2024-25 Season Discussion and Speculation Part IV

[lilfishi22]

Scoop Robinson - he is based in NY/NJ - I think he has a lot of Flex in him. Gets some stuff right but not always. Has this little nugget about Kyrie and Durant:

Read on Twitter

Scoop also has a lot today about the Mavs wanting Durant to pair with Kyrie. I think the market for Durant could be pretty decent

If we're looking at reuniting KD with Kyrie, Dallas would be an interesting trade partner. I would expect Dallas is under pretty big pressure to win it all to justify to fans and bring back lost fans after the Luka trade. They also have some nice contracts.

Maybe something along the lines of

Suns trade:
KD
FRP

Mavs trade:
Klay: $34m over 2yrs
Washington: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Gafford: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Christie: $16m over 2yrs
1-2 FRP

[lilfishi22]

Windhorst today. This is not surprising but in fact, it is not the most important move or decision the front office his. To me its Booker. Durant is expiring in 2026 - and yes, they should trade him and get value for him. But I think its more important to trade Booker at the same time. Booker is signed through 2028. They trade Durant but keep Booker - with Beal, Booker, Allen and O'Neale through 2027 - that is over $140m through 2027 when Beal expires. Trade Durant, trade Booker, hopefully you can attach O'Neal or Allen in a trade; or trade them outright. That has to be the plan this summer. Sorry Bradley, this will be your team for two years..

Read on Twitter

Glad both parties appear to be on the same page in terms of parting ways. Reduces likelihood of any ill will either way

[Saberestar]

Scoop Robinson - he is based in NY/NJ - I think he has a lot of Flex in him. Gets some stuff right but not always. Has this little nugget about Kyrie and Durant:

Read on Twitter

Scoop also has a lot today about the Mavs wanting Durant to pair with Kyrie. I think the market for Durant could be pretty decent

If we're looking at reuniting KD with Kyrie, Dallas would be an interesting trade partner. I would expect Dallas is under pretty big pressure to win it all to justify to fans and bring back lost fans after the Luka trade. They also have some nice contracts.

Maybe something along the lines of

Suns trade:
KD
FRP

Mavs trade:
Klay: $34m over 2yrs
Washington: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Gafford: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Christie: $16m over 2yrs
1-2 FRP

That would be a terrible deal IMO. Who is good for the team on that group without great picks? Not even Lively who at least looks potentially an starting C?

We got an offer of Butler+Kuminga+2FRPs+swaps+2nds. We will not trade KD for only mediocre players.

[Revived]

Read on Twitter

The video’s worth watching. KD himself admits that trading for him mid-season is a bad idea because it costs a lot to acquire him and it would be a big blow for the team acquiring him.

It’s crazy how KD realizes this and Ishbia dumbass didn’t.

Too bad KD didn’t feel this same way back in 2023 when he demanded a trade from the Nets like a ****ch.

[mkot]

Read on Twitter

It's me me me, same old same old.

IF the Houston will give us our picks back plus Green or whatever you are going to Houston

[Slim Charless]

Scoop Robinson - he is based in NY/NJ - I think he has a lot of Flex in him. Gets some stuff right but not always. Has this little nugget about Kyrie and Durant:

Read on Twitter

Scoop also has a lot today about the Mavs wanting Durant to pair with Kyrie. I think the market for Durant could be pretty decent

If we're looking at reuniting KD with Kyrie, Dallas would be an interesting trade partner. I would expect Dallas is under pretty big pressure to win it all to justify to fans and bring back lost fans after the Luka trade. They also have some nice contracts.

Maybe something along the lines of

Suns trade:
KD
FRP

Mavs trade:
Klay: $34m over 2yrs
Washington: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Gafford: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Christie: $16m over 2yrs
1-2 FRP

That would be a terrible deal IMO. Who is good for the team on that group without great picks? Not even Lively who at least looks potentially an starting C?

