PHX/MIN/LAL - 2018 called, they want their future star trio back

HornetJail · Post #1 » by **HornetJail** » Thu May 30, 2024 2:04 am

Scenario: KD wants to team hop again for his best chance at winning another ring. Is there a better outcome than this? I struggled with the picks, as you can imagine given these three teams but I think value's in the ballpark.

Suns trade Durant, Beal
Suns receive Towns, Russell, Vincent, Vanderbilt, 2031 MIN 1st
Phoenix fields a team, rather than a lineup of 3 way-too-similar stars and bench players, rolling out a rotation of:
Russell/Booker/__/Vanderbilt/Towns+ Vincent/Allen/Gordon/Little/Nurkic off the bench. Probably needs a follow-up move involving Nurkic or Allen, and the distant Minnesota pick for a better starting SF. They save big money off that Beal contract as well.

Wolves trade Towns, NAW, #27, 2030 swap, 2031 1st
Wolves receive Durant, mins from Lakers
Minnesota upgrades and goes for it all right now. Kind of goes without saying how good a lineup of Conley/Ant/McDaniels/Durant/Gobert + the reigning 6MOY Naz Reid, would actually be.

Lakers trade Vincent, Vanderbilt, Russell, whichever of Wood/Reddish/Hayes opt in
Lakers receive Beal, NAW, #27, rights to swap 2030 1sts with Minnesota
LA gets paid well to upgrade their expensive role players for a great fitting 3rd option. obviously the NTC and huge contract will be restrictive in future moves, but LAL would still have picks to throw around in other trades. NAW would be a solid defensive piece as well. Beal/Reaves/Rui/LeBron/AD + JHS/NAW/vets

Godaddycurse · Post #2 » by **Godaddycurse** » Thu May 30, 2024 2:21 am

wolves are in 2nd apron and can't aggregate salary. if they don't aggregate then durant makes too much for KAT to match

MNRunLeft · Post #3 » by **MNRunLeft** » Thu May 30, 2024 2:22 am

Don’t see Durant having that much more value than KAT, maybe a 1st and NAW is more reasonable in the event Durant said he wants out.

Also just don’t see what the point of LA being in this deal, if PHX is getting a vet all star that aligns to the Booker timeline they are still win now so dumping Beal and picks for lackluster role players does nothing more than save some tax payments.

kds92 · Post #4 » by **kds92** » Thu May 30, 2024 2:36 am

Lakers get good value here, but they lose too much depth to make it worth it.

I'd guess the Suns would want more firsts if they trade KD. They get complementary players around Booker, but don't think that lineup would be able to compete with the top teams in the West.

JB2 · Post #5 » by **JB2** » Thu May 30, 2024 4:09 am

This is actually a very solid attempt to solve multiple problems for all the teams.

I would think Minny would have to consider it. Rudy, KD, McDaniels, Ant, Conley + Naz, Slow Mo is IMO a title favorite.
For PHX, it's a good way to get out of Beal's contract and get value for KD while he still has it.
IF Beal had a clean bill of health, this would make sense for LA but paying a guy that money going (and NTC) when you don't know how much you'll get from him is a huge risk of LeBron's final couple season.

Wolveswin · Post #6 » by **Wolveswin** » Thu May 30, 2024 4:55 am

JB2 wrote:This is actually a very solid attempt to solve multiple problems for all the teams.

I would think Minny would have to consider it. Rudy, KD, McDaniels, Ant, Conley + Naz, Slow Mo is IMO a title favorite.
For PHX, it's a good way to get out of Beal's contract and get value for KD while he still has it.
IF Beal had a clean bill of health, this would make sense for LA but paying a guy that money going (and NTC) when you don't know how much you'll get from him is a huge risk of LeBron's final couple season.

If trading Towns, Wolves are building around Edwards. KD is wrong direction (and illegal trade anyway). Towns’ trades need to net Wolves a core player for Edwards and McDaniels (and probably Reid) to grow with. And by the time Edwards hits his prime, they are a better team than today - even with Towns.

Wolveswin · Post #7 » by **Wolveswin** » Thu May 30, 2024 5:01 am

If Wolves are willing to trade Towns to an in conference rival - whom they will have to beat over and over on their path to multiple WCF - which I don’t think they will or should - Thunder make better third team for KD…bringing him back home for the final walk around the corral.

To Suns: Towns + Small Asset

To OKC: KD

To Wolves: Wallace + Dieng + Picks

If Wallace can be core with Edwards - learning from Conley - trades starts to make sense. Flyer on Dieng if Reid can’t be retained. Picks for Connelly’s next move.

wolves_89 · Post #8 » by **wolves_89** » Thu May 30, 2024 2:42 pm

For the Wolves, I think I'd rather keep Towns. KD looked like he was well into the downslope of his career in the playoffs, with the expectation that the deterioration in his game will only increase. I'm definitely not adding value to turn KAT into Durrant.

BadWolf · Post #9 » by **BadWolf** » Thu May 30, 2024 3:28 pm

kds92 wrote:Lakers get good value here, but they lose too much depth to make it worth it.

I'd guess the Suns would want more firsts if they trade KD. They get complementary players around Booker, but don't think that lineup would be able to compete with the top teams in the West.

What depth?
They upgrade (?) Dlo to Beal,
Upgrade trash/injured 'depth' to NAW,
And get two probably late picks for their effort.

I'd probably prefer DLo on reasonable contract to Beal. Or not, it's a tough decision tbh.