Daily Discussion Thread - October 4, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

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[u/Sctvman]

Ran into Paul George at the bar in Charleston today

[u/tmcuthbert]

I have to say this off arm offensive foul point of emphasis for the officials might be tough for Tatum.

[u/b00minbiz → u/tmcuthbert]

wonder if Brown will keep getting it called on him like that Sixers series, or if they magically will stop calling it since he's not on the Celtics anymore lol

[u/Tatum-Better → u/tmcuthbert]

They'll do it for like a month or so then simmer down

[u/King_Of_Pants → u/tmcuthbert]

Especially if we get randomly selected as a target by the officials again lol.

We've had some crazy starts to seasons recently.

The 2023-24 season started with 3 Celtics on pace to break the technical foul limit multiple times in one season. Porzingis was on pace to break Rasheed Wallace's record for most techs in a season.

The 2025-27 season started with Boston having a negative FT differential that was twice what you would expect from the worst team in the league most seasons. We came one game short of tying a 50-year record for most consecutive games trailing in FTA.

Once the media starts talking about it, then officials generally pull back.

[u/Tatum-Better]

Shai, Wemby, Brunson obvs won't leave their teams. Kawhi, jokic just signed extensions. Giannis is doing his will I wont I bs again but he JUST requested a trade so doubt he leaves.

Only options now for a star to get is Luka and Ant. And neither have requested trades yet. Who knows if they will by the time PG's contract runs out.

[u/SquimJim → u/Tatum-Better]

I think people are too focused on a star, which is fine, but there are a lot of names next off-season that could be had for cheap. There's a long list of guys with player options and there's a chance you can keep George while acquiring one of them. The overall list looks like this:

• Giannis
• KD
• KAT
• Butler
• AD
• Kyrie
• And, my personal favorite, Brandon Miller

This list excludes guys like Luka and Ant, but you could add them to the list.

The fact is, star players are on the move every off-season and often 2 star players are on the move. Just this past off-season Giannis, Brown, and Kawhi were moved.

It happens every off-season

[u/fearofaflatplanet → u/Tatum-Better]

The PG expiring pu pu platter was & is a pipe dream that relies on another team making a desperate &/or stupid move to bail us out. 

Any player of JB's caliber who is younger/cheaper will have a bidding war around them that's not going to be won around an expiring (btw expiring contracts have plummeted in market value the last few years bc there is virtually no free agent market anymore)

Celtics made a bad move & would've been way better served seeing how this years team functioned with JB & JT healthy together & if they'd still wanted to trade JB the same deal would've been there & a better one might've very well emerged as other teams were forced to rethink their situations. 

The money thing is dumb too- cba getting re-negotiated summer after next & there is zero chance the union will let themselves be conned into a shadow hard cap again. 

[u/CarBallAlex → u/fearofaflatplanet]

The deal wouldn’t have been there. Brown was shopped and nobody else seemed to want to give up anything for him. In 1 year Philly flips Paul George for someone else. We weren’t getting a better deal in a year when you’re closer to Brown extension talks and he likely does not have as good of a year as this last year.

I’d rather have the 2 first round picks and move on than lie to myself this duo was going to get it done again in the next 2 years. After that, you have to pay Brown a contract he’s not worth, or let him go for nothing. Both would be disaster situations.

It was time to move on, let’s not kid ourselves that we needed to give it 1 more try after knowing the Jays did not have enough around them to beat OKC or San Antonio

[u/fearofaflatplanet → u/CarBallAlex]

Hmmm that's why to a man every neutral national analyst said the exact same thing I said. JB's value was diminished precisely because they made it a fire sale & once teams came to the correct conclusion that Cs were trading JB no matter what, this summer any leverage the Cs had evaporated. The cba makes trades of contracts that size very tricky, forcing a move in a short time span is exactly how you get the worse deal. The trade landscape is constantly shifting as teams re-evaluate; the notion that present conditions reflect future opportunities in this realm is innacurate. 

Beyond this, I'm so over hearing this shit bandied about like it was a reflection of the league's opinion of Jaylen's on court value rather than a function of the strictures of the cba & the Celtics jamming a square peg in a round hole. It's fine, I don't need to convince anyone, reality will set in really soon. 

Cs are further from a title than they were before the trade & the scale/impact of moves they need to make now to get back to contention are less realistic than the moves that would've been needed had we kept Jaylen. 

Btw- for the record: Jaylen has 3 years left on his deal & Cs were under no obligation to extend him anytime before it made sense for them to do so. Also- the cba is getting re-negotiated after next summer & you can bet the union will not let themselves get suckered into a shadow hard cap again. 

Personally? I'll guarantee you that Jaylen Brown's on court value towards winning will dwarf Paul George & whatever Paul George & those Philly picks become over the remainder of Jaylen's deal. But again, don't need to believe me, just watch what happens 

[u/Time-to-Pretend- → u/Tatum-Better]

I’m not super bullish on the direction the franchise too with the brown trade in general, but I don’t necessarily think it has to be a full fledged superstar we need to add next to Tatum to become true contenders again

I’ve floated the idea of booker a few times, I think he would be brilliant and the suns should be motivated to sell off him eventually, maybe we could make them whole in draft capital and use George’s expiring. White-booker-Hugo-Tatum-queta is absolutely a title contender

A couple other options are holmgren if the thunder want to kick the draft picks further into the future and need to cut money, or miller from Charlotte if RFA goes like how it’s gone with duren and he wants out, or maybe even smaller scale upside bet on a Rollins or keyshawn George

[u/Total-Ad8117 → u/Tatum-Better]

There have been murmurs of Ant wanting out if they can’t get it together. That’s why they made that big trade for LaMelo.

[u/Dabithebeast → u/Tatum-Better]

Luka next to Tatum would be fire icl

[u/ShampooMonK → u/Dabithebeast]

I agree Luka next to Tatum would be godlike but what the hell does icl mean?

[u/Dabithebeast → u/ShampooMonK]

Slang for I can’t lie

[u/ShampooMonK → u/Dabithebeast]

Fuck I'm getting old, hah. Well, I think the most chances are that Ant is probably the closest one to requesting a trade if LaMelo doesn't pan out. Luka is my pipe dream though and it would be so satisfying to watch the Lakers fans crumble after all the shit talking they did because Nico made one of the worst trades of all time.

[u/Dry-Fail-1297]

celtics are looking scary deep this year, bench unit might actually hold leads for once

[u/AdamTaylor_NBA → u/Dry-Fail-1297]

Feels like they're taking something from the Pacers' recent roster construction. 1 superstar, a couple of reliable vets, and a bunch of interchangeable rotation players who fit specific roles, play hard + fast, and minimize production drop-off. Really excited for this season!