We got an offer of Butler+Kuminga+2FRPs+swaps+2nds. We will not trade KD for only mediocre players.

That and why the **** are we giving THEM a 1st to take Durant? Like he's an albatross.... and we only get expirings.

That's an awful deal.

Durant is negative value now?

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

Any KD to Dallas package would require them to gut their roster, So I'm just not sure I see it happening,
https://www.si.com/nba/mavericks/news/dallas-mavericks-were-reportedly-very-aggressive-trying-to-acquire-phoenix-suns-kevin-durant-ahead-of-nba-trade-deadline

But to get Kd, I'm taking nothing less than a package of:
Thompson/Washington/ Gafford/ Marshall/ DAL 25' 1st ( 14th pick)/ 31' DAL 1st ( no protections).

And even then, this would be the last option choice for me in terms of value for KD. I might actually prefer a package of:

Thompson/ Washington/ Lively/ Marshall/ Martin/ Dal 25' 1st (14th pick) / DAL 31' 1st.______________________________________

*** Then I'd look to flip Thompson to Indiana for Toppin/Sheppard.
Or to Charlotte for G Williams/ CHO 25' 2nd (33rd pick). These trades would give us the 14th, 29th, 33rd and 54th picks.

14 ** Trade down with Brooklyn for the 21st and 25th picks, giving us the: (5 total picks to replenish the roster with cost-controlled young, athletic, hungry depth pieces around Booker.

21- Rasheer Fleming. 6'9 Antonio McDyess. PF
25- Sergio de Larrea. 6'7 almost Rubio with shooting. PG
29- Carter Bryant. 6'8 PJ Washington 2.0. SF
33- Jo'an Beringer. 6'11 Jarrett Allen/ Nik Claxton. C ***G League development.
54- Kobe Brea. 6'7 Young Klay Thompson. SG ***G League development.

Undrafted Free Pool (Two-ways) G League___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Spoiler:

1- Vlad Goldin. Ivaca Zubac.
2- John Tonje. Almost D Booker.
3- Trevon Brazile. Skinny but Almost Amare

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
*** Trade Allen/ Richards to Orlando for Bidatze/ Harris expiring/ Josephs (expiring)/ 26' 2nd (via DET) or MIL/ 28' 2nd (via LAL or WAS).
*** Trade O'neale to San Antonio for 26' 2nd (via UTA)/ 28' 2nd (via MIN).
*** Buyout Milicic (8 million), Martin (8 million), Harris (7.5 million) =$23.5 million in cap reduction.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Beal/ Booker/ Dunn/ Washington/ Bidatze.
Morris/ Thompson/ Marshall/ Bol Bol / Lively.
Larrea/ Brea/ Carter Bryant/ Fleming/ Ighodaro.

POST DRAFT
- CLE 27' 1st.
- CLE 29' 1st.
- DAL 31' 1st.
- 26' 2nd x 2.
- 28' 2nd x 2.
Before trading Booker!

[bwgood77]

Yeah, but like other players, I think his strengths outweigh his negatives. A lot of people made dumb plays yesterday. It seems like KD made a ton of horrible passes.

When you can shoot like Bol and have the length to really deter shooters, you are valuable. And what helps IQ? Playing more.

It's not the same. KD usually makes mistakes with a ton of pressure on him or double teamed.

Bol Bol's low IQ is what has made that he hasn't been anything more than a minimum guy for years and years in the league, he is 25. I am not discovering anything new here.

I am the first one that want him to be great and play a big role on the team but he makes unforced mistakes all the time, even when he plays well.

The simple fact is every team that takes a chance on him wants to be the one that figures him out or gets him to figure it out. I don't think anyone can pinpoint exactly what the issue is, it's probably IQ related but Malone had a go, Mosley had a go, Vogel had a go and now Bud had a go. These aren't bum coaches either, these are at the very least, solid head coaches and the other 3 are championship winning coaches.

