Megatraders: Part I (76ers, Pelicans, Rockets)

[Jestor]

A Series On Frequent Traders

The first of many memes to come

There are teams like the Milwaukee Bucks, where loyalty is an organizational way of life. Trades are few. Players can buy a home, knowing they'll have years of security.

Then there's the other guys. Where every day is as busy and loud as the New York Stock Exchange, and players know they should get a short-term rental at most.

In this series, we'll be looking at teams that have made 5+ trades from the offseason to now, and, most importantly, drastically shook up their rosters and assets in a snow globe-style flurry. We'll also be doing a consolidation of what departed and what is still here. If a piece picked up in a trade was then flipped for something else, you won't see that item appear. Because it's no longer there, and wasn't part of the original offseason roster.

For Part I, we'll look at the Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans Pelicans, and Houston Rockets. Don't worry fans of other deal-happy front offices. We'll get to them in subsequent articles.

Philadelphia 76ers (9 Trades)

Philadelphia 76ers send
Malik Monk
Davion Mitchell
Ivan Rabb
Brandon Clarke
Nadir Hifi
Caleb Houstan
Draft rights to Brendan Adams
Philadelphia 76ers 2036 2nd
2 instructions

Philadelphia 76ers receive
Amir Coffey
Georgios Tsalmpouris
Mouhamadou Gueye
Anfernee Simons
Jordan Caroline
Ashton Hagans
Deyonta Davis
Viny Okuo
Josh Minott
Laurynas Birutis
Portland Trailblazers 2034 1st
Detroit Pistons 2033 2nd
New Orleans Pelicans 2034 2nd
Memphis Grizzlies 2034 2nd
Portland Trailblazers 2034 2nd
Orlando Magic 2035 2nd
Philadelphia 2035 2nd

The Topline Takeaways
At the top level, the 76ers swapped out from a guard-focused offense to a big boy one, changing Davion Mitchell and Malik Monk for Viny Okuo and Laurynas Birutis. They also massively replenished their depleted picks stocks. True, most of them are projected mid-late 2nd rounders, but for a team under heavy financial pressure (Ashton Hagans and Amir Coffey are RFAs), every slot that can be filled with a cheap body is well worth it. Not to be missed: they build a bridge to their future, picking up Anfernee Simons to be Donovan Mitchell's heir and ensure a succession plan at point guard.

The Results
Donovan Mitchell was injured recently, causing a small slide relative to the earlier season record. But even with that hiccup and no 3 point shooting to speak of (Mitchell's 3 attempts per game downtown is the lone distance shooter of even minor note), they're still just two games back of the New York Knicks and in contention for the Atlantic division in a three-way fight that also includes the league-run Brooklyn Nets.

Further Trade Likelihood
It's rhoxxy. Very high. The motivation to hit double-digits will be immense, and they sorely need a 3 point shooter to balance out the offense and maximize their title contention chances.


No current Pelican has played more than two seasons in New Orleans

New Orleans Pelicans (8 Trades)

New Orleans Pelicans send
Victor Wembanyama
Anfernee Simons
Mohamed Gueye
Karl-Anthony Towns
Tyrese Maxey
Goga Bitadze
Moses Brown
Draft Rights to Jameer Nelson, Jr.
Draft Rights to Bronny James
Portland Trailblazers 2034 1st
New Orleans Pelicans 2035 1st
New Orleans Pelicans 2034 2nd
New Orleans Pelicans 2035 2nd
Philadelphia 76ers 2035 2nd
New Orleans Pelicans 2036 2nd

New Orleans Pelicans receive
Jayson Tatum
Asbjorn Midtgaard
Cam Reddish
J.D. Davison
Kevin Huerter
Aleksej Pokusevski
Draft Rights to Scotty Pippen, Jr.
Miami Heat 2034 1st
New Orleans Pelicans 2034 1st
Orlando Magic 2034 1st
Orlando Magic 2035 1st
Los Angeles Clippers 2034 2nd
Phoenix Suns 2034 2nd
2 instructions

The Topline Takeaways
It's probably easiest to explain this with a sub-chart.

OUT
Wemby
Simons
Maxey
MWill
New Orleans 2035 1st

IN
Tatum
Midt
Reddish
Poku
New Orleans 2034 1st
Orlando 2034 1st
Orlando 2035 1st

In other words, they completely tore out their core - including their franchise player in Wemby - and replaced it with a potential contending group, with Poku, Midt, and whomever they get with the Orlando picks and potentially their own returned first if everything about the gamble blows up in their face this season. If the Pelicans don't win a title as a result of these moves - whether in the Tatum Period or after the 2036 window begins, there will be many, many what-ifs and second-guessing of the alternate, Wemby Timeline.

