Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Mike Sykes
Happy Friday, folks! Welcome back to Layup Lines. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you’ve had a fantastic week. It’s been a pretty busy one on the NBA side.
The Pacers trading for Pascal Siakam is the highlight of all of it. If you hadn’t seen, Indiana moved three first-round picks to Toronto to get back Siakam and a second-round pick.
RELATED: Trade grades from the Pascal Siakam deal between the Raptors and Pacers
That’s a great move for the Pacers. As our Prince Grimes wrote earlier in the week, it doesn’t quite put Indiana in contention. But it does make the team a bit more competitive than it already was. That’s a big plus when you have a borderline top-10 talent on your roster already in Tyrese Haliburton. Inching closer to contention is always the goal, even if you’re not quite there yet.
That’s a bigger discussion for down the line, though. For today, it feels like we should get ready for a quiet trade deadline. The Siakam deal may have zapped the market.
Siakam was the main target for many teams out there across the league. He was connected to the Hawks, the Warriors, the Pacers and more. He’s off the board now and will be a Pacer for the foreseeable future. The question now becomes the main target from here.
There are a few options out there — none quite as accomplished as Siakam, but some pretty solid options nonetheless. That includes names like Kyle Kuzma, who the Wizards reportedly have “no immediate urgency,” to move, and Dejounte Murray, who has reportedly already been brought up in talks between the Hawks and Lakers.
If you’re looking for star movement, though, you should probably move on. There’s no blockbuster deal available for a star player on the table. Maybe there’s something that materializes like the Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant deals did last year. But, as things stand, it’s quiet on the star watch front.
That’s not a bad thing. It means there are loads of teams trying to compete for the playoffs, which should make for some pretty good basketball across the board. This is what we should all want. After all, transactions are not the main event — the basketball is.
Hopefully, a quiet deadline means a really fun playoff run. We’ll see.
Speaking of Dejounte Murray trades…
This dude is quite the hot commodity. He’s reportedly on the Milwaukee Bucks’ radar now as a trade target, according to Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes.
Milwaukee Bucks are among multiple teams who are registering interest in trading for Atlanta Hawks star Dejounte Murray, league sources tell @NBAonTNT, @BleacherReport. pic.twitter.com/vlWUIMDPIp
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) January 19, 2024
There’s one big problem, though: The Bucks don’t have anything to give up. All of the team’s assets went away in the Damian Lillard trade.
Here’s what’s left in Milwaukee’s asset cupboard:
— A 2024 second-round pick from the Trail Blazers
— Milwaukee’s own 2027 second-round pick
That’s it, folks. Between the Damian Lillard trade and the Jrue Holiday trade before that one, there’s nothing else left to give. If Milwaukee had a promising prospect or two, that’d be one thing. But both MarJon Beauchamp and Andre Jackson Jr. have had up-and-down seasons so far.
I can’t see this one happening for Milwaukee. The Bucks are likely going to just have to rock out with the team as is. But just the fact that Milwaukee is even still popping up in conversations like this is a sign of a couple things:
First, the team isn’t satisfied with where it is. That’s a good thing that Bucks fans should be confident about. It might also be mildly disconcerting because it’s clear Milwaukee probably can’t win a title as is.
Second, the price for Murray might not be that high right now. The Bucks reportedly registering interest means that Milwaukee seriously thinks there’s a shot at getting him. That means that other contenders might need to up their packages a bit more to make this happen with Atlanta.
Bronny is still on the radar
Despite a relatively poor start to the season for USC, Bronny James is still on a lot of NBA team’s radars for next season, our own Bryan Kalbrosky writes, though it’s kind of unclear what that means.
“But his most recent game had the kind of stat line that could draw the attention of scouts around the NBA. Either way, according to league insider Shams Charania, the freshman guard is already on the radar for “multiple” franchises around the league (via Run It Back)
What exactly does it mean for Bronny to be on a draft board?
That much is unclear, especially considering that some draft boards are potentially expansive and include many names, but it is encouraging news for his future that teams beyond the Lakers have some exploratory interest. (For what it is worth, oddsmakers believe the Knicks are the most likely team to draft Bronny if the Lakers don’t.)”
This is so fascinating to me — mostly because I wonder if this is actually interest in Bronny or if it’s just a ploy to lure a 39-year-old LeBron James to whatever franchise drafts him.
Don’t get me wrong — Bronny is going to be a legit NBA prospect. But, man. I can’t help but feel like that LeBron factor plays into it.
This summer is going to be so fun, man. Can’t wait.
Shootaround
— Anthony Edwards has the best dunk of the season — again. This is unreal. Here’s more from Bryan.
— Le’Veon Bell defended Kyrie Irving better than some dudes in the NBA would by placing a single bet. This is hilarious. Blake Schuster has more.
— I’ve never seen someone be more disinterested in their job than Charles Barkley was on Thursday night. Cory Woodruff has more.
— This might be the craziest LeBron James stat. Wow.
That’s all, folks! Thanks so much for rocking with us today. Have a great weekend. Let’s chat again on Monday.
-Sykes ✌️