I think we all want him to be great. If he's great, it's great for us. With how this season and last season went, I think everyone is hoping to find some bright spots in an otherwise a pretty dark situation. But he just hasn't earned the minutes, he didn't earn it with Malone, not with Mosley, not with Vogel and not with Bud and as much as I like to think I know how to coach, these are actual championship coaches.

Yeah, but you''re talking about a championship contending Denver squad that started Jokic, Gordon and Porter in their frontcourt for 3 years when he was there and their backup Cs were Plumlee, Javale McGee, Hartenstein and Cousins. And they had pretty good backup PFs too with Millsap, and then Jeff Green and JayMychal Green. They also had Zeke Nnaji as a young guy that got some minutes, but when you are a championship contender, with the MVP at C, and solid backups, along with solid forwards and vet backups, he was just a victim of that his 3 years in Denver.

Then his one year in Orlando they just had a TON of Cs and forwards. Paolo, Franz, Jonathan Isaac, Goga Bitadze, Wendell Carter, Bamba, Mo Wagner, Chuma Okeke. They just had super depth a ton of guys.

But he still got over 21 mpg in 70 games and started 33.

So I don't think coaches haven't liked him. I just think Denver, being a contender, was not going to play a young raw guy like him over the stars and vets they had, and in Orlando he actually got a decent amount of minutes, especially considering all the frontcourt players they have.

I think he still has upside but just needs minutes and maybe a bit more coaching/mentoring, but his shot is smooth, he defends well, he rebounds, he handles, etc. You may not want him handling, but he can, better than a lot of really good overall bigs.

[bwgood77]

If we're looking at reuniting KD with Kyrie, Dallas would be an interesting trade partner. I would expect Dallas is under pretty big pressure to win it all to justify to fans and bring back lost fans after the Luka trade. They also have some nice contracts.

Maybe something along the lines of

Suns trade:
KD
FRP

Mavs trade:
Klay: $34m over 2yrs
Washington: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Gafford: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Christie: $16m over 2yrs
1-2 FRP

That would be a terrible deal IMO. Who is good for the team on that group without great picks? Not even Lively who at least looks potentially an starting C?

We got an offer of Butler+Kuminga+2FRPs+swaps+2nds. We will not trade KD for only mediocre players.

That and why the **** are we giving THEM a 1st to take Durant? Like he's an albatross.... and we only get expirings.

That's an awful deal.

Durant is negative value now?

Remove the FRP we have going out and get 2 from them including the one this summer and the one from the Lakers, and it's a good deal. That's 2 first plus Max Christie, who is really good.

[lilfishi22]

If we're looking at reuniting KD with Kyrie, Dallas would be an interesting trade partner. I would expect Dallas is under pretty big pressure to win it all to justify to fans and bring back lost fans after the Luka trade. They also have some nice contracts.

Maybe something along the lines of

Suns trade:
KD
FRP

Mavs trade:
Klay: $34m over 2yrs
Washington: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Gafford: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Christie: $16m over 2yrs
1-2 FRP

That would be a terrible deal IMO. Who is good for the team on that group without great picks? Not even Lively who at least looks potentially an starting C?

We got an offer of Butler+Kuminga+2FRPs+swaps+2nds. We will not trade KD for only mediocre players.

That and why the **** are we giving THEM a 1st to take Durant? Like he's an albatross.... and we only get expirings.

That's an awful deal.

Durant is negative value now?

Initially I had Lively in the mix so I thought we'd add in one of the 3 crappy firsts. Thought about it more and didn't think they would part ways with Lively but accidently left in the FRP. In this particular deal, I would not include an draft capital.

I was not super keen on the Butler deal even with Kuminga and the draft capital. I think Butler is going to be a drag to this team given he'll want and would've gotten the same max extension which just hurts our books further. And if we're not vibing the same way he's vibing, then well we know his history. Kuminga is also up for an extension, likely a big one and I'm not particularly high on him so he has potential to be a negative asset as well. So in essence, GS are paying to move on from having to deal with a Kuminga extension. Say we give Butler the extension, he'll be on the same salary as KD next season then you will have to pay for Kuminga who's probably going to be on at least $25-30m given he turned down a $30m extension offer from the Warriors. That's not enticing to me and as I mentioned in a previous post, getting draft capital back is important but so is a cleaning up the books.

