Official NBA General Discussion 2024-25 V1.0

[douggood]

Thunder proved once again why Tanking works.

they got lucky with a once in a decade trade.

Yep. It was Boston with the KG/PP trade and now OKC with the PG13/SGA trade.

It never was, and never will be, a formula any team can even try to replicate. It is the ultimate "right place right time" type deal. I am 99% sure every single person on this board would have been on board to trade Siakam / FVV / OG if it meant getting back 7 or 8 first rounders and a sophomore coming off a great rookie season.

Reality was, we were not ever in that situation.

i will add KD trade to the list, so far its netted them 9 1sts + cam johnson and multiple swaps. how it turns out for them is to be seen. todays espn article basically made fun of the trade and matt isbia.

Windhorst: One executive joked about implementing a new rule similar to one on the books about dealing first-round picks.

Named after former Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien, the rule forbids teams from trading firsts in back-to-back years, though plenty of loopholes remain. Stepien famously traded four consecutive years of first-round picks as part of three transactions to the Dallas Mavericks in the mid-1980s.

"Everyone knows about the Stepien Rule. I don't know how this is all going to play out, but depending on how that KD trade ends up, there might be an 'Ishbia Rule' proposed where new owners can't make a trade for six months after buying the team," the exec quipped.

In the Durant deal, the Suns traded four first-round picks and a first-round swap to Brooklyn, plus Mikal Bridges and the aforementioned Cam Johnson. The Nets subsequently traded Bridges to the New York Knicks for five first-round picks. That currently has the Durant haul at nine first-round picks for the Nets -- and that's before a potential Johnson trade over the next few weeks.
Dangling those future Suns assets got the Rockets to bite and hand the Nets' picks back to them, wagering the Suns' picks could be more valuable in the medium term and clearing the way for the Nets to full-on tank this season.

If the Nets' tank ends up scoring big and they land Duke's Cooper Flagg or one of the other top names this summer, or perhaps a 2026 top prospect, those gems could be traced to the Durant trade as well.

https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/43443542/nba-intel-5-players-most-likely-traded-deadline

[MiamiSPX]

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[tsherkin]

SGA is the best Canadian player ever

Low bar. It's SGA and Nash and no one else of consequence in that discussion. SGA IS amazing, of course, one of the very best in the league. But yeah.

[SFour]

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Embiid's body has a very very low chance of being able to survive a 20+ game championship playoff run.

[Tha Cynic]

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Good thing the 76ers have 5 more wins than us because they’re close to becoming a challenger

[MiamiSPX]

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Good thing the 76ers have 5 more wins than us because they’re close to becoming a challenger

They are a disaster. It's flying under the radar because of the Eagles, but soon the knives are coming out for Nurse, PG13, and Embiid (in that order).

100M this season for Embiid and PG.
107M next season.
114M in 2026-27
121M in 2027-28
Embiid 69M salary in 2028-29.

Your best player can't play (and is an unlikeable guy that can't get out of the 2nd round)
His sidekick a guy that plays when he feels like it.

There are so many red flags with PG but tops among them, to me, was the fact that even crazy Steve Ballmer didn't want to pay him.

[deck]

okc are scary. of all the current contenders I feel like they could be a real dynasty threat

I would agree. In the current era, I think they are the only team setup with dynasty potential. Everyone else is looking at 2-3 year windows before they hit salary cap issues. OKC can likely keep things going longer by drawing on future draft picks to keep their bench stocked around whatever core players they choose to keep.

[PushDaRock]

Actually can't believe how good of a year Lavine is having and he still seemingly has no market. He's putting up 24 ppg on 64 TS% while shooting 46% from three on 3.3 makes per game. Normally it's been empty numbers with him in his career but this year he's actually at a +1.4 in on court per 100 and +10.4 in on/off per 100. He's actually impacting winning so far this year.

[HumbleRen]

Actually can't believe how good of a year Lavine is having and he still seemingly has no market. He's putting up 24 ppg on 64 TS% while shooting 46% from three on 3.3 makes per game. Normally it's been empty numbers with him in his career but this year he's actually at a +1.4 in on court per 100 and +10.4 in on/off per 100. He's actually impacting winning so far this year.

Shows how much the CBA has scared teams from taking on big contracts.

[DelAbbot]

Shows how much the CBA has scared teams from taking on big contracts.

How can Denver get Lavine?

