Taking His Talents...

In the biggest trade since, well, maybe since when LeBron James was last traded, vacationing cousins Evan and Eddie got into a league shaking deal that will have huge reverberations for the SlamNation. Citing a need to take down the stacked Sour Snails franchise, Evan moved all-in to bring in The King. After making the playoffs last year at 10-8-1, Chunky Monkeys now looks like a whole new team -- we declared them “the most balanced team” in a 2014 article.

Even in slight decline, LBJ averaged 25.3 PTS, 6.0 REB, 7.4 AST, 1.7 3PT, 1.6 STL, and 48.8 FG% last season. While those numbers aren’t likely to increase, they certainly are still top five fantasy worthy. And James won’t even be the best fantasy asset on his team (arguably). He’ll team with James Harden as an unstoppable one-two punch that will basically make the Monkeys instant contenders. Wowza!

Evan already had two fine keeper point guards in Jeff Teague and Goran Dragic, and adding Kyle Lowry to the mix makes them even deadlier. Lowry is a fantasy beast himself, with averages of 17.8 PTS, 6.8 AST, 4.7 REB, 1.9 3PT, 1.6 STL last season. If any backcourt could match up with the awesomeness that Sour Snails has assembled, it’s the new look Monkeys. Who’s excited to see this matchup play out over the season? We love bold moves and none get bolder than trading for LeBron James!

• ID#58: Chunky Monkeys receive Lebron James, Kyle Lowry and NJ All-Stars 2017 RD2, 2018 RD2 in exchange for Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Nikola Mirotic, Chunky Monkeys 2017 RD1, 2018 RD1

Of course, the cost to acquire LBJ was very high. Since entering the league in 2012, all Eddie has done is go 43-26, with one Finals appearance and two Thundercats division titles. Before falling to 6-13 last season (partly based on losing Paul George), NJ All-Stars was undoubtedly the ruling team in the Russell Conference.

And now they’ll gain the #1 and #2 overall picks from the 2015 draft class: Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker. If you’ll recall, Evan won the rights to both by double winning the 2014 Toilet Bowl so it comes as a bit of a shock to see both of them shipped out. Parker kind of had a lost rookie season with his injury but flashed enough scoring prowess to justify his draft position. As for Wiggins, he got a ton of minutes and shots, and ended 2015 averaging 16.9 PTS, 4.6 REB, 2.1 AST, and plenty of franchise potential. And let’s not forget that fellow rookie Nikola Mirotic was part of this deal too, as sweet shooting big man challenged Wiggins for Rookie of the Year honors.

In terms of getting value for LeBron James, this was a heck of a haul. With Paul George returned to full health (hopefully), as well as contract happy Reggie Jackson and Tobias Harris on-board, NJ All-Stars is ready to jostle for contender status again, this time with an even brighter future.

With how good Chunky Monkeys and NJ All-Stars look on paper, we don’t expect the early round draft choices that were exchanged to be very high ones, but perhaps they could be of value down the road if one of these teams suffers a huge let down... All in all, it was crazy of have a mega-mega-super-mega trade at the keeper deadline and we’re delighted that someone is loading up to take on the insane team that our defending champs are carrying over.