Had we done the deal and extended both players, we'll have 3 players once again on $50m+ and now an added $30m a year player in Kuminga.

[sunsfan1o1]

Scoop Robinson - he is based in NY/NJ - I think he has a lot of Flex in him. Gets some stuff right but not always. Has this little nugget about Kyrie and Durant:

Read on Twitter

Scoop also has a lot today about the Mavs wanting Durant to pair with Kyrie. I think the market for Durant could be pretty decent

If we're looking at reuniting KD with Kyrie, Dallas would be an interesting trade partner. I would expect Dallas is under pretty big pressure to win it all to justify to fans and bring back lost fans after the Luka trade. They also have some nice contracts.

Maybe something along the lines of

Suns trade:
KD
FRP

Mavs trade:
Klay: $34m over 2yrs
Washington: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Gafford: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Christie: $16m over 2yrs
1-2 FRP

Are we getting AD back cuz if not they have nothing.

[lilfishi22]

It's not the same. KD usually makes mistakes with a ton of pressure on him or double teamed.

Bol Bol's low IQ is what has made that he hasn't been anything more than a minimum guy for years and years in the league, he is 25. I am not discovering anything new here.

I am the first one that want him to be great and play a big role on the team but he makes unforced mistakes all the time, even when he plays well.

The simple fact is every team that takes a chance on him wants to be the one that figures him out or gets him to figure it out. I don't think anyone can pinpoint exactly what the issue is, it's probably IQ related but Malone had a go, Mosley had a go, Vogel had a go and now Bud had a go. These aren't bum coaches either, these are at the very least, solid head coaches and the other 3 are championship winning coaches.

I think we all want him to be great. If he's great, it's great for us. With how this season and last season went, I think everyone is hoping to find some bright spots in an otherwise a pretty dark situation. But he just hasn't earned the minutes, he didn't earn it with Malone, not with Mosley, not with Vogel and not with Bud and as much as I like to think I know how to coach, these are actual championship coaches.

Yeah, but you''re talking about a championship contending Denver squad that started Jokic, Gordon and Porter in their frontcourt for 3 years when he was there and their backup Cs were Plumlee, Javale McGee, Hartenstein and Cousins. And they had pretty good backup PFs too with Millsap, and then Jeff Green and JayMychal Green. They also had Zeke Nnaji as a young guy that got some minutes, but when you are a championship contender, with the MVP at C, and solid backups, along with solid forwards and vet backups, he was just a victim of that his 3 years in Denver.

Then his one year in Orlando they just had a TON of Cs and forwards. Paolo, Franz, Jonathan Isaac, Goga Bitadze, Wendell Carter, Bamba, Mo Wagner, Chuma Okeke. They just had super depth a ton of guys.

But he still got over 21 mpg in 70 games and started 33.

So I don't think coaches haven't liked him. I just think Denver, being a contender, was not going to play a young raw guy like him over the stars and vets they had, and in Orlando he actually got a decent amount of minutes, especially considering all the frontcourt players they have.

I think he still has upside but just needs minutes and maybe a bit more coaching/mentoring, but his shot is smooth, he defends well, he rebounds, he handles, etc. You may not want him handling, but he can, better than a lot of really good overall bigs.

Every situation is different and seems like there's always something out of his control. Maybe that could be right but the simplest observation is he's the common denominator.

And I've always said this, if a player is so good that he's deserving of minutes, it would show in consistent minutes. That's not to say he doesn't have upside and somewhere down the line (hopefully with us) he could figure it out but the guy will be 26 before the end of the year and he's been in the league, been around different teams/coaches for 6 years, you either figure it out or you don't and he's had plenty of opportunity to stick.

