Kevin Durant Rumors

[Coolbreeze44]

Whether we stay in the Durant chase or not, I'm pretty confident TC is going to make a big deal this summer. At the risk of being redundant, I can't see us running back the Randle-Gobert combination. Something is going to happen and I'm here for it.

[rapsuperstar31]

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 Ant does pretty well for himself with all of his endorsements. Would be a lot of co-endorsement opportunities playing with Ant.

[Monster]

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.

Of course the problem with the kinda sorta run it back idea is we don't know if we can bring everyone back. Even just losing NAW would be something and Naz isn't sure to come back. Now I think with TSJ Dillingham and Clark on the roster plus still having draft picks and FA to help address that spot helps. Losing NAW. Of course having most everyone back guys might play even better together but there is also the concern that Conley drops off again.

[BloopOracle]

Updated Vegas odds this afternoon

Timberwolves: +160
Heat: +240
Rockets: +350
Spurs: +400
Raptors: +1200

[Monster]

Whether we stay in the Durant chase or not, I'm pretty confident TC is going to make a big deal this summer. At the risk of being redundant, I can't see us running back the Randle-Gobert combination. Something is going to happen and I'm here for it.

Yeah I think something will happen. I'm not sure the Gobert Randle thing is the issue that needs to be resolved but Connelly seems plenty willing to try and improve the roster one way or another. It just seems to me the Wolves need to add one more impact player to the roster and or one of the young guys really emerge. I don't know what the move that needs to happen but yeah I see something happening.

[Lipoli390]

Whether we stay in the Durant chase or not, I'm pretty confident TC is going to make a big deal this summer. At the risk of being redundant, I can't see us running back the Randle-Gobert combination. Something is going to happen and I'm here for it.

Yeah I think something will happen. I'm not sure the Gobert Randle thing is the issue that needs to be resolved but Connelly seems plenty willing to try and improve the roster one way or another. It just seems to me the Wolves need to add one more impact player to the roster and or one of the young guys really emerge. I don't know what the move that needs to happen but yeah I see something happening.

I’m not sure. I was listening to TC’s post-season presser again. One thing I noticed is that he went out of his way to emphasize the importance of patience. I took some time to write down exactly what he said in that regard. Here it is: “I’m always going to err on the side of continuity getting over the hump. I think patience in professional sports is largely nonexistent and those organizations that show patience tend to have really high levels of success. But patience shouldn’t lead to risk aversion. If there’s something that shakes things up and it makes us a better team we’re certainly open to that.”

My overall take-away is this: I think TC sincerely believes swapping Randle, Rudy or both for Durant is the sort of “shake it up” move that would make us a better team and get the Wolves over the hump. And that’s why we see the Wolves repeatedly identified as one of only three teams pushing hard to get him. That’s also why I’m concerned that TC will give up too much. Then I come back to TC’s comment that he “is always going to err on the side of continuity” and his emphasis on the connection between patience and high levels of success. That tells me TC isn’t LOOKING to shake things up. Instead, he’s WILLING to shake things up for one player (Durant), and perhaps one or two others, who he considers worth shaking things up to acquire. Derrick White and De’Aaron Fox are a couple other guys he might have in mind.

This reminds me a bit of three years ago. I remember first seeing reports that TC was pursing a possible deal for DeJounte Murray. Then the Rudy deal came out of nowhere. If Durant goes elsewhere then maybe a deal for some other guy, not White or Fox, will come out of nowhere. There’s no doubt TC is open to a big deal, but I don’t think he’s intent on making one. I strongly suspect he has a list of maybe three guys he’d consider shaking things up to get and if he can’t get one of those three, he’ll run it back for the most part.

[kekgeek]

The Phoenix Suns are not ‘excited’ about the current offers they’re receiving from the Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, and Houston Rockets, per @WindhorstESPN

[kekgeek]

The team that has been most aggressive on Kevin Durant is Minnesota.

-Per @WindhorstESPN on ESPN

From this morning

[Lipoli390]

The team that has been most aggressive on Kevin Durant is Minnesota.

-Per @WindhorstESPN on ESPN

From this morning

Interesting news. I applaud Houston, Miami and San Antonio for not offering anything that excites the Suns. The Wolves should follow suit. Durant isn’t close to the value he once was when the Nets and Suns gave up premium asset packages to get him. Yet neither the Nets nor Suns made Conference Finals, much less the NBA finals. Now at age 37 he still brings with him a premium salary, which is all the more reason not to give up much to get him. If we could get him for Randle and Minott or Rudy and Minott, then fine. That wouldn’t excite the Suns but they have no right or reason to expect a return package that excites them.

[Monster]

The team that has been most aggressive on Kevin Durant is Minnesota.

-Per @WindhorstESPN on ESPN

From this morning

Interesting news. I applaud Houston, Miami and San Antonio for not offering anything that excites the Suns. The Wolves should follow suit. Durant isn’t close to the value he once was when the Nets and Suns gave up premium asset packages to get him. Yet neither the Nets nor Suns made Conference Finals, much less the NBA finals. Now at age 37 he still brings with him a premium salary, which is all the more reason not to give up much to get him. If we could get him for Randle and Minott or Rudy and Minott, then fine. That wouldn’t excite the Suns but they have no right or reason to expect a return package that excites them.

What does aggressive mean? It could be they are calling the Suns every 6 minutes asking if they are willing to agree to a sign and trade of Evan Turner and 2047 and 2057 2nd round picks. Lol obviously the Wolves are offering more than that but it could mean the Wolves are trying various ideas that gets something more of what the Suns want without giving up as much of what they want.

If the Suns aren't getting what they want they don't need to agree to a deal tonight or whatever. They probably want to get it resolved sooner rather than later and so do the teams looking to acquire him so they can make plans for the draft and FA etc. The draft is over a week away a lengthy time at this point since we know teams have likely already talked to the Suns.