Kevin Durant Rumors

[Monster]

Yeah, I posted yesterday or the day before in this thread that KD wanted to go to Houston or San Antonio...not sure where the Miami thing came from. My concern was that while the Suns can trade him to whomever they want, the Wolves trading for a KD who didn't want to come here sounded quite risky...$54 million for a discontent 37 year old? I think we (and the media) have put too much stock in the "he wants to play with Ant" narrative. He clearly enjoyed playing with Ant in the Olympics, but he has never expressed any interest in coming here. I think it's bizarre how the betting markets have jumped around every time Shams tweets. I think he's going to lose a lot of credibility through this KD stuff...I think he's a lot closer to Doogie than he is to Woj in terms of credibility.

I watched the clip of what Shams actually said about the situation yesterday. It was way less decisive sounding than what the quotes on Twitter made it sound like.

Again keep in mind Paul George didnt want to go to OKC and they traded for him anyway and then he stayed for a couple years and then OKC got a crazy haul for him even though even my cat (who really doesn't care about anything on TV much less sports) knew he was going to the Clippers.

Yeah, my fears of a Durant trade where TC pays too much are still alive. It wasn't very long ago that Wolves were a 52% favorite to have Durant and I trust Vegas more than reporters grinding out stories, especially as teams try to use the media to gain an advantage in negotiations.

I haven't tracked how well Vegas does in these types of situations but mostly I don't care about what they say to be honest. Even if they were right 70 percent of the time that means they were far enough from 100 percent it's not gonna make me be like oh that's what's gonna happen based on their odds.

We have been through enough of these trades of big name players over the past few years to make me think these things are pretty unpredictable. A few months ago during the whole saga Jimmy absolutely wasn't going to GS and then hours later he ended up there and signed a big 2 year extension. What I think we can assume based on the reporting we have is that Durant isn't picking the Wolves and forcing his way there. There is reporting that the Suns aren't willing to do Durant any favors so maybe Durant has more interest in coming here than has been reported but the Suns aren't thrilled with one of the pieces that the Wolves are offering. Still it doesn't seem like the Wolves have any advantage there. I don't know if we have much legit reporting of what teams are willing to give up except that Miami doesn't want to give up Ware. What are teams realistically willing to give up for Durant? I really don't know. I would think he has more value than Jimmy but the return for Butler wasn't exactly massive although I don't think Miami did bad all things considered.

One thing that does sometimes get lost in the Gobert deal is the Connelly gave up a lot but he gave up what he wanted in that deal. He didn't give up any of the Wolves young talent unless you want to count Vanderbilt. I think it's fair to fear he will give up too much for Durant but I do think he will have limits on what he will give up to make that happen. We will see. Heck for all we know this could end up dragging on for another 3 weeks or a month despite reporting that it may happen sooner rather than later.

[Lipoli390]

I watched the clip of what Shams actually said about the situation yesterday. It was way less decisive sounding than what the quotes on Twitter made it sound like.

Again keep in mind Paul George didnt want to go to OKC and they traded for him anyway and then he stayed for a couple years and then OKC got a crazy haul for him even though even my cat (who really doesn't care about anything on TV much less sports) knew he was going to the Clippers.

Yeah, my fears of a Durant trade where TC pays too much are still alive. It wasn't very long ago that Wolves were a 52% favorite to have Durant and I trust Vegas more than reporters grinding out stories, especially as teams try to use the media to gain an advantage in negotiations.

I haven't tracked how well Vegas does in these types of situations but mostly I don't care about what they say to be honest. Even if they were right 70 percent of the time that means they were far enough from 100 percent it's not gonna make me be like oh that's what's gonna happen based on their odds.

We have been through enough of these trades of big name players over the past few years to make me think these things are pretty unpredictable. A few months ago during the whole saga Jimmy absolutely wasn't going to GS and then hours later he ended up there and signed a big 2 year extension. What I think we can assume based on the reporting we have is that Durant isn't picking the Wolves and forcing his way there. There is reporting that the Suns aren't willing to do Durant any favors so maybe Durant has more interest in coming here than has been reported but the Suns aren't thrilled with one of the pieces that the Wolves are offering. Still it doesn't seem like the Wolves have any advantage there. I don't know if we have much legit reporting of what teams are willing to give up except that Miami doesn't want to give up Ware. What are teams realistically willing to give up for Durant? I really don't know. I would think he has more value than Jimmy but the return for Butler wasn't exactly massive although I don't think Miami did bad all things considered.