[Slim Charless]

That would be a terrible deal IMO. Who is good for the team on that group without great picks? Not even Lively who at least looks potentially an starting C?

We got an offer of Butler+Kuminga+2FRPs+swaps+2nds. We will not trade KD for only mediocre players.

That and why the **** are we giving THEM a 1st to take Durant? Like he's an albatross.... and we only get expirings.

That's an awful deal.

Durant is negative value now?

Initially I had Lively in the mix so I thought we'd add in one of the 3 crappy firsts. Thought about it more and didn't think they would part ways with Lively but accidently left in the FRP. In this particular deal, I would not include an draft capital.

I was not super keen on the Butler deal even with Kuminga and the draft capital. I think Butler is going to be a drag to this team given he'll want and would've gotten the same max extension which just hurts our books further. And if we're not vibing the same way he's vibing, then well we know his history. Kuminga is also up for an extension, likely a big one and I'm not particularly high on him so he has potential to be a negative asset as well. So in essence, GS are paying to move on from having to deal with a Kuminga extension. Say we give Butler the extension, he'll be on the same salary as KD next season then you will have to pay for Kuminga who's probably going to be on at least $25-30m given he turned down a $30m extension offer from the Warriors. That's not enticing to me and as I mentioned in a previous post, getting draft capital back is important but so is a cleaning up the books.

Had we done the deal and extended both players, we'll have 3 players once again on $50m+ and now an added $30m a year player in Kuminga.

Yeah but the deal was still offered though. Regardless of whether we needed to accept (we didnt) it was still available. Which is what Durant's value is now at.

To me that means the negotiations start at that point I mean it'll drop a little for the contract, but not much. I think Miami, Houston and OKC will be the best options. Dallas might want him but they'll need to give up either both the 29+31 unprotected picks or 1 of them plus Lively IMO.

[lilfishi22]

Scoop Robinson - he is based in NY/NJ - I think he has a lot of Flex in him. Gets some stuff right but not always. Has this little nugget about Kyrie and Durant:

Read on Twitter

Scoop also has a lot today about the Mavs wanting Durant to pair with Kyrie. I think the market for Durant could be pretty decent

If we're looking at reuniting KD with Kyrie, Dallas would be an interesting trade partner. I would expect Dallas is under pretty big pressure to win it all to justify to fans and bring back lost fans after the Luka trade. They also have some nice contracts.

Maybe something along the lines of

Suns trade:
KD
FRP

Mavs trade:
Klay: $34m over 2yrs
Washington: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Gafford: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Christie: $16m over 2yrs
1-2 FRP

Are we getting AD back cuz if not they have nothing.

We're getting clean books, draft capital, and optionality in terms of players we want to keep around like PJ, Gafford and Christie (who's on a great contract)

I wouldn't want AD even if it came with a 2 FRP's, the guy is still owed $175m over the next 3 seasons with the last one being a player option at almost $63m and he'll be almost 35 by that point.

[lilfishi22]

That and why the **** are we giving THEM a 1st to take Durant? Like he's an albatross.... and we only get expirings.

That's an awful deal.

Durant is negative value now?

Initially I had Lively in the mix so I thought we'd add in one of the 3 crappy firsts. Thought about it more and didn't think they would part ways with Lively but accidently left in the FRP. In this particular deal, I would not include an draft capital.

I was not super keen on the Butler deal even with Kuminga and the draft capital. I think Butler is going to be a drag to this team given he'll want and would've gotten the same max extension which just hurts our books further. And if we're not vibing the same way he's vibing, then well we know his history. Kuminga is also up for an extension, likely a big one and I'm not particularly high on him so he has potential to be a negative asset as well. So in essence, GS are paying to move on from having to deal with a Kuminga extension. Say we give Butler the extension, he'll be on the same salary as KD next season then you will have to pay for Kuminga who's probably going to be on at least $25-30m given he turned down a $30m extension offer from the Warriors. That's not enticing to me and as I mentioned in a previous post, getting draft capital back is important but so is a cleaning up the books.

