Kevin Durant Rumors

[BloopOracle]

A lot of chatter going on, Brian Windhorst, Sam Amico, and now Johnny K. All pushing KD rumors to the Wolves while reminding everyone how serious Minnesota was during the trade deadline. For what it's worth to those who don't want Durant, John K said just a little over an hour ago not to worry about McDaniels being included in a trade.

[KG4Ever]

I'm all for signing him in free agency in another year. Phoenix gave up so much to get him, that I think they need to try and recoup half what they gave up but not sure I want to trade anything that would interest Phoenix apart from possibly some combination of pick 17, Minott, DiVincenzo, NAW and Naz. Of course, I would want to send out Ju, who Phoenix can unload in a year in a salary dump. I think other teams can put together packages more interesting to the Suns, so I think we express interest hoping he might want to join Ant in another year and hope he refuses to sign an extension unless he gets traded to Minnesota.

PS: I haven't found a Durant trade that is acceptable in the ESPN trade machine. I even got the collective salaries within 60K and it wouldn't work. Both teams are in second apron assuming the eligible players opt in. Anyone find a trade that passes muster in the trade machine?

[kekgeek]

I'm all for signing him in free agency in another year. Phoenix gave up so much to get him, that I think they need to try and recoup half what they gave up but not sure I want to trade anything that would interest Phoenix apart from possibly some combination of pick 17, Minott, DiVincenzo, NAW and Naz. Of course, I would want to send out Ju, who Phoenix can unload in a year in a salary dump. I think other teams can put together packages more interesting to the Suns, so I think we express interest hoping he might want to join Ant in another year and hope he refuses to sign an extension unless he gets traded to Minnesota.

PS: I haven't found a Durant trade that is acceptable in the ESPN trade machine. I even got the collective salaries within 60K and it wouldn't work. Both teams are in second apron assuming the eligible players opt in. Anyone find a trade that passes muster in the trade machine?

Use the Spotrac trade machine. ESPN is super outdated. Also the wolves will be out of the