Fall out from the Kevin Durant trade

[basketballRob]

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Man, Durant with some bad blood there. Or diva level ish...

Durant has been known to read message boards.

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[yoyojw17]

Wouldn't be surprised if they are excited to pick up a Derik Queen or Khaman Maluach at #10.

[msmoore66]

Suns did great out of that deal considering they could’ve lost the 38 year old Durant for nothing in a season’s time.

Brooks is underrated as someone who’s going to help keep the team competitive.

If they keep Green he’s good for 20ppg. If they want to move him they can probably get a decent return for him.

That #10 pick could be moved for ready-now talent, or maybe they pick someone like Sorber and come away with a late lottery steal?

None of those pieces match Durant’s overall talent. But his individual talent has only ever taken teams so far, and he’s 37 now. He could give Houston the perfect edge to put them over the top but that’s a very short window to maximise.

Yeah its a solid trade IMO.

Most of the pieces have good upside.

Just don't like the Brooks part, he is disgusting and any team that has him is doomed. To trade for him is self destructive. That said, Houston are a lot more appealing to watch now.

[Bensational]

Just don't like the Brooks part, he is disgusting and any team that has him is doomed. To trade for him is self destructive. That said, Houston are a lot more appealing to watch now.

Haha, yeah, he’s a professional irritant but also good at inspiring that chippy kind of defensive mentality we saw in both Memphis and Houston while he was there. I like his potential for actually helping Phoenix improve quickly.

[msmoore66]

Just don't like the Brooks part, he is disgusting and any team that has him is doomed. To trade for him is self destructive. That said, Houston are a lot more appealing to watch now.

Haha, yeah, he’s a professional irritant but also good at inspiring that chippy kind of defensive mentality we saw in both Memphis and Houston while he was there. I like his potential for actually helping Phoenix improve quickly.

Yeah in all seriousness, he is a great piece if they are wanting to avoid too drastic a fall off. As much as his rep is built off his mentality and chippiness, I also recall him making some pretty big shots at times.

[pepe1991]

Kevin Durant during 24-25 season was top 10-12 best player in nba, and top 5 in high usage vs efficiency range.

J. Green is talented but well passed wishful thinking he can figure out and be more than Lavine- type of stat padding -zero impact guy.

10th pick wasn't even Rockets pick but pick they got off Nets.

5 second round picks equal nothing.

Brooks is okey. Solid glue guy, but undersized SF.


Suns will suck, it's sinking ship.

They now have 3 players on highest payroll playing same position. Non of them can defend well on consistent bases.

Grizzlies can already start licking chops.

Suns pick, short of lottery ball luck, wont be a top-10 pick.

They were 9th worst this year. Without Durant they went 3-17.

Spurs, Blazers will surpass them, they won't surpass anybody above them. Basically, at best, they are 12th best team on West.

Their depth chart is hilarious

PG: Booker (6'6)/ - nobody
SG: J. Green (6'4) / Beal (6'3) / Booker /Allen (6'3)
SF: Brooks (6'5) / Cody Martin (6'5) / Little (6'5) / Dunn (6'6)
PF: O'neal (6'4) / - nobody
C: Nick Richards (7'0) - / Nobody

They literally have half of PG, 1 center who averages 30 games a year and not a single person taller than 6'6 but that one, always hurt C.
They are still capped out and only players they can sign are vet minimum guys.

Even entertaining idea of winning above 35 wins is silly. They have no defense and on offense they will need to 3 balls for all their shooting guards who refuse to play off ball ( or in Beal's case, refuse to even play serious basketball ).
This year they were healthy ( Durant 62, Booker 75, O'neal 75, Allen 64 , Plumlee 74 games played ) and still sucked.

They are simply screwed. They changed KD , their best player by wide margin for Jelen Green, who is on his best day still net-negative player all around.

They are on West. West's 10th ranked team ( Dallas) , healthy, is better than like 12 teams from East. Suns can't compete with that. Suns, from some roster POV , aren't even better than Hawks or Bulls who failed to make playoffs on East.


