Monkey Moves

After back-to-back Toilet Bowl wins, we figured CHMK was headed into the playoffs and wouldn’t see the loser’s bracket for some time. Instead, in a season that will likely require fringe playoff teams to be at least one game above 0.500, the 8-7-1 Monkeys were determined to be mere playoff hopefuls.

So instead of waiting around to see how the regular season would play out, GM Evan went to work and reshaped his roster for the future, dumping half his 2024 keeper core—and all his Jalens—and using his depth to consolidate into two future-Hall of Famers. Maybe.

With two trades, CHMK moved Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Jalen Williams, Jalen Johnson, rookie Keyonte George, and Jalen Duren in exchange for Anthony Edwards and Alperen Sengun. The new core for CHMK will be Edwards, Jamal Murray, rookie 2024 RD1.3 Amen Thompson (finally showing some signs of life), Sengun, Bam Adebayo, and Evan Mobley.

Murray and Adebayo are the youthful veterans, at twenty-seven years old each, while the rest of this roster is all under twenty-three. Insiders told us that CHMK’s primary goal was the acquire a top-ten player and Edwards will likely fit the bill. Rumors had Adebayo being heavily pursued but with CHMK retaining him, this must be considered a win-win that the defensive stalwart was kept.

The drafting and scouting team for CHMK must be commended here, as they have unearthed gems left and right over the past few seasons. Don’t forget that they also engaged in a three-for-one pre-draft to acquire Jamal Murray—sending off Nic Claxton, Jabari Smith Jr., and Jordan Poole. All in all, that’s nine players for three keepers, and all of those nine were good players! If CHMK can’t make the playoffs next season, something is going on we may need to create some CHMK rule to stop this monkey menace.

Let’s look at how the other teams made out in the deals as well. For SWMP, moving off Sengun was a bit of a surprise. Drafted as a rookie by Eddie back in 2022 (RD1.15), Sengun has slowly matured into baby-Jokic. We thought SWMP’s Houston roots would make Sengun stick around for awhile. However, with a frontcourt that already featured the real Nikola Jokic, perhaps it was time to move on. Getting Jalen Williams as the Paul George heir apparent is pretty great, and Johnson and George have both been very promising this season. (Williams and Johnson are actually both older than Sengun, who is a mere 21.6 years old—Williams is 22.9 while Johnson is 22.2.) This does leave Zach LaVine out in the cold however, and GM Eddie is already shopping him—or Bradley Beal—around. With a very deep roster, this move could also be interpreted as SWMP's push for a title, as they are 10-6 and just outside of the championship favorites.

As for BUFF, moving off their only successful early draft pick of the past five years was similarly surprising. GM Roger has usually skewed toward veterans during their drafts, with their past ten RD1/RD2 picks being: Russell Westbrook, Jordan Clarkson (2024), Collin Sexton, Tobias Harris (2023), Spencer Dinwiddie, Jakob Poeltl (2022), Anthony Edwards, Blake Griffin (2021), De’Andre Hunter, Paul Millsap (2020). Note: Hunter was a rookie at the time. Only one of those players became keepers the following year: Edwards in 2021, who was a steal at RD1.6. The five picks before Edwards was: LaMelo Ball, James Wiseman, Killian Hayes, Tyrese Haliburton, and Deni Avdija. The now 22.5 year old Edwards could have a decade of greatness ahead of him.

However, with a keeper roster that started off with Dinwiddie and Klay Thompson this season, getting a three-for-one made sense for BUFF, even at the cost of Edwards. Brunson and Bridges are both 27.5 and All-Star quality, while Jalen Duren keeps flashing impressive talent. The trade with CHMK adds up to a much better keeper core for BUFF—along with Brandon Ingram, Domantas Sabonis, and Kyle Kuzma. Now likely headed into the playoffs, it’s exciting to see 10-6 BUFF make a push for a longer playoff run, where they haven’t been since 2021.