I wrestle with the emotions of this as a fan. On one hand, it obviously makes the team better on paper and on the court, assuming health. On the other, the team just came off a year where if they hadn’t had to spend 2.5 months playing the starters 40+ minutes a game to revamp and learn the system, I think they actually wipe the floor with everyone in the playoffs and get a ring. Am I certain of that? Of course not. But I don’t think anyone was beating the January-April/pre-TL injury of this team. Which is to say, I *think* this team has enough to put together title runs for several years and bring home multiple rings.
But I’m not sure of it. So even if I kind of find the idea of swapping a player I love as a fan in Jaylen—homegrown, exciting, conscientious—for a mercurial supertalent/Top 5-10 all time player a little distasteful, I’m not completely closing my mind to it. Because you just never know in the NBA.