If Fears didn't re-class/ enter the draft we take him top 3 next year.

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He is not a top 3 player in the 2026 draft

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And how far away from top 3 would he be considering getting drafted #7 and projected as high as #4/#5 as a senior in highschool?

He is referring to Fears

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fears would not go top 3 in 2026

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I don't think it's outrageous to say he would. He is ranked 3-6 in most every updated rookie ranking. I think it's safe to say he wouldn't go top 2, but he would certainly be in the discussion for 3. A team would 100% be fine taking a top 5 rookie from the previous class at 3.

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This year's draft class is considered very strong.

Ask yourself this: would any NBA team trade a top five pick for Fears right now? No chance.

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I think a team certainly would consider it, especially if we're taking team need out of the equation. The top two are pretty much set and for sure a team wouldn't do that. But it would be pretty ridiculous to think just because it's supposed to be a deep draft that the top 5 picks are all going to be hits, seeing as that literally never happens. A kid that just turned 19 that was a top 7 pick that appears to be one of the best in the class is certainly someone a team would trade for.

If Fears was on a different team and the Pels had the #5 pick next year and Fears kept this up and/or improves the rest of the season, I'd ship that #5 pick off for sure.

It's so hard to tell how college players will translate to the NBA so when you do have a rookie who so far game seems to translate well you put more value in him than an unknown of a future lottery pick. Just look at the 2019 draft for example which was supposed to be a strong draft also, at this time of the college season would any time have traded a top 5 pick for rookie SGA.

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Maybe top 5. I don't think many GMs would take him over Peterson, Dybantsa, Boozer, or Caleb Wilson, but there's a conversation to be had at pick 5.

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Alright I'll accept these terms. If he would be considered a strong candidate at #5 and also a player of interest for teams picking #3-#4 then that should shutdown all the ridiculous takes of how lopsided this trade was at worst. At best it justifies the trade as a success.

Do y'all know how lucky we are to have Fears who could end up around Top 5 b2b drafts instead of being a Kira, Hayes, etc???

And Queen who we drafted at #13 and playing like Top 5 instead of a mid 20's rd pick?

We have (2) lottery picks with an avg draft pick of #10 that are playing closer to an average of #5.

Take a win as a win.

Exactly. Shouldn't even have overplayed it. Rather didn't have too. Nobody was looking at Queen as the second coming. Only in Dumars world do you give up an unprotected pick with our teams winning history for that kind of package. Anybody else and we'd have Queen, Fears, and at least a top 4 pick next year plus the Pacers pick as well. Had me thinking Hawks had him by the balls or something and he didn't have a choice. Turns out this mf didn't even bother haggling before hand. Just didn't do his due diligence like we have capital just to throw around like its Monopoly money. Worst part about is anybody on this board wouldve done the opposite which shows you just how inept he is and that it can only get worse from here on out. I'd like to see how he handles the Zion situation and what he does with Herb/Trey.