2020 1st, protected #1-14 through 2022, then becomes two 2nds
Nets receive:
Well, I didn't expect a big trade to be agreed to in the middle of the Finals before the offseason even begins, but this will be quite the haul for Atlanta once it can become official in July. Travis Schlenk continues to stockpile assets as they now have three selections in the top 17 picks this month, which could put them in a more comfortable position to make a splash. That speculative move up for R.J. Barrett would make even more sense now that Prince is out of the picture, and this would be one of the best situations for the athletic wing to reach his franchise player potential with a young core of actual shooters around him compared to what he saw at Duke. Although Prince is a nice player at just 25 years old, he is about to enter the last year of his rookie contract, so flipping him for two 1st round picks makes total sense. Crabbe is only two years older and a solid rotation player to provide shooting, anyway, and they had plenty of cap flexibility to take on his large expiring contract. Even with this difference of $15 million in contracts, the Hawks are looking at over $35 million in cap space before accounting for their 1st round picks, and now they'll have over $50 million coming off the books for next year between Crabbe, Kent Bazemore, and Miles Plumlee.
I get that the $15 million matters more to a team trying to clear space for two max contracts like the Nets, but this is still a high price to pay to do so. It was going to be tight and dependent on whether the salary cap lands higher or lower than the projected $109 million, but even before this trade they could've held onto D'Angelo Russell's $21 million cap hold and still had the $32.7 million of room needed for a free agent with 7-9 years of experience like Kyrie Irving. Now, they have about $46 million in space that could become close to $69 million if they renounce Russell and waive the non-guaranteed contracts of Shabazz Napier and Treveon Graham, so it's more feasible to add another star in addition to Irving. They'd still need another small deal for more room if that second free agent has 10+ years of experience like Kevin Durant, but this does put them in that conversation to help woo the first star. Sean Marks has done a great job the last few years to clean up the books and put Brooklyn in this kind of position, so he could have some inside information that a big signing is a possibility. Otherwise, this would be a tough overpay for a young role player and some flexibility.
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