[AkelaLoneWolf]

Actually can't believe how good of a year Lavine is having and he still seemingly has no market. He's putting up 24 ppg on 64 TS% while shooting 46% from three on 3.3 makes per game. Normally it's been empty numbers with him in his career but this year he's actually at a +1.4 in on court per 100 and +10.4 in on/off per 100. He's actually impacting winning so far this year.

Shows how much the CBA has scared teams from taking on big contracts.

Rep also precedes you. A good 30-35 games won’t undo bad rep for the last 3 years.

[HumbleRen]

Actually can't believe how good of a year Lavine is having and he still seemingly has no market. He's putting up 24 ppg on 64 TS% while shooting 46% from three on 3.3 makes per game. Normally it's been empty numbers with him in his career but this year he's actually at a +1.4 in on court per 100 and +10.4 in on/off per 100. He's actually impacting winning so far this year.

Shows how much the CBA has scared teams from taking on big contracts.

Rep also precedes you. A good 30-35 games won’t undo bad rep for the last 3 years.

That's more so a narrative be painted by fans. He battled injuries last year, averaged 25/4/4 on 60% TS the year before that, the year before that he was an all star averaging 24/4/4 on like 61% TS.

His only bad year was last year where he played less than 30 games due to battling injuries lol. There's just isn't a huge market for great scorers who can't play defence, especially in a world with the current CBA.

[PushDaRock]

Shows how much the CBA has scared teams from taking on big contracts.

Rep also precedes you. A good 30-35 games won’t undo bad rep for the last 3 years.

That's more so a narrative be painted by fans. He battled injuries last year, averaged 25/4/4 on 60% TS the year before that, the year before that he was an all star averaging 24/4/4 on like 61% TS.

His only bad year was last year where he played less than 30 games due to battling injuries lol. There's just isn't a huge market for great scorers who can't play defence, especially in a world with the current CBA.

The track record of only playing on bad teams doesn't help either. He's made the playoffs one time in 10 years.

[AkelaLoneWolf]

Rep also precedes you. A good 30-35 games won’t undo bad rep for the last 3 years.

That's more so a narrative be painted by fans. He battled injuries last year, averaged 25/4/4 on 60% TS the year before that, the year before that he was an all star averaging 24/4/4 on like 61% TS.

His only bad year was last year where he played less than 30 games due to battling injuries lol. There's just isn't a huge market for great scorers who can't play defence, especially in a world with the current CBA.

The track record of only playing on bad teams doesn't help either. He's made the playoffs one time in 10 years.

Not to mention a twice repaired knee.
He will also be 3rd option on a good team. He’s too expensive for that.

[HumbleRen]

That's more so a narrative be painted by fans. He battled injuries last year, averaged 25/4/4 on 60% TS the year before that, the year before that he was an all star averaging 24/4/4 on like 61% TS.

His only bad year was last year where he played less than 30 games due to battling injuries lol. There's just isn't a huge market for great scorers who can't play defence, especially in a world with the current CBA.

The track record of only playing on bad teams doesn't help either. He's made the playoffs one time in 10 years.

Not to mention a twice repaired knee.
He will also be 3rd option on a good team. He’s too expensive for that.

He’d be easily a 2nd option on Denver but yeah, it’s just too much of a health concern. Especially when you already have Jamal Murray.

[Psubs]

Wow Nick Richards with 21pts and 11 rebs in his debut off the bench with Phoenix!

They will likely trade Nurkic now.

[WaltFrazier]

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Good thing the 76ers have 5 more wins than us because they’re close to becoming a challenger

They are a disaster. It's flying under the radar because of the Eagles, but soon the knives are coming out for Nurse, PG13, and Embiid (in that order).

100M this season for Embiid and PG.
107M next season.
114M in 2026-27
121M in 2027-28
Embiid 69M salary in 2028-29.

Your best player can't play (and is an unlikeable guy that can't get out of the 2nd round)
His sidekick a guy that plays when he feels like it.

There are so many red flags with PG but tops among them, to me, was the fact that even crazy Steve Ballmer didn't want to pay him.

The knives should be out for Morey.

[Duffman100]

Ware with a really good game for Miami.

[SnotoriousBIG]

Wow Nick Richards with 21pts and 11 rebs in his debut off the bench with Phoenix!

They will likely trade Nurkic now.

They been trying to trade Nurkic, but nobody wants him...

[Tripod]

I see Banchero was 4-17 today. I guess other guys have bad nights too....not just Barnes.