They are this decade version of Billy King - Nets. Once you deplete team out of all first round picks and come to realization your team isn't good enough to win title, throat deep in luxury tax, going out of that mess is impossible as team gets worst every year. It's 3-4-5 years "pretend to be dead" process. Suns now have to pretend to be dead until 2031. Their best bet is to trade out Booker and hope picks they collect age well. They aren't getting own picks back. But there simply isn't quick way out of this for them.


From Bane's POV, Grizzlies best bets for great haul off those picks are:
1) Suns pick ( for all the reasons above)
2) pick swap in 2029 and unprotected 30 pick. Because shelf life of contending in NBA is shorter than ever as teams fall off cliff in 3-4 years. 9/16 teams that were in playoffs in 2022 were in lottery this year.

[Audi]

From Bane's POV, Grizzlies best bets for great haul off those picks are:
1) Suns pick ( for all the reasons above)
2) pick swap in 2029 and unprotected 30 pick. Because shelf life of contending in NBA is shorter than ever as teams fall off cliff in 3-4 years. 9/16 teams that were in playoffs in 2022 were in lottery this year.

2 is irrelevant stat to us. How many of those teams fell off the cliff with their two top options just starting their early prime years by that 3-4 yr mark? Lots of these teams make playoff pushes with rosters full of ring chasing vets and then fizzle out. Makes sense. But that’s not this team.

[pepe1991]

From Bane's POV, Grizzlies best bets for great haul off those picks are:
1) Suns pick ( for all the reasons above)
2) pick swap in 2029 and unprotected 30 pick. Because shelf life of contending in NBA is shorter than ever as teams fall off cliff in 3-4 years. 9/16 teams that were in playoffs in 2022 were in lottery this year.

2 is irrelevant stat to us. How many of those teams fell off the cliff with their two top options just starting their early prime years by that 3-4 yr mark? Lots of these teams make playoff pushes with rosters full of ring chasing vets and then fizzle out. Makes sense. But that’s not this team.

Ehh.

76ers - Maxey 21, Embiid 27
Raptors - oldest starter 27, Barnes (20), Trent (23), Siakam (27), Vleet (27), OG (24)
Bulls- out of 10 rotation players, 5 were under age of 25. Only three were older than 27.
Suns- 4 /5 starters younger than 26. Won 64 games. Look where they are now.
Pelicans- very, very young roster, played whole year without Zion

This is just 3 years time frame, feels like it happened 10 years ago, not 3.

Pacers and OKC weren't even in playoffs two years ago.
Raises and falls are now on x10 speed compared to traditional nba and previous decades.

I'm just pointing out what Grizzlies are banking on. Suns pick will be juicy and 4 years from now half of a current team, including at least 1 star won't be in Orlando. That's just reality of modern nba. It's not like Magic know something others don't. Less asset you have, and more you aim for tittle, path toward title becomes more narrow and you lose wiggle room to a point where you need to trade out stars to get new,better fitting stars if you want to win.

If OKC failed this year, Chet or /and J will + army of picks would probably be gone for Giannis. That's just how modern nba works.

All those contending or wannabe contending teams at one point had s*** load of young players and assets, until they had non, in very short time span. Week ago Magic had 7 first round picks in next 6 drafts. Now they have 25th pick, burden of pick swapping and one "loose" pick that they can't trade due Stepien rule ( Tnx Ted ).

[tiderulz]

Kevin Durant during 24-25 season was top 10-12 best player in nba, and top 5 in high usage vs efficiency range.

J. Green is talented but well passed wishful thinking he can figure out and be more than Lavine- type of stat padding -zero impact guy.

10th pick wasn't even Rockets pick but pick they got off Nets.

5 second round picks equal nothing.

Brooks is okey. Solid glue guy, but undersized SF.


Suns will suck, it's sinking ship.

They now have 3 players on highest payroll playing same position. Non of them can defend well on consistent bases.

Grizzlies can already start licking chops.

Suns pick, short of lottery ball luck, wont be a top-10 pick.

They were 9th worst this year. Without Durant they went 3-17.

Spurs, Blazers will surpass them, they won't surpass anybody above them. Basically, at best, they are 12th best team on West.

