>Trading AD to a west team vs an east team
>Trading AD to a team that hasn't won since the early 70's vs
>trading to a team that wins a title once a decade it seems
>Not wanting to trade to a team with LeBron on it as his agency
>was the one representing Davis and was seen as pushing for
>it.

I think the Pels need to buckle down in the reality that, unless they can convince AD to publicly announce he's staying and grab a high-profile FA who wants to play with AD and Zion, then they aren't contending for a title or a WCF run *anytime* soon, so the East vs. West notion shouldn't be an overwhelming concern imo.

If anything, the last point you made may cause both Bron and AD to pressure the GMs to get it done ASAP. I'm sure Bron doesn't want a miracle to happen and for AD and Zion to play well together, and AD doesn't want to waste another year of his career on that longshot. The Lakers are probably more likely to make the desperation trade, because they know they can actually refill the slots with free agents more easily than the Knicks likely can.

Maybe the Knicks can offer more future firsts (as is often their prerogative). Those would likely have more value with AD on the team than the Lakers' future firsts would with AD on the team, and we all know the Knicks are happy to wildly overpay from time to time. Maybe the Knicks will offer Knox, Smith, Robinson, Vonleh, Trier, the #3, and their next two first round picks. I'm still not convinced anything beyond the #3 pick can match the ceiling of Ingram and Kuz, but perhaps the sheer volume of youth would raise the Pels' eyebrows.

I just think, end of the day, the Pels will leap for whichever package has the highest perceived ceiling. The Knicks can't really offer anything beyond the #3 that has that... and as I said above, Culver's *ceiling* isn't terribly far behind Barrett's. There's def a scenario where Culver is the better NBA player (though it's not the scenario I would bet on, personally).

I also think, despite all the drama, the Celtics should say, "Look, here's Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, and three first rounders this year." Pels can draft some more guard/wing talent-- guys like Keldon Johnson, Tyler Herro, Louis King should all be in that ballpark-- and maybe a big to play alongside Zion, someone like Daniel Gafford or, if they wanna go small ball (my personal choice) Brandon Clarke to play when Zion or Randle is resting. They roll into next year starting Jrue, Tatum, Brown, Randle, and Zion, with guys like Herro, King, and Clarke off the bench, and they play all fast, hustle-hard small ball-- it'd be ELECTRIC. Meanwhile, Celtics can sign AD and extend Kyrie on the same day, and that would be enough to recruit another big name FA-- it'd take some drama management on their part, but if they pulled it off, it'd be huge.