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Saw the KD trade to Spurs for a bunch of spare parts.

Are we sure the best deal for both sides isn't

Spurs send: Fox and Keldon
Suns send: Durant

Spurs then draft Harper at #2, starter him next to Castle, Vassell, KD and Wemby.

Fox goes to Phoenix as the younger piece to pair with Booker and Keldon although overpaid would be a nice upgrade to the Suns lack of depth and maybe they can flip him in another deal at some point.

Kind of a waste to trade for Durant and play rookie contract guards. You window with Durant is one or two years, almost impossible to expect those guards to be ready to playing winning ball so early.

Risky for SA, Harper is hypothetical until proven otherwise.

I would assume *some of the allure for KD to play in SA is to play alongside Fox.

SA has plenty of options. They could acquire KD withOUT #2 being involved.

Yep some combo of Vassell/Keldon/Barnes is going to be the bulk of the matching. Then you start bickering about value. Keldon/Barnes is probably the sweet spot. Spurs likely believe Vassell still has it, just had a bad year. Suns don't need another SG. And Barnes and/or Keldon can easily be sent to other teams if the Suns don't want them, but they need frontcourt help so not necessary.

The problem on this board is the Spurs fans think they can just add pick 14 to that and call it a day and I can't see the Suns doing that. And the Suns fans think they are going to get a Giannis sized haul and I definitely don't see the Spurs doing that.

Which is a real shame they get to dominate the discussion because KD to SA just makes so much sense. And the Spurs have so many variety of assets and easy salary matching that we could put together a realistic deal. But nope both fanbases will just trash it as absurd. Rinse/Repeat about two dozen more times until he is finally dealt somewhere.

Fox wont resign in phoenix

Texas Chuck wrote:Yep some combo of Vassell/Keldon/Barnes is going to be the bulk of the matching. Then you start bickering about value. Keldon/Barnes is probably the sweet spot. Spurs likely believe Vassell still has it, just had a bad year. Suns don't need another SG. And Barnes and/or Keldon can easily be sent to other teams if the Suns don't want them, but they need frontcourt help so not necessary.

The problem on this board is the Spurs fans think they can just add pick 14 to that and call it a day and I can't see the Suns doing that. And the Suns fans think they are going to get a Giannis sized haul and I definitely don't see the Spurs doing that.

Which is a real shame they get to dominate the discussion because KD to SA just makes so much sense. And the Spurs have so many variety of assets and easy salary matching that we could put together a realistic deal. But nope both fanbases will just trash it as absurd. Rinse/Repeat about two dozen more times until he is finally dealt somewhere.

I find this to be an odd complaint. Leaving aside that fans of the involved teams are of course going to contribute most to the overall discourse, I think your assessment of the differing "sides" of the conversation to be pretty off. I don't think there's much debate about "value" at all. Like sure, I can believe no one is going to beat 14 that Durant wants to go to, and someone else could believe Durant is going to get four unprotected picks or whatever. But the general range of 14 and another one of the Spurs' pretty good picks is an offer competitive with anything anyone else is discussing.

This discourse gets bogged down in folks complaining about the value of the Spurs players, when the players they're complaining about don't need to be in the trade in the first place. Like if you don't like Vassell, then keep him out of the deal. If you don't think Sochan adds value, then don't include him. What breaks down discussion is to including them while trying to argue they have zero or negative value.

Barnes, Johnson, Branham and Wesley is enough salary to match Durant. Three expirings and Johnson's extra year at $17.5 Million. That's better for the Spurs, and it's better for the Suns. We don't have to waste time with dubious takes about Sochan's ability or lack thereof or another declaration of Devin being one of the worst contracts in the NBA. Or whatever. That discourse (which is often not initiated by Spurs or Suns fans) should be completely sidestepped.

I'd also argue that you're taking some Spurs fans not wanting Durant as them wanting him at a lower price tag. It's inserting RGM "value" into a discussion where it doesn't belong. If they think Durant is too old to be part of the building plan or believe he's a bad culture fit or whatever, that's a completely different discussion. I don't agree with them and have been very clear that Durant is my ideal target for this off-season. But it doesn't make sense to count the folks who do believe that as contributing to the value divide. Saying one is not interested in buying is not the same thing as one saying the cost is too high.

Godaddycurse wrote:Fox wont resign in phoenix

I don't want the Spurs to trade Fox, and I don't expect them to do so. But I find it odd how often folks default to this line when he's in a deal. Fox isn't Lebron. He's only going to have so much ability to pick his spot. He's not a prime superstar where teams are going to go into pick debt to clear the books for him.

Too much is bad of him wanting to be in SA. Part of that I think is folks trying to justify that his trade value wasn't a high as they thought. The reality is that the NBA may have very well jumped the shark when the Bridges trade happened. Teams can't trade four unprotected firsts, three swaps and more for guys anymore. It's a quick path to unsustainability. Two unprotected firsts, a moderately protected first and a raft of seconds is a lot. It was all the Spurs' extra assets. Yes, I believe Giannis would get more than that. He'll get the fully Monty in all likelihood. But I don't think guys two tiers below him will anymore.

So I don't think the insistence on San Antonio really mattered, especially because the Spurs were rumored to be trying to add other stars at the deadline. They may have just not had cap room in 2026 to sign him anyway. Without that specification, I think his value is about the same. In that same way, I don't think anyone should be worried about his demands this time around. Of course, there's little reason to trade for him if the goal isn't to win. But if a team is bringing him in explicitly trying to win games and is willing to give him a max contract, I don't think he'd have a problem staying on

Fox almost certainly made a handshake agreement with the Spurs before the trade.

Godaddycurse wrote:Fox wont resign in phoenix

Really? Doubt that very much.

HadAnEffectHere wrote:Fox almost certainly made a handshake agreement with the Spurs before the trade.

That's not in doubt. I think both sides want to extend, and I don't think a Harper selection alters that at all. I'm just saying that if he were to be traded, I don't think his threat to not re-sign would be a huge factor. In fact, I don't think he'd even make that threat at all. If he's so scorned by the idea of the Spurs drafting a young PG, then he'd be looking for validation more than anything else from his next team. A team that trades for him and is willing to back up a truck is likely to get his OK.

JMAC3 wrote:Saw the KD trade to Spurs for a bunch of spare parts.

Are we sure the best deal for both sides isn't

Spurs send: Fox and Keldon
Suns send: Durant

Spurs then draft Harper at #2, starter him next to Castle, Vassell, KD and Wemby.

Fox goes to Phoenix as the younger piece to pair with Booker and Keldon although overpaid would be a nice upgrade to the Suns lack of depth and maybe they can flip him in another deal at some point.

The Spurs aren't trading Fox, so this is dead on arrival.