Their depth chart is hilarious

PG: Booker (6'6)/ - nobody
SG: J. Green (6'4) / Beal (6'3) / Booker /Allen (6'3)
SF: Brooks (6'5) / Cody Martin (6'5) / Little (6'5) / Dunn (6'6)
PF: O'neal (6'4) / - nobody
C: Nick Richards (7'0) - / Nobody

They literally have half of PG, 1 center who averages 30 games a year and not a single person taller than 6'6 but that one, always hurt C.
They are still capped out and only players they can sign are vet minimum guys.

Even entertaining idea of winning above 35 wins is silly. They have no defense and on offense they will need to 3 balls for all their shooting guards who refuse to play off ball ( or in Beal's case, refuse to even play serious basketball ).
This year they were healthy ( Durant 62, Booker 75, O'neal 75, Allen 64 , Plumlee 74 games played ) and still sucked.

They are simply screwed. They changed KD , their best player by wide margin for Jelen Green, who is on his best day still net-negative player all around.

They are on West. West's 10th ranked team ( Dallas) , healthy, is better than like 12 teams from East. Suns can't compete with that. Suns, from some roster POV , aren't even better than Hawks or Bulls who failed to make playoffs on East.


They are this decade version of Billy King - Nets. Once you deplete team out of all first round picks and come to realization your team isn't good enough to win title, throat deep in luxury tax, going out of that mess is impossible as team gets worst every year. It's 3-4-5 years "pretend to be dead" process. Suns now have to pretend to be dead until 2031. Their best bet is to trade out Booker and hope picks they collect age well. They aren't getting own picks back. But there simply isn't quick way out of this for them.


From Bane's POV, Grizzlies best bets for great haul off those picks are:
1) Suns pick ( for all the reasons above)
2) pick swap in 2029 and unprotected 30 pick. Because shelf life of contending in NBA is shorter than ever as teams fall off cliff in 3-4 years. 9/16 teams that were in playoffs in 2022 were in lottery this year.

PHX isnt done making moves. And they arent going to tank as they have no incentive too. So they will field a team that wont compete for a title but wont compete for the #1 pick either.

[Skybox]

Just don't like the Brooks part, he is disgusting and any team that has him is doomed. To trade for him is self destructive. That said, Houston are a lot more appealing to watch now.

Haha, yeah, he’s a professional irritant but also good at inspiring that chippy kind of defensive mentality we saw in both Memphis and Houston while he was there. I like his potential for actually helping Phoenix improve quickly.

Yeah in all seriousness, he is a great piece if they are wanting to avoid too drastic a fall off. As much as his rep is built off his mentality and chippiness, I also recall him making some pretty big shots at times.

I agree…he’s a jerk but he’s one of those guys that teams value as “OUR jerk”

Honestly, followers of Moe might classify him in a similar way. Rodman being the ultimate example…Jordan hated him enough that he knew he needed one of his own.

[pepe1991]

Suns pick, short of lottery ball luck, wont be a top-10 pick.

They were 9th worst this year. Without Durant they went 3-17.

Spurs, Blazers will surpass them, they won't surpass anybody above them. Basically, at best, they are 12th best team on West.

Their depth chart is hilarious

PG: Booker (6'6)/ - nobody
SG: J. Green (6'4) / Beal (6'3) / Booker /Allen (6'3)
SF: Brooks (6'5) / Cody Martin (6'5) / Little (6'5) / Dunn (6'6)
PF: O'neal (6'4) / - nobody
C: Nick Richards (7'0) - / Nobody

They literally have half of PG, 1 center who averages 30 games a year and not a single person taller than 6'6 but that one, always hurt C.
They are still capped out and only players they can sign are vet minimum guys.

Even entertaining idea of winning above 35 wins is silly. They have no defense and on offense they will need to 3 balls for all their shooting guards who refuse to play off ball ( or in Beal's case, refuse to even play serious basketball ).
This year they were healthy ( Durant 62, Booker 75, O'neal 75, Allen 64 , Plumlee 74 games played ) and still sucked.

