teams like Golden State might be able to pay their role players slightly less and then blow up the tax on four all stars, but we're fighting the hardcap to get even 2 all-stars. So if we want to compete for rings, which we do, we have to essentially forget the luxury tax exists, like Cleveland (another unattractive market) has had to do.

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Cleveland has only been a luxury tax player when Lebron has been on the team. And when you're in the East, and Lebron is on your team, you're a title contender. What significant piece have the Pelicans parted with because they didn't want to pay the luxury tax? They paid AD. They paid Jrue. They will pay Boogie. Moore and Hill are still on the roster and overpaid. It's not an unwillingness to spend. The role players we've splurged on just haven't been good values at the high end. The guys like Clark, Rondo, Miller and Okafor have been great deals.

Weren't the Warriors already champions before they went into the Luxury tax??

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Originally Posted by pelicanchamp

How could we get George? You mean instead of resigning cousins get George? I don’t think we could sign both of them.


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We can get George in the sense that he is a free agent. Meaning we can trade cap away to be able to clear enough space to sign him. It would probably mean losing most of our depth, but we could make it happen.

It doesn't affect resigning Cousins at all because we can go over the cap to sign him. As soon as the Pelicans made the trade for Cousins they were committed to going into the tax. Don't believe anything else said by the media because it is all posturing.

I'm not saying it's likely, and George probably wants to go to the Lakers, but it would be easier to get a guy like George than Leonard.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I think the problem with that is this: if you're only willing to pay the luxury tax for a contender, you'll never be a contender.

We're not a contender now. Imagine we resign Boogie, and then we can shed some dead salary: Ajinca, etc. In that situation we're maybe a fringe contender: we're also butting up against the cap, especially if we resign Rondo and the like.

But we're not a real contender. Not unless absolutely everything clicks and Boogie comes back just as good as he was and Jrue continues to be a 20ppg guy. Even then, we aren't high level contenders, we're on the fringe.

In order to make any move above that, into sure fire contender status, we need one more high quality piece. Signing that piece or trading for them will almost certainly take us into the tax. So now we're a team that's not a contender, entering the tax.

Tldr; if you aren't a contender they won't spend the tax, but you can't be a contender unless you're spending the tax. You've just got to bite the bullet and spend.

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Uh, we are a serious contender with Boogie.

The Pels don't have the assets to keep both AD/DC and still be able to trade for Kawhi. You'd have to make a move like S&T Boogie to Boston for a package including Jaylen Brown. Trade Brown/Jrue/Pick to Spurs for Kawhi.

I think all of that is moot though. Kawhi should be eligible for the new super extension this summer. I'm really surprised all of the whispers of unhappiness are happening with a huge payday around the corner. Paul George, DeMarcus Cousins, and Jimmy Butler would all still be with their former teams in much worse situations had that extension been on the table. Most people don't walk away from $200+ million in guaranteed money when it's offered to them.

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Originally Posted by NMThreeMVP

Cleveland has only been a luxury tax player when Lebron has been on the team. And when you're in the East, and Lebron is on your team, you're a title contender. What significant piece have the Pelicans parted with because they didn't want to pay the luxury tax? They paid AD. They paid Jrue. They will pay Boogie. Moore and Hill are still on the roster and overpaid. It's not an unwillingness to spend. The role players we've splurged on just haven't been good values at the high end. The guys like Clark, Rondo, Miller and Okafor have been great deals.

Weren't the Warriors already champions before they went into the Luxury tax??

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The Warriors were only already champions prior to the luxury tax because of the complete luck of Curry's early injury troubles causing him to accept a budget deal.

I'm not saying we've parted ways with anyone due to not going into the tax, I'm saying it will be difficult to build going forward anywhere until we accept that the tax MUST come into play.

I could see the Spurs being very interested in Jrue. IMO Pop would love to have that kind of combo guard in his system. Holiday, Diallo, and a 1st round pick would no doubt be enough to get Leonard imo. I'm probably Jrues biggest fan here and I wouldn't hesitate to make that move. Go and find a PG like Bledsoe to fit in with his wildcat Alumni. John Wall is also gonna be someone that will be available in the future. We have to resign Boogie and if we don't you can say bye bye to AD in a couple years. Boogie coming back to the Pels is the only way this team keeps AD. You put Leonard on this team and we are serious contenders that nobody wants to play.