One thing that does sometimes get lost in the Gobert deal is the Connelly gave up a lot but he gave up what he wanted in that deal. He didn't give up any of the Wolves young talent unless you want to count Vanderbilt. I think it's fair to fear he will give up too much for Durant but I do think he will have limits on what he will give up to make that happen. We will see. Heck for all we know this could end up dragging on for another 3 weeks or a month despite reporting that it may happen sooner rather than later.

That’s a great take on the current situation, Monster. At this point I think I’ll be surprised if I’m not surprised. The Butler to GS example is a great one. No one saw that one coming and as I recall Jimmy didn’t want to go there.

Like KG4, I’m worried about a TC overpay for Durant. You make a good point that TC did not give up any core players for Rudy, but as we know he gave up a ton of picks and the players he included were rotation players, not some slugs on the end of the bench. So he gave up a lot. I think TC misjudged or overestimated what other teams were willing to offer and he failed to fully account for the opportunity costs - i.e., what he could have acquired for just a portion of those picks and rotation players to improve what was already a 46-win team whose best player was barely 20 years old. But that’s water under the bridge. I just don’t want to see history repeat itself, although I think trading for a 30-year old Rudy Gobert at the time made more sense than trading for a 37-year old Durant now.

We have two very nice picks this year when the draft is particularly loaded with nice center prospects - a position of need going forward as we transition away from Rudy. Meanwhile our draft cupboard is pretty bare going forward, which makes our picks and young players even more valuable to us than to other teams. I wouldn’t give up either of our two picks for a 37 year old short-term player. And I wouldn’t give up TSJ, Dilly or Clark for Durant either. Regarding our picks, I’d rather keep them, trade them for 1st round picks in 2027 when we have no picks or possibly package one of them for a younger, longer-term rotation player like Derrick White.

I like where the Wolves are at. We’ve been in two consecutive Conference Finals. We obviously need something to get us over the hump and into the Finals but I don’t have a good sense of exactly what that is. Maybe it’s just further maturation of Ant, Jaden and Naz. Perhaps is Dilly and TSJ getting more minutes and breaking through. Maybe it’s Donte having a better season after a down season for him. Maybe it’s all or some combination of the above. Or maybe we need to move on from Randle in a sign-and-trade that nets a good rotation player who can help us in key areas - shot creation, rebounding. In any event, I don’t see this off-season as a time to swing for the fences or chase aging big-name stars. Let other teams do that. History shows us the teams that succeed in their pursuit of trades for aging stars tend to fail miserably — the Nets (Durant, Harden), Clippers (Paul George who actually wasn’t that old), Suns (Durant), Bucks (Lillard).

To be fair, the Bucks did well in their trade for Jrue Holiday, giving up Bledsoe, George Hill, the 24th pick in 2020 and two future 2nd rounders. So it can work out well. But the Bucks didn’t really give up much (only one 1st round picks at #24) and a couple good but not needle-moving players with no remaining upside. I’ll note also that Holiday was only 30 years old and still in his prime at the time. Interestingly, the Wolves did better with the Rudy acquisition than most teams, but Rudy was only 30 then and there was no indication of issues with his durability or any decline in his game. (But I still think we gave up far too much). .

One thing for sure — this will be an interesting summer for the wolves.

[FNG]

I also like where we're at. Two consecutive conference finals, two draft picks in the top 31, a team with no drama that genuinely seems to like each other, some young talent that hasn't been able to find much court time but has shown some promise, and the ability to bring everyone (or nearly everyone) back if that is the course TC wants to take. He should be given a lot of credit for steering us to where we are right now. And I'm fairly confident he will make some good decisions this critical offseason, whether it be keeping the band together or making trades to improve us. I felt pretty good about our future in mid June last year, but better today.

[Q-is-here]

Yeah, my fears of a Durant trade where TC pays too much are still alive. It wasn't very long ago that Wolves were a 52% favorite to have Durant and I trust Vegas more than reporters grinding out stories, especially as teams try to use the media to gain an advantage in negotiations.