Outside of that, they cashed in every free agency pickup not named Coby White and shuffled a lot of picks around to overall elevate the potential ceiling of their draft stockpile. Also, like the 76ers, they obtained their heir apparent PG for their veteran in securing J.D. Davison, which the Portland media pointed out is an underreported element of the radical redesign.

The Results
TBD. That said, New Orleans' initial wave of moves before the Poku/MWill earthquake has them at 26-24 and the 6th seed. Only a catastrophe would have them failing to at least match last year's 35 wins and play-in tournament appearance.

Further Trade Likelihood
Medium-High. New Orleans is quite thin at center now, and the front office is actively seeking a backup five upgrade over Jalen Smith. But there will be financial difficulties in finding the right match. At least they know the type they want to fill that role.


27th in Points Allowed earns you this meme

Houston Rockets (5 Trades)

Houston Rockets send
MJ Walker
Dedric Lawson
Amari Bailey
Trayce Jackson-Davis
Chima Moneke
Trevon Duval
Cam Reddish
J.D. Davison
Houston Rockets 2036 1st
Houston Rockets 2036 2nd
2 instructions

Houston Rockets receive
Dzanan Musa
Isaiah Jackson
Draft rights to Tidjane Salaun
Quinndary Weatherspoon
Johnny Hamilton
Jalen Adams
Tyrese Maxey
Dragan Bender
Hassani Gravett
Cleveland Cavaliers 2036 1st
2 instructions

The Topline Takeaways
M.J. Walker and Dedric Lawson essentially became Tyrese Maxey and Dzanan Musa, while the Houston/Cleveland swap has gone from looking like an upgrade to a potentially dangerous dead-even swap or perhaps even a downgrade. The Rockets do have more financial flexibility by netting Weatherspoon's massive expiring, which will be necessary to lock up Maxey this offseason.

The Results
A trainwreck as everyone in Houston is painfully aware. The fans want to howl about Walker, but that's not the issue. It's missing Lawson's influence in the paint, and the fact that the Rockets haven't clued in that their best lineups all feature Isaiah Jackson as the center. Yes, you can point to sample size (Houston has just one lineup over 100 minutes all season), but the aggregate data is clear - nearly every IJ center lineup is positive, and everyone else there sucks the wet farts of a slimy toad.

Further Trade Likelihood
Houston will keep trying, but another deal seems unlikely. The general consensus seems to be there isn't much interest in the pieces they'd be willing to ship out - as might be expected in a CSL world that heavily favors post- and grind-oriented playstyle, wanting no part of run and gun flash.

Next Time
We'll likely be taking a look at two Eastern conference teams, but if we see enough trade deadline activity, we might add more squads to profile.

[TheTwoWallaces]

Fun stuff. With Philly going from guard-focused to big-focused, and Miami going from Poku to Mark Williams, it looks like big men are the name of the game in the Eastern Conference. Reminds us that we probably can't afford to trade Tillman or Wiseman if we want a shot in the playoffs this season.

I'm sure Kyrus will figure out a way to reshuffle the deck. Or maybe he's thinking that it's been years since Houston has got a top pick, and he's sick of making draft classes then never getting to participate lol

[KW]

This season (while disastrous beyond my wildest dreams) was probably always going to be a little worse than last season. It is the product of the offseason Walker/Lawson trade in which we were forced to cut costs due to the hard cap, and the Walker half of that trade didn't return any playable pieces for this season. Lawson->Carter was a much bigger downgrade than I imagined too. Carter was performing terribly in every way but rebounding and had to go.

A lot of new pieces to sift through over the next few weeks (and possibly more by the deadline), but I'm confident my roster right now is better than it was at the start of the season. We'll find the right mix but are unfortunately going to have to fight our way through the play-in for the first time ever.

[rh0xxy]

Great read. I'd definitely go with that 10th trade of the season lol

i better keep up or get overtaken by the Pels and Rockets

[Flaming Homer]

Maybe we should create a Award for the highest trades per season

Nice article and a lot of research went into it. With Rhox team I never can even remember who started the season with him lol

And Houston and New Orleans are the same this season. Let's see how it shales out for all 3 teams after a while.

[bt]

Haha, fun read.

For real life sports (not just NBA), if there's a team out ahead you sometimes see them picked apart and teams change the way they play or make moves to beat those teams as you probably need to go through them at some point if you need to win. Teams are in different stages but it's cool to see what moves teams at the pointy end make as to whether it's to try match up better with another team or trading to just trade.

Not sure with Philly, I think Tim has a plan he wants to follow in New Orleans and Kyrus just needed to change something as it doesn't seem to be working so far this season.

[Stockton12]

jazz have helped all 3 teams make those deals