They are simply screwed. They changed KD , their best player by wide margin for Jelen Green, who is on his best day still net-negative player all around.

They are on West. West's 10th ranked team ( Dallas) , healthy, is better than like 12 teams from East. Suns can't compete with that. Suns, from some roster POV , aren't even better than Hawks or Bulls who failed to make playoffs on East.


They are this decade version of Billy King - Nets. Once you deplete team out of all first round picks and come to realization your team isn't good enough to win title, throat deep in luxury tax, going out of that mess is impossible as team gets worst every year. It's 3-4-5 years "pretend to be dead" process. Suns now have to pretend to be dead until 2031. Their best bet is to trade out Booker and hope picks they collect age well. They aren't getting own picks back. But there simply isn't quick way out of this for them.


From Bane's POV, Grizzlies best bets for great haul off those picks are:
1) Suns pick ( for all the reasons above)
2) pick swap in 2029 and unprotected 30 pick. Because shelf life of contending in NBA is shorter than ever as teams fall off cliff in 3-4 years. 9/16 teams that were in playoffs in 2022 were in lottery this year.

PHX isnt done making moves. And they arent going to tank as they have no incentive too. So they will field a team that wont compete for a title but wont compete for the #1 pick either.

I'm not sure that you fully understand how dire their situation is.

They are still second apron team witch means they can't:
-aggregate salary in trades
- be part of sign& trade
- use cash nor trade exceptions in trades
- can't use MLE
- Beal still has no trade clause

Their pretty much only tradable assets are, without trading Booker ( any Booker trade = complete tear down and 20 wins season)
Brooks $22M is overpaid for what he is ( i guess has some value)
J. Green- $33M for onedimensional chucker, good luck with that
Royce O'neal (6'4 PF age 32), Grayson Allen and Cody Martin.

That's it, they have some guy named Oso, Ryan Dunn and Richards and literally that's their entire roster.


They are $55M over cap,before draft, tied into those 9 men. $140M tied into J.Green- Booker and Beal.


You keep saying they won't tank. They didn't even tank last year and only won 36 games, with Durant and healthy Booker.

They couldn't even peal away Jabari or Tari from Houston.

There is just so little you can do when your only tradable assets are 5-6 not so great men and one pick in next 7 years, and you deal with all the above mentioned restrictions.

Their best move would be dumpoff of Beal in Nets salary. But ofc, neither will Beal accept it nor Nets have any reasons why would they do it without compensation.

And let's not even go in depth chart of Suns today.
6/9 men on roster are shooting guards

If you ask me, there is bigger chance that Wizards will win 35 games than Suns.

[tiderulz]

They were 9th worst this year. Without Durant they went 3-17.

Spurs, Blazers will surpass them, they won't surpass anybody above them. Basically, at best, they are 12th best team on West.

Their depth chart is hilarious

PG: Booker (6'6)/ - nobody
SG: J. Green (6'4) / Beal (6'3) / Booker /Allen (6'3)
SF: Brooks (6'5) / Cody Martin (6'5) / Little (6'5) / Dunn (6'6)
PF: O'neal (6'4) / - nobody
C: Nick Richards (7'0) - / Nobody

They literally have half of PG, 1 center who averages 30 games a year and not a single person taller than 6'6 but that one, always hurt C.
They are still capped out and only players they can sign are vet minimum guys.

Even entertaining idea of winning above 35 wins is silly. They have no defense and on offense they will need to 3 balls for all their shooting guards who refuse to play off ball ( or in Beal's case, refuse to even play serious basketball ).
This year they were healthy ( Durant 62, Booker 75, O'neal 75, Allen 64 , Plumlee 74 games played ) and still sucked.

They are simply screwed. They changed KD , their best player by wide margin for Jelen Green, who is on his best day still net-negative player all around.

They are on West. West's 10th ranked team ( Dallas) , healthy, is better than like 12 teams from East. Suns can't compete with that. Suns, from some roster POV , aren't even better than Hawks or Bulls who failed to make playoffs on East.