I haven't tracked how well Vegas does in these types of situations but mostly I don't care about what they say to be honest. Even if they were right 70 percent of the time that means they were far enough from 100 percent it's not gonna make me be like oh that's what's gonna happen based on their odds.

We have been through enough of these trades of big name players over the past few years to make me think these things are pretty unpredictable. A few months ago during the whole saga Jimmy absolutely wasn't going to GS and then hours later he ended up there and signed a big 2 year extension. What I think we can assume based on the reporting we have is that Durant isn't picking the Wolves and forcing his way there. There is reporting that the Suns aren't willing to do Durant any favors so maybe Durant has more interest in coming here than has been reported but the Suns aren't thrilled with one of the pieces that the Wolves are offering. Still it doesn't seem like the Wolves have any advantage there. I don't know if we have much legit reporting of what teams are willing to give up except that Miami doesn't want to give up Ware. What are teams realistically willing to give up for Durant? I really don't know. I would think he has more value than Jimmy but the return for Butler wasn't exactly massive although I don't think Miami did bad all things considered.

One thing that does sometimes get lost in the Gobert deal is the Connelly gave up a lot but he gave up what he wanted in that deal. He didn't give up any of the Wolves young talent unless you want to count Vanderbilt. I think it's fair to fear he will give up too much for Durant but I do think he will have limits on what he will give up to make that happen. We will see. Heck for all we know this could end up dragging on for another 3 weeks or a month despite reporting that it may happen sooner rather than later.

That’s a great take on the current situation, Monster. At this point I think I’ll be surprised if I’m not surprised. The Butler to GS example is a great one. No one saw that one coming and as I recall Jimmy didn’t want to go there.

Like KG4, I’m worried about a TC overpay for Durant. You make a good point that TC did not give up any core players for Rudy, but as we know he gave up a ton of picks and the players he included were rotation players, not some slugs on the end of the bench. So he gave up a lot. I think TC misjudged or overestimated what other teams were willing to offer and he failed to fully account for the opportunity costs - i.e., what he could have acquired for just a portion of those picks and rotation players to improve what was already a 46-win team whose best player was barely 20 years old. But that’s water under the bridge. I just don’t want to see history repeat itself, although I think trading for a 30-year old Rudy Gobert at the time made more sense than trading for a 37-year old Durant now.

We have two very nice picks this year when the draft is particularly loaded with nice center prospects - a position of need going forward as we transition away from Rudy. Meanwhile our draft cupboard is pretty bare going forward, which makes our picks and young players even more valuable to us than to other teams. I wouldn’t give up either of our two picks for a 37 year old short-term player. And I wouldn’t give up TSJ, Dilly or Clark for Durant either. Regarding our picks, I’d rather keep them, trade them for 1st round picks in 2027 when we have no picks or possibly package one of them for a younger, longer-term rotation player like Derrick White.

I like where the Wolves are at. We’ve been in two consecutive Conference Finals. We obviously need something to get us over the hump and into the Finals but I don’t have a good sense of exactly what that is. Maybe it’s just further maturation of Ant, Jaden and Naz. Perhaps is Dilly and TSJ getting more minutes and breaking through. Maybe it’s Donte having a better season after a down season for him. Maybe it’s all or some combination of the above. Or maybe we need to move on from Randle in a sign-and-trade that nets a good rotation player who can help us in key areas - shot creation, rebounding. In any event, I don’t see this off-season as a time to swing for the fences or chase aging big-name stars. Let other teams do that. History shows us the teams that succeed in their pursuit of trades for aging stars tend to fail miserably — the Nets (Durant, Harden), Clippers (Paul George who actually wasn’t that old), Suns (Durant), Bucks (Lillard).

To be fair, the Bucks did well in their trade for Jrue Holiday, giving up Bledsoe, George Hill, the 24th pick in 2020 and two future 2nd rounders. So it can work out well. But the Bucks didn’t really give up much (only one 1st round picks at #24) and a couple good but not needle-moving players with no remaining upside. I’ll note also that Holiday was only 30 years old and still in his prime at the time. Interestingly, the Wolves did better with the Rudy acquisition than most teams, but Rudy was only 30 then and there was no indication of issues with his durability or any decline in his game. (But I still think we gave up far too much). .

One thing for sure — this will be an interesting summer for the wolves.