Had we done the deal and extended both players, we'll have 3 players once again on $50m+ and now an added $30m a year player in Kuminga.

Yeah but the deal was still offered though. Regardless of whether we needed to accept (we didnt) it was still available. Which is what Durant's value is now at.

To me that means the negotiations start at that point I mean it'll drop a little for the contract, but not much. I think Miami, Houston and OKC will be the best options. Dallas might want him but they'll need to give up either both the 29+31 unprotected picks or 1 of them plus Lively IMO.

But that's why I was highlighting why the perceived value in return actually isn't as high as what it might look like on paper. Some might be salivating at the idea that KD's value is now set at young player plus 4-5 picks but there's a hidden cost that very few people mentioned and that's Butler coming back in the trade and Kuminga's extension.

So what I'm saying is that the negotiation start point might be lower than you think and my trade idea could very well be closer to the true value of a 36 year old KD who could walk in a year's time. And FWIW, there may be better ideas but this was just one I came up with on the fly based on the article about Kyrie and KD wanting to play together again.

[BobbieL]

If we're looking at reuniting KD with Kyrie, Dallas would be an interesting trade partner. I would expect Dallas is under pretty big pressure to win it all to justify to fans and bring back lost fans after the Luka trade. They also have some nice contracts.

Maybe something along the lines of

Suns trade:
KD
FRP

Mavs trade:
Klay: $34m over 2yrs
Washington: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Gafford: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Christie: $16m over 2yrs
1-2 FRP

Are we getting AD back cuz if not they have nothing.

We're getting clean books, draft capital, and optionality in terms of players we want to keep around like PJ, Gafford and Christie (who's on a great contract)

I wouldn't want AD even if it came with a 2 FRP's, the guy is still owed $175m over the next 3 seasons with the last one being a player option at almost $63m and he'll be almost 35 by that point.

I agree. I think getting a clean cap with expirings in 2026 is a big part of this. Hence, why if they can get to certain apron levels - they can maybe make trades easier.

Christie and a FRP wouldn't be bad. Maybe flip Klay to another team. I don't hate it

[Ghost of Kleine]

Scoop Robinson - he is based in NY/NJ - I think he has a lot of Flex in him. Gets some stuff right but not always. Has this little nugget about Kyrie and Durant:

Read on Twitter

Scoop also has a lot today about the Mavs wanting Durant to pair with Kyrie. I think the market for Durant could be pretty decent

If we're looking at reuniting KD with Kyrie, Dallas would be an interesting trade partner. I would expect Dallas is under pretty big pressure to win it all to justify to fans and bring back lost fans after the Luka trade. They also have some nice contracts.

Maybe something along the lines of

Suns trade:
KD
FRP

Mavs trade:
Klay: $34m over 2yrs
Washington: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Gafford: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Christie: $16m over 2yrs
1-2 FRP

The 1st round pick is honestly a bit much for Dallas getting KD. I mean obviously, we're not in any position to be doing more favors for other teams, and it's other teams wanting KD, not us trying to salary dump him. So in any trade, we should still look at it as attempting to glean value rather than surrendering value for the biggest value piece in the trade. Now IF we're looking to try and stay competitive around Booker (Ishbias' goal post KD)?? then this package is fairly decent but not great overall.