They are this decade version of Billy King - Nets. Once you deplete team out of all first round picks and come to realization your team isn't good enough to win title, throat deep in luxury tax, going out of that mess is impossible as team gets worst every year. It's 3-4-5 years "pretend to be dead" process. Suns now have to pretend to be dead until 2031. Their best bet is to trade out Booker and hope picks they collect age well. They aren't getting own picks back. But there simply isn't quick way out of this for them.


From Bane's POV, Grizzlies best bets for great haul off those picks are:
1) Suns pick ( for all the reasons above)
2) pick swap in 2029 and unprotected 30 pick. Because shelf life of contending in NBA is shorter than ever as teams fall off cliff in 3-4 years. 9/16 teams that were in playoffs in 2022 were in lottery this year.

PHX isnt done making moves. And they arent going to tank as they have no incentive too. So they will field a team that wont compete for a title but wont compete for the #1 pick either.

I'm not sure that you fully understand how dire their situation is.

They are still second apron team witch means they can't:
-aggregate salary in trades
- be part of sign& trade
- use cash nor trade exceptions in trades
- can't use MLE
- Beal still has no trade clause

Their pretty much only tradable assets are, without trading Booker ( any Booker trade = complete tear down and 20 wins season)
Brooks $22M is overpaid for what he is ( i guess has some value)
J. Green- $33M for onedimensional chucker, good luck with that
Royce O'neal (6'4 PF age 32), Grayson Allen and Cody Martin.

That's it, they have some guy named Oso, Ryan Dunn and Richards and literally that's their entire roster.


They are $55M over cap,before draft, tied into those 9 men. $140M tied into J.Green- Booker and Beal.


You keep saying they won't tank. They didn't even tank last year and only won 36 games, with Durant and healthy Booker.

They couldn't even peal away Jabari or Tari from Houston.

There is just so little you can do when your only tradable assets are 5-6 not so great men and one pick in next 7 years, and you deal with all the above mentioned restrictions.

Their best move would be dumpoff of Beal in Nets salary. But ofc, neither will Beal accept it nor Nets have any reasons why would they do it without compensation.

And let's not even go in depth chart of Suns today.
6/9 men on roster are shooting guards

If you ask me, there is bigger chance that Wizards will win 35 games than Suns.

and Bradley Beal was hurt a lot, Durant was missing games, and the roster just didnt make sense. And i havent forgotten that 6 players are SG's, but again, the season doesnt start tomorrow, PHX isnt done making roster moves. I'm not going to sit here and rain doom and gloom until I see what the finished product looks like. until we see what that pick looks like, still love the trade for Orlando

[pepe1991]

You can love a trade, that doesn't mean Suns can build anything, day after they traded out top 10 player for bunch of overpaid bench players.

They got 10th pick, not sure what they can do with it, but truth is : their current roster is complete mess and they don't have flexibility ( salary, assets, picks) to fix things up over summer.

Doesn't help their case that they are on West.

[JBSouthpaw]

Just don't like the Brooks part, he is disgusting and any team that has him is doomed. To trade for him is self destructive. That said, Houston are a lot more appealing to watch now.

Haha, yeah, he’s a professional irritant but also good at inspiring that chippy kind of defensive mentality we saw in both Memphis and Houston while he was there. I like his potential for actually helping Phoenix improve quickly.

Yeah in all seriousness, he is a great piece if they are wanting to avoid too drastic a fall off. As much as his rep is built off his mentality and chippiness, I also recall him making some pretty big shots at times.

He's the piece I think PHX moves, I could see a few teams wanting him.

[jonbob17]

If Beal is bought out, I'd be interested.

https://www.newsweek.com/sports/nba/suns-have-reportedly-made-bradley-beal-decision-after-kevin-durant-trade-2089091

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People talk about Beal like he sucks. He averaged 17.6 points per game during his time in Phoenix on a team where the usage was dominated by Booker and Durant. In Phoenix 41% from 3, 60.3% TS, 4.4 assists. Availability has been an issue. The Suns tried to be the 2011 Miami Heat(more likely the 2020 Nets), a few weeks before the new CBA made teams like that nearly impossible, and they've paid a pretty stiff price.

