John Collins Negotiations

“Kevin, how it’s going?” Landry Fields, Hawks GM, says when he answers your call.

“I’m good. I wanted to see what your thoughts were on making a deal for John Collins,” you say.

“Well, you don’t waste any time. We’re open to moving him. What are you thinking?” Fields replies.

“How about Celtics 1st and Jalen Smith or Goga Bitadze as a baseline?”

“I’d much rather have your own 2023 pick and I’m not all that interested in Smith or Goga. How about your pick and Andrew Nembhard?”

“Nembhard and our pick are off the table. I’ll include Chris Duarte. But instead of the our pick how about Cavaliers pick and the Houston 2023 second? You’d have to take on Daniel Theis and Goga Bitadze or Jalen Smith to make the deal work.”

“Rather have the one year left of Goga right now. Alright, so that makes it: Chris Duarte, 2023 Cavaliers first, 2023 Houston second, Goga Bitadze and Daniel Theis for John Collins? That Houston pick has weird protections on it, no?”

“Yes, the protections on that Houston second make my head spin but it becomes either Miami or Dallas second if Houston pick doesn’t fall to 31 or 32.”

“Okay … it’s a deal.”

Accept.

Decline and back out.