LAC and SAS

[San Antonio Spurs]

Los Angeles Clippers receive:
Kyrie Irving

San Antonio Spurs receive:
Immanuel Quickley
LAC 2027 1st round pick
Dead cap of TJ McConnell (.5M/1yr) and TyTy Washington (1M/1yr)

This one came down to not much of a market existing for Kyrie, frankly - even before the heel contusion. Clippers was one of the few teams that did not have to give up matching salary to receive Kyrie due to his abundant cap space, so it made our discussions much easier. My hope before canvassing the league was to obtain two first round picks for Kyrie. The Clippers' 1st round pick is one that I feel comfortable betting on yielding a good result, since it looks like the Clippers' future core will be Bane, Cam Johnson, and Herb Jones alongside some old 2010s stars, not much other draft capital, and whatever free agents Clippers can get (I am aware that he has been pretty good at this). Because of how good the quality of that first was compared to anything else I'd been offered, I felt satisfied settling for IQ to round out the package. Not a great piece, but maybe he'll become a starter if he leaves the IRL Knicks in free agency and put up good numbers for a low re-sign contract price. The short-term dead cap I just said sure, since now I have a bunch of space and Clippers has no more assets to ask for anyway.

Midseason cap space for a playoff contender doesn't get much better than taking in a 40 FPPG player, so good on Clippers for that.

[L.A. Clippers]

I accept. Quickley has never really materialized to what I wanted, so moving on from him (3 mil) and the dead cap gives a significant discount to Kyrie's salary this year--and next year is a TO, so if injuries get worse (or he goes absolute mental health crisis mode again) I can move on from the deal. The injury is not great, but doesn't seem too serious and adding a close to 40fpp player to a team that has been surprisingly productive despite the age of a lot of my big pieces seems like a win, especially since I have massive amounts of cap space & even after this deal have 10+ mil to spend at the deadline. As Spurs notes, I'm much better at competing through FA than I am the draft (damn my lack of college basketball knowledge), and while the 2027 1st is my last non-stepien'd pick rn it is a ways off so I wasn't upset with that compensation. Wish Spurs better luck with Quickley, but even if he started somewhere next year I didn't plan to re sign.

[Phoenix Suns]

Gonna reply while sober...

Man this feels rough for Clippers, that 2027 1st looks really valuable And ackey resource to rebuild.

Not sure I trust Kyrie Irving to stay healthy, either. But adding 40 fppg improves his win now odds on Team Geriatric.

Gotta respect Clippers, he's like that anime protagonist who everyone tells to give up, and that they're not good enough and they just keep stubbornly going in spite of the odds.

The man refuses to rebuild.

I think market for Kyrie was always trash, so huge W for Spurs, he has announced himself to the league with two strong trades and is the clear frontrunner for Rookie of the Year GM.

Spurs wins this trade.

I approve.

[Minnesota Timberwolves]

It’ll be a long time before Spurs gets that pick, but this is not at all a bad return for Kyrie. Real nice work, there. And yeah, this is some good Clippersing from Clippers too. I, for one, love it.

I approve