Dallas is clearly in a more desperate situation than we are with their fanbase after trading Luka for peanuts for business decisions. So any package coming back for KD should be something along the lines of:

Thompson/ Washington/ Marshall/ Lively/ Martin/ DAL 25' 1st/ DAL 31' 1st.
This value is not optimal, but absolutely the baseline for us to accept trading KD to Dallas. And we for damn sure should accept nothing less. Then you..................................................
- Trade Allen/ Richards to Orlando for Bidatze/ Harris (7.5 million expiring).
- Trade O'neale to San Antonio for two future 2nds, 1 in 26 and 1 in 28.
- Buyout Harris, Decline the options for Milicic and Martin for $23 million in cap reduction.
- Trade the DAL 25' 1st (14th pick) to Brooklyn for their 21st and 25th picks. Giving us the 21st, 25th, and 29th picks in the 1st round and the 54th pick in the 2nd round. Use the picks in this upcoming draft as follows.

21- Rasheer Fleming. PF
25- Sergio de Larrea. PG
29- Carter Bryant. SF/PF
_________________________
54- Kobe Brea. SG

Beal/ Booker/ Marshall/ Washington/ Bidazte.
Morris/ Thompson/ Dunn/ Bol Bol / Lively.
Larrea/ Brea/ Bryant/ Fleming/ Ighodaro.
Future Picks
- 26' 2nd X 2.
- CLE 27' 1st.
- 28' 2nd X 2.
- CLE 29' 1st.
- DAL 31' 1st.

[Slim Charless]

Initially I had Lively in the mix so I thought we'd add in one of the 3 crappy firsts. Thought about it more and didn't think they would part ways with Lively but accidently left in the FRP. In this particular deal, I would not include an draft capital.

I was not super keen on the Butler deal even with Kuminga and the draft capital. I think Butler is going to be a drag to this team given he'll want and would've gotten the same max extension which just hurts our books further. And if we're not vibing the same way he's vibing, then well we know his history. Kuminga is also up for an extension, likely a big one and I'm not particularly high on him so he has potential to be a negative asset as well. So in essence, GS are paying to move on from having to deal with a Kuminga extension. Say we give Butler the extension, he'll be on the same salary as KD next season then you will have to pay for Kuminga who's probably going to be on at least $25-30m given he turned down a $30m extension offer from the Warriors. That's not enticing to me and as I mentioned in a previous post, getting draft capital back is important but so is a cleaning up the books.

Had we done the deal and extended both players, we'll have 3 players once again on $50m+ and now an added $30m a year player in Kuminga.

Yeah but the deal was still offered though. Regardless of whether we needed to accept (we didnt) it was still available. Which is what Durant's value is now at.

To me that means the negotiations start at that point I mean it'll drop a little for the contract, but not much. I think Miami, Houston and OKC will be the best options. Dallas might want him but they'll need to give up either both the 29+31 unprotected picks or 1 of them plus Lively IMO.

But that's why I was highlighting why the perceived value in return actually isn't as high as what it might look like on paper. Some might be salivating at the idea that KD's value is now set at young player plus 4-5 picks but there's a hidden cost that very few people mentioned and that's Butler coming back in the trade and Kuminga's extension.

So what I'm saying is that the negotiation start point might be lower than you think and my trade idea could very well be closer to the true value of a 36 year old KD who could walk in a year's time. And FWIW, there may be better ideas but this was just one I came up with on the fly based on the article about Kyrie and KD wanting to play together again.

Well no one thinks we'll send him some place he doesn't like.

No. You get a list of 2 or 3 teams from him that he will accept, then negotiate with those GMs. Like I said Miami we already know he was intrigued by, as he said that. Houston, he was rumored to like in the summer, and it looks like Dallas might be in there. I would add OKC, but I have no proof that he wants back in, or they want him.

So get the best deal you can from those 3 teams. I would like Houston so we can get our picks back. I also think a bigger deal would be what we do with Booker. That's the real question.

[lilfishi22]

Are we getting AD back cuz if not they have nothing.

We're getting clean books, draft capital, and optionality in terms of players we want to keep around like PJ, Gafford and Christie (who's on a great contract)

I wouldn't want AD even if it came with a 2 FRP's, the guy is still owed $175m over the next 3 seasons with the last one being a player option at almost $63m and he'll be almost 35 by that point.

