My guess is a young, cost-controlled player with upside and a pick. They already passed on extending him. This version of Lonzo can help a decent amount of teams but clearly the fit will vary.
With as bad as NO needs shooting, they'd might bite on Nesmith. The "couple of 2nd round picks" thing is definitely not the asking price. I'm not sure what I'd move for Ball since I'm not sure how long he'd stick around. If he really can hit the 3 at a .370 clip on 7.5-8.0 3PA/36, he's pretty close to a perfect 3rd piece to pair with the Jays long term. The perfect piece would be his brother. It's somewhat of a big if, but Lonzo's 3 point sample size is getting sizeable. If he's a .370 shooter from 3, you can also play him with Marcus Smart. A Ball/Smart/Brown/Tatum/TL lineup would be something else to watch. I'm not convinced he's going to be even an average 3 point shooter though (which is what .370 is, really) so I'd really only be on board with him as a Marcus Smart replacement. Ideally, Ball would improve on that .370 but with everything else he offers, he can get by on average 3 point shooting on very heavy volume, probably even offers value doing so.
Plus there would be something extra rewarding if Ball was the piece that put the C's over the hump and lead to multiple titles. Ex Laker and all.
Anyone have any idea what kind of offers Ball will get long term? If the C's did acquire him, how likely is it the C's match any offer sheet?
If NO really is looking to move Ball, I think the time to strike would be now too. His value might be a little high, but if he continues to hit 3s at the current rate and volume, his value is only going to go up, up, up. Maybe to the point NO decides they'll offer any offer sheet. I guess you could gamble his 3 point percentage caters... but is that even a player you want? That could be more reason to wait. It's interesting.
I'm not really for Ball but I could easily talk myself into him if that's the direction the C's go. It may even be the right direction. I see the fit, it just all depends on the shot.