Kevin Durant

[minimus]

Actually, I think that last news about KD means that the market for him is very small: read no team wants to trade good assets, inclusive MIN.

[TimberKat]

If that is what he wants, let's hope he end up in Miami.

[Rookie-Mistake]

If he wants the $$$. Then good. As much as I like the idea of him coming. That extension $$$ will.fk.us

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[younggunsmn]

KD sweepstakes over.

Saw that. Interesting that he chose Florida and Texas the two states that have no income tax. Guess he's happy with his ring count.

I don't think the money factors into KD not preferring us (plenty of other reasons), but the tax difference is no small thing.
That's a 2.5 to 3 million dollar difference per year between Minnesota and Florida or Texas when he pays our rate for all his home games here.
If only we could find a way to pay him completely in tips.
Maybe if Glen Taylor and Alex Rodriguez make nice and put their cheater brains together.

Hope the Durant pipedream is dead for good now and we can focus on remodeling the team around Ant.
Get some value out of Randle and Gobert before they both fall off the post-30 bigman cliff and replace them with some guys who can run and shoot.
See if another team still likes Divencenzo enough to give us something that fits better or a juicy draft prospect.

[Howard Cosell]

That’s too bad.

But as I said earlier in thread this will come down to what Durant wants and he doesn’t want another ring. He wants to go back home…which is fine.

Twolves have to move on from Durant.

[shrink]

What is the latest? All I see is Read on Twitter and sweepstake is over?

I have that same glitch - sometimes the site shows tweet or x, and sometimes it just says “read on Twitter.”

You can click on “read on Twitter” and go to the tweet.

[Slim Tubby]

I like KD even at his age but I'm glad we appear to be out of the running. I'd much rather see Connelly use our assets to target the best attainable PG.

I doubt BOS would move him but Derrick White would be the home run.

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[BlacJacMac]

I like KD even at his age but I'm glad we appear to be out of the running. I'd much rather see Connelly use our assets to target the best attainable PG.

I doubt BOS would move him but Derrick White would be the home run.

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Yeah, I don't see Boston wanting to give him up. They'll likely do whatever they can to dump Porzingis and Jrue - even it means attaching picks to do so.

[Loaf_of_bread]

Strange he would actually care about income tax. I make more money than I can spend, and my net worth is maybe 1/200th of his. To each their own.

[Danimals]

I like KD even at his age but I'm glad we appear to be out of the running. I'd much rather see Connelly use our assets to target the best attainable PG.

I doubt BOS would move him but Derrick White would be the home run.

Sent from my N152DL using RealGM mobile app

Yeah, I don't see Boston wanting to give him up. They'll likely do whatever they can to dump Porzingis and Jrue - even it means attaching picks to do so.

I’d love to trade Randle for Jrue and draft assets

[BlacJacMac]

I like KD even at his age but I'm glad we appear to be out of the running. I'd much rather see Connelly use our assets to target the best attainable PG.

I doubt BOS would move him but Derrick White would be the home run.

Sent from my N152DL using RealGM mobile app

Yeah, I don't see Boston wanting to give him up. They'll likely do whatever they can to dump Porzingis and Jrue - even it means attaching picks to do so.

I’d love to trade Randle for Jrue and draft assets

I don't want 3 years of Jrue at his salary. He looks close to being totally done on both ends.

[Neeva]

Strange he would actually care about income tax. I make more money than I can spend, and my net worth is maybe 1/200th of his. To each their own.

We don’t want him around Ant tbh. Durant is the type of rat that jumps ship before anyone else.

[Domejandro]

I will say that if Kevin Durant gets traded to Minnesota, you probably won't see much in the way of strong rumours prior to the news hitting. Both the Rudy Gobert and the Karl-Anthony Towns trades happened with little lead-up.

Tim Connelly's front office doesn't leak much, so it is kind of difficult to gauge what Minnesota is up to, other than the fact that they are aggressive.

[winforlose]

Acquiring KD when he wants to be here is bad enough. But getting him when he actively doesn’t want to be here is just fuc***g STUPID! Did TC learn nothing from dragging DDV here against his will. A one year KD rental is only good a idea for a team serious about winning a chip, and giving up assets to win the KD sweepstakes almost certainly jeopardizes our ability to get out of the first round, maybe even make the playoffs. I really hope this is all bluster to keep Ant happy, otherwise TC and his entire staff need to go.

[Klomp]

Acquiring KD when he wants to be here is bad enough. But getting him when he actively doesn’t want to be here is just fuc***g STUPID! Did TC learn nothing from dragging DDV here against his will. A one year KD rental is only good a idea for a team serious about winning a chip, and giving up assets to win the KD sweepstakes almost certainly jeopardizes our ability to get out of the first round, maybe even make the playoffs. I really hope this is all bluster to keep Ant happy, otherwise TC and his entire staff need to go.

Did he say he actively doesn't want to be here? Or just that we aren't his top preference?

Toronto wasn't Kawhi Leonard's top preference.

[winforlose]

Acquiring KD when he wants to be here is bad enough. But getting him when he actively doesn’t want to be here is just fuc***g STUPID! Did TC learn nothing from dragging DDV here against his will. A one year KD rental is only good a idea for a team serious about winning a chip, and giving up assets to win the KD sweepstakes almost certainly jeopardizes our ability to get out of the first round, maybe even make the playoffs. I really hope this is all bluster to keep Ant happy, otherwise TC and his entire staff need to go.