I agree. I think getting a clean cap with expirings in 2026 is a big part of this. Hence, why if they can get to certain apron levels - they can maybe make trades easier.

Christie and a FRP wouldn't be bad. Maybe flip Klay to another team. I don't hate it

Klay is on $17m in his last season which is hardly onerous from a salary cap standpoint (salary cap will be $30m higher than now in 26-27)and he could represent value to a team looking to drop under one of the aprons when he's expiring so I do see value in him. He's also not the defender he once was but his shooting continues to be a strength as is his rebounding and low turnover rate.

Admittedly, I also undervalued Christie before, mostly because he was a Laker but he's been genuinely a good player. He's got good size at the 2 at 6'6, he's athletic, he's shooting 44% from 3 on almost 5 attempts a game right now, he takes care of the ball and he's only just turned 22. 15pts on elite efficiency off the bench is something I feel good about.

I could see why people don't love this trade on paper because there isn't any sexy names involved but in all reality, it doesn't serve us much good overvaluing KD either by demanding sexy names or an unreasonable number of picks.

[lilfishi22]

Scoop Robinson - he is based in NY/NJ - I think he has a lot of Flex in him. Gets some stuff right but not always. Has this little nugget about Kyrie and Durant:

Read on Twitter

Scoop also has a lot today about the Mavs wanting Durant to pair with Kyrie. I think the market for Durant could be pretty decent

If we're looking at reuniting KD with Kyrie, Dallas would be an interesting trade partner. I would expect Dallas is under pretty big pressure to win it all to justify to fans and bring back lost fans after the Luka trade. They also have some nice contracts.

Maybe something along the lines of

Suns trade:
KD
FRP

Mavs trade:
Klay: $34m over 2yrs
Washington: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Gafford: Expiring $14m. Extension eligible.
Christie: $16m over 2yrs
1-2 FRP

The 1st round pick is honestly a bit much for Dallas getting KD. I mean obviously, we're not in any position to be doing more favors for other teams, and it's other teams wanting KD, not us trying to salary dump him. So in any trade, we should still look at it as attempting to glean value rather than surrendering value for the biggest value piece in the trade. Now IF we're looking to try and stay competitive around Booker (Ishbias' goal post KD)?? then this package is fairly decent but not great overall.

Dallas is clearly in a more desperate situation than we are with their fanbase after trading Luka for peanuts for business decisions. So any package coming back for KD should be something along the lines of:

Thompson/ Washington/ Marshall/ Lively/ Martin/ DAL 25' 1st/ DAL 31' 1st.
This value is not optimal, but absolutely the baseline for us to accept trading KD to Dallas. And we for damn sure should accept nothing less. Then you..................................................
- Trade Allen/ Richards to Orlando for Bidatze/ Harris (7.5 million expiring).
- Trade O'neale to San Antonio for two future 2nds, 1 in 26 and 1 in 28.
- Buyout Harris, Decline the options for Milicic and Martin for $23 million in cap reduction.
- Trade the DAL 25' 1st (14th pick) to Brooklyn for their 21st and 25th picks. Giving us the 21st, 25th, and 29th picks in the 1st round and the 54th pick in the 2nd round. Use the picks in this upcoming draft as follows.

21- Rasheer Fleming. PF
25- Sergio de Larrea. PG
29- Carter Bryant. SF/PF
_________________________
54- Kobe Brea. SG

Beal/ Booker/ Marshall/ Washington/ Bidazte.
Morris/ Thompson/ Dunn/ Bol Bol / Lively.
Larrea/ Brea/ Bryant/ Fleming/ Ighodaro.
Future Picks
- 26' 2nd X 2.
- CLE 27' 1st.
- 28' 2nd X 2.
- CLE 29' 1st.
- DAL 31' 1st.

As mentioned in my previous post, I made a mistake leaving in the outgoing FRP. Initially I had Lively coming back to justify a FRP going out but when I took Lively off, I forgot to remove that outgoing FRP