My ideal move would be landing Paul George in FA. If he really wants to win then we should have a real shot at him or atleast get a meeting. IMO he is the perfect fit for this team and makes us a top 3 seed as a serious threat to the Rockets and Warriors. My low key move would be to trade for Fournier and sign Henzonja in FA. I think both of these guys would be great fits in our starting lineup. Fournier is a Klay Thompson clone and would thrive in Gentrys system and option 3A/3B.. then you have Henzonja who has so much untapped potential with all star talent. If he just slightly improves his game over the next few years then we have a super athletic wing scoring 15-20 ppg.

No matter what we do I think this is going to be a big offseason for us. Boogie is a no brainer to bring back. I think Dell goes all in to put a championship contending team on the court and I believe we are prepared to go into the luxury tax for the right players.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

The Warriors were only already champions prior to the luxury tax because of the complete luck of Curry's early injury troubles causing him to accept a budget deal.

I'm not saying we've parted ways with anyone due to not going into the tax, I'm saying it will be difficult to build going forward anywhere until we accept that the tax MUST come into play.

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Right. But is anyone disputing this or saying the team won't go into the tax? Jrue + AD + Boogie is going to mean we're going into the tax sooner or later. That's indisputable and the team will be willing to pay it.

It appeared we were on the verge of contender status the night we beat the Rockets. With the loss of cousins in that game it is impossible to tell if it was a fluke and we played over our heads or if it was for real. With the way the team has played since the dip after Cousins went down, I am on the side of thinking we will be able to contend if we get 90% of the pre injury boogie.

For everyone saying we can't get Leonard, I would put the odds somewhere around the same as trading for Cousins. I know they are two very different organizations but there is a precedent recently for stars being moved for very little in return.

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Originally Posted by luigi modelo

Uh, we are a serious contender with Boogie.

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We need to sell that to Paul George. Get him to realize how dominant we could be with him on the wing. Solo Hill and Darius off the bench. Jrue, Rondo, and Clark on the ball. And the X factors in Diallo and Frank Jackson off the bench too?

Also, Mirotic...or whoever we trade Mirotic for? Maybe that 1st round pick we buy because hopefully Gayle Benson has a more open manner of being owner?

Kawahi Leonard is a (crack) pipe dream, but Paul George is going through that Dwight Howard to the Lakers type season of his life. He isn't as valuable as he once was, but he certainly is worth something. If we could find a way to make that happen that would be amazing, and would instantly make us a top 5 team in the NBA, nevermind the West.

But #pelslife

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Originally Posted by Mythrol

We can get George in the sense that he is a free agent. Meaning we can trade cap away to be able to clear enough space to sign him. It would probably mean losing most of our depth, but we could make it happen.

It doesn't affect resigning Cousins at all because we can go over the cap to sign him. As soon as the Pelicans made the trade for Cousins they were committed to going into the tax. Don't believe anything else said by the media because it is all posturing.

I'm not saying it's likely, and George probably wants to go to the Lakers, but it would be easier to get a guy like George than Leonard.

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George is just as impossible as Leonard. Cousins cap hold makes signing George impossible without waiving Cousins' bird rights.

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Originally Posted by Pelifan

George is just as impossible as Leonard. Cousins cap hold makes signing George impossible without waiving Cousins' bird rights.

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Yea very unlikely. Unless somehow trading away most of the contracts of Hill, Moore, Mirotic, Ajinca to teams with cap space that could absorb them without sending $ back, or for some wild reason that OKC would do a sign-and-trade including those contracts or Jrue. So it's possible, but highly unlikely.

Think we should set our sights a bit lower. I think replacing Rondo in the starting line-up should be the main goal of the off-season. Hopefully he can accept a super-sub bench role as he ages. The main targets I see are...

1) Kemba (dream addition, long-shot but possible)
2) Fournier (would fit great, would ORL trade him? if they draft Doncic and see EF as redundant?)
3) Bazemore (length, athleticism, defense, good enough scoring. wouldn't have to add a 1st)
4) Barnes (would Mavs trade him to Pels-divsion rival? but if they wind up in tank mode again...)