Beal's probably like 6 -10th best SG in a league loaded at that position (using Spotracs stated positions). It's just he's the highest paid SG in the league and the second highest paid SG happens to be his teammate.

There is no chance he is getting bought out., especially two years. Can't imagine he's getting traded either. there is just not enough capspace out there, and he's got that no trade clause. Maybe a Detroit or a team like the Magic (prior to the Bane trade).

Beal will be more valuable next offseason, as an expiring. Either as a team looking to clear cap space, and potentially to the Suns to create a trade exception if there is space out there. Or if nothing else to the Suns as an expiring.

[JoshuaPotter]

Durant is going to have one wild legacy....

I do not think he will win a championship without being paired with a generational talent ever again. Which is supposedly what drives him? I think? I am not sure.

The fact that he has played with such a long list of "once in a life time players" and only won with 1. Is going to be telling I think.

[The-Stallion70]

KD is expiring, Houston is taking one shot to win it next year.

This puts Thompson in a bigger role.

[Rainwater]

Green is so young that he's levels ahead of the Simons, Coby, Poole, Sexton class. Third option material. Suns need to trade him though, I don't get the fit.

I feel like he is on that level lol

[Rainwater]

Durant will go down as the most talented loser in nba history

Durant has won two NBA championships, four Olympic gold medals, an NBA Most Valuable Player Award, two NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Awards, two NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Awards, four NBA scoring titles, and the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. He has been named to 11 All-NBA teams (including six First Teams) and selected 15 times as an NBA All-Star. In 2021, Durant was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. He ranks eighth among NBA career scoring leaders.

That’s showing he is the most talented one.
The loser part comes from his team switching every second year and never winning anything, if he’s not joining the already by far best team in league.
I just mean, people will never really respect his career afterwards because of that. He could’ve/should've been in discussion of top5 player ever instead, based on his talent.

To be fair the Suns caused all this when they tried to move him during trade deadline last year. I think he would have stayed in Houston if that wasn’t the case. Durants generation was that of of player mobility, players typically didn’t stay on one team. They wanted to create their own narrative especially if they had as management.

[Skybox]

If Beal is bought out, I'd be interested.

https://www.newsweek.com/sports/nba/suns-have-reportedly-made-bradley-beal-decision-after-kevin-durant-trade-2089091

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

People talk about Beal like he sucks. He averaged 17.6 points per game during his time in Phoenix on a team where the usage was dominated by Booker and Durant. In Phoenix 41% from 3, 60.3% TS, 4.4 assists. Availability has been an issue. The Suns tried to be the 2011 Miami Heat(more likely the 2020 Nets), a few weeks before the new CBA made teams like that nearly impossible, and they've paid a pretty stiff price.

Beal's probably like 6 -10th best SG in a league loaded at that position (using Spotracs stated positions). It's just he's the highest paid SG in the league and the second highest paid SG happens to be his teammate.

There is no chance he is getting bought out., especially two years. Can't imagine he's getting traded either. there is just not enough capspace out there, and he's got that no trade clause. Maybe a Detroit or a team like the Magic (prior to the Bane trade).

Beal will be more valuable next offseason, as an expiring. Either as a team looking to clear cap space, and potentially to the Suns to create a trade exception if there is space out there. Or if nothing else to the Suns as an expiring.

The stage is set for a Beal revival...except for the arrival of Green. If they flip Green for a serious frontcourt upgrade-which they could get, imo, and draft well...Beal IS still capable of having a big year. The KD, Booker, Beal fit made no sense...now KD is out of the way and Beal is REALLY difficult to trade - so PHX should just double down and stop talking like he's some empty piece of $50m (like Lillard with a serious injury)...this happens where a player's deal and situation make them an albatross and the conversation takes them lower and lower and people no longer consider the guy is actually a good player. Being a DEEP negative value doesn't make a bad player (Lavine, Wiggins in MIN, Tobias...). If I'm PHX, I give one more year of trying...I'm sure as hell not buying out two seasons of $50m + to watch him win a ring with LAL on a vet min.