Lip, You've made a good case for not trading for Durant. And unlike KG4Ever, you actually have the humility to acknowledge the tremendous results Rudy Gobert helped deliver for this franchise even though you didn't like the trade at the time.

I think most fans, if given a choice, would prefer a team that is mostly put together via the draft, with a couple of shrewd trades and free agent signings to round things out.

[BloopOracle]

Kevin Durant is scheming with Tim Connelly behind the scenes, Minnesota is has the best offer but the Suns are trying to squeeze out more. KD has told Tim he will extend, but said the opposite to insiders. That allows Tim to not only avoid adding to the deal, he can also vocally waffle about actually lowering it to scare the Suns into accepting.

[Crazysauce]

Bloop; my son and I thought the same thing. Seems weird all of a sudden that Durant doesn't want to come play with Ant. I mean seriously who wouldn't want to play with Ant. I think this could be posturing and we wouldn't need to include TSJ or Dilly in the deal.

[FNG]

Bloop; my son and I thought the same thing. Seems weird all of a sudden that Durant doesn't want to come play with Ant. I mean seriously who wouldn't want to play with Ant. I think this could be posturing and we wouldn't need to include TSJ or Dilly in the deal.

Crazy, KD hasn’t said he doesn’t want to go play with Ant, only that his preferred destinations are Houston and San Antonio. It could be a climate thing. Or it could be that Houston and San Antonio have a better chance of competing for a chip than we do considering what each team would have to give up. He’s a smart vet, and he knows the wolves will struggle defensively if Rudy’s gone. Or it could be that he wants to go somewhere where he knows he will be the man and high scorer. Even with wemby, KD would be the first option in SA, but he knows the wolves are Ant’s team. There are a lot of reasons we might not be his first choice.

[kekgeek]

Bloop; my son and I thought the same thing. Seems weird all of a sudden that Durant doesn't want to come play with Ant. I mean seriously who wouldn't want to play with Ant. I think this could be posturing and we wouldn't need to include TSJ or Dilly in the deal.

Crazy, KD hasn’t said he doesn’t want to go play with Ant, only that his preferred destinations are Houston and San Antonio. It could be a climate thing. Or it could be that Houston and San Antonio have a better chance of competing for a chip than we do considering what each team would have to give up. He’s a smart vet, and he knows the wolves will struggle defensively if Rudy’s gone. Or it could be that he wants to go somewhere where he knows he will be the man and high scorer. Even with wemby, KD would be the first option in SA, but he knows the wolves are Ant’s team. There are a lot of reasons we might not be his first choice.

At the end of the day 99.89% of players care about is money. There is no state income tax in Texas or Florida. Also it is reported the wolves do not want to give KD an extension.

Money is what matters to the majority of the players

[Wolves21]

I can bet you 100% the Wolves are not trading for KD nor do they want to trade for him. If they wanted him a trade would have already been agree too or happen. He going to either San Antonio or Houston.

[Monster]

Bloop; my son and I thought the same thing. Seems weird all of a sudden that Durant doesn't want to come play with Ant. I mean seriously who wouldn't want to play with Ant. I think this could be posturing and we wouldn't need to include TSJ or Dilly in the deal.

Crazy, KD hasn’t said he doesn’t want to go play with Ant, only that his preferred destinations are Houston and San Antonio. It could be a climate thing. Or it could be that Houston and San Antonio have a better chance of competing for a chip than we do considering what each team would have to give up. He’s a smart vet, and he knows the wolves will struggle defensively if Rudy’s gone. Or it could be that he wants to go somewhere where he knows he will be the man and high scorer. Even with wemby, KD would be the first option in SA, but he knows the wolves are Ant’s team. There are a lot of reasons we might not be his first choice.

At the end of the day 99.89% of players care about is money. There is no state income tax in Texas or Florida. Also it is reported the wolves do not want to give KD an extension.

Money is what matters to the majority of the players

I think the issue with Money for the Wolves is that I kinda doubt they are like yeah we are gonna trade for you then pay 60 million a year (or maybe even 50) beyond this season. Butler wanted to go somewhere he would get paid and GS reportedly was like hell no but then they caved. Well I think both GS and Butler kinda caved to some extent. No taxes doesn't hurt but if those franchises are willing to pay Durant 10-20 million a year more on an extension than the Wolves then...yeah and the Texas teams are currently pretty talented.