Did he say he actively doesn't want to be here? Or just that we aren't his top preference?

Toronto wasn't Kawhi Leonard's top preference.

Was Kawhi about to expire, going into his last contract, and about to make 120+ million over 2 years. We are not even comparing apples and oranges, we are comparing apples and elephants.

[Klomp]

Acquiring KD when he wants to be here is bad enough. But getting him when he actively doesn’t want to be here is just fuc***g STUPID! Did TC learn nothing from dragging DDV here against his will. A one year KD rental is only good a idea for a team serious about winning a chip, and giving up assets to win the KD sweepstakes almost certainly jeopardizes our ability to get out of the first round, maybe even make the playoffs. I really hope this is all bluster to keep Ant happy, otherwise TC and his entire staff need to go.

Did he say he actively doesn't want to be here? Or just that we aren't his top preference?

Toronto wasn't Kawhi Leonard's top preference.

Was Kawhi about to expire, going into his last contract, and about to make 120+ million over 2 years. We are not even comparing apples and oranges, we are comparing apples and elephants.

Yes. Kawhi was entering his last year. Not 120 million, but max money at that time.

[winforlose]

Did he say he actively doesn't want to be here? Or just that we aren't his top preference?

Toronto wasn't Kawhi Leonard's top preference.

Was Kawhi about to expire, going into his last contract, and about to make 120+ million over 2 years. We are not even comparing apples and oranges, we are comparing apples and elephants.

Yes. Kawhi was entering his last year. Not 120 million, but max money at that time.

1. Leonard was a rookie max.

2. The Raptors were better positioned to win a chip in a one and done rental. We lack roster balance and will have no way to acquire it.

3. After losing Kawhi the Raptors went on a down swing.

4. The Raptors seemed to want to be rid of DDR. By contrast we would be damaging locker room chemistry to inject a locker room cancer.

5. The market for KD is too hot to acquire him without overpaying. Especially now that Bane commanded a haul. Trading for a one year rental of KD was a terrible idea when done cheaply, now you are looking at giving away key assets necessary for Ant’s prime. This is beyond dumb.

[BlacJacMac]

Acquiring KD when he wants to be here is bad enough. But getting him when he actively doesn’t want to be here is just fuc***g STUPID! Did TC learn nothing from dragging DDV here against his will. A one year KD rental is only good a idea for a team serious about winning a chip, and giving up assets to win the KD sweepstakes almost certainly jeopardizes our ability to get out of the first round, maybe even make the playoffs. I really hope this is all bluster to keep Ant happy, otherwise TC and his entire staff need to go.

Did he say he actively doesn't want to be here? Or just that we aren't his top preference?

Toronto wasn't Kawhi Leonard's top preference.

He didn’t say specifically that he wouldn’t go where he’s traded. Just that he would only extend for 3 teams:

The Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets are 15-time All-Star Kevin Durant's preferred trade destinations out of Phoenix, sources tell ESPN. Those across the NBA have been made aware in recent days that those are the three teams that Durant would commit to long-term.

[Domejandro]

Was Kawhi about to expire, going into his last contract, and about to make 120+ million over 2 years. We are not even comparing apples and oranges, we are comparing apples and elephants.

Yes. Kawhi was entering his last year. Not 120 million, but max money at that time.

1. Leonard was a rookie max.

2. The Raptors were better positioned to win a chip in a one and done rental. We lack roster balance and will have no way to acquire it.

3. After losing Kawhi the Raptors went on a down swing.

4. The Raptors seemed to want to be rid of DDR. By contrast we would be damaging locker room chemistry to inject a locker room cancer.

5. The market for KD is too hot to acquire him without overpaying. Especially now that Bane commanded a haul. Trading for a one year rental of KD was a terrible idea when done cheaply, now you are looking at giving away key assets necessary for Ant’s prime. This is beyond dumb.

Kawhi Leonard was coming off a season where he was functionally injured for the entirety of it (he played nine games in the middle of the season, missing the last 38 games), was publicly clashing with the front office and coaching staff (the Spurs cleared him to play and he flew to New York to not be cleared by his own medical team), and it got so ugly that players-only meetings were conducted where they were begging him to come back and play. It was an extremely ugly situation where he was viewed as a malcontent, there was uncertainty about him returning to form, and he was very clear about the fact that he would not be resigning with any team that traded for him outside of Los Angeles.

Prior to getting Kawhi Leonard, the Toronto Raptors were coming off of a 59 win season where they were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round. DeMar DeRozan was coming off of a season where he was eighth in MVP voting and Second Team All-NBA, averaging 23/4/5 on 46/31/83 splits. At this point, he was a perennial All-Star, and was beloved by the fanbase. Jakob Poeltl had a solid second season, giving Toronto strong back-up Center minutes. Toronto also kicked in a lightly protected First Round Draft Pick.

I'm sorry, but none of the proposed Minnesota packages exceed (or really match) what Toronto gave up and the risk was significantly higher for them when they made that trade. There was a real fear that Kawhi Leonard would play part of the season, not be fully healthy, and shut himself down like he did the year prior.

As a quick note: The Desmond Bane trade has absolutely zero impact on Kevin Durant's value. It's a RealGM trope to believe that, but the isn't how professional NBA squads analyze trade value, the context of the situations are totally different.