Enzo The Baker said:
I don't believe it.
Local Jazz beat writer:
I think this is Ainge shaking the tree.
Spurs have said since Wemby was drafted, they are going to build around him on their own time and they are building for the next 15 years, not the next 3.
You have to have cap space to renegotiate Lauri's contract when it is available to be done so in August, and only the Spurs, Jazz, and Pistons have that. Kings and Warriors cannot have that. So they would have to trade for a guy that will 100% become a free agent. The max extension he can get without a renegotiation is a 4y100M contract, which he obviously wouldn't take.
With the Spurs saying they are building for the long term, and their moves this year have been to trade #8 for two future firsts, signing Chris Paul to a 1y deal and refusing to sign anyone to a multi-year deal - why would anyone think the Spurs are going to cash in their chips now? And especially for Lauri, who is a great off-ball scorer, but doesn't create his own shot, doesn't create for others, and is below average on defense.
Lauri would be our #2 player and keep us from having a great pick in the 2025 draft. Would you trade him straight up for Chet? What about Jalen Williams? Yeah, I would rather have both those guys than Lauri. That means we would be locked into our 2nd best player being the 4th best player on the Thunder. I don't think that is where we want to be for long term team building.
Further, I think that there may be a half dozen or more players in the 25 draft that are better than Lauri, plus they would be almost a decade younger than him and not on a max contract.
Plus look at Lauri's games per season. 4 years with 55 or fewer games. Zero years with 70+ games. Just two of seven years with 65+ games.
If we are going to get it in, I want to get it in for a fringe All-NBA or better, not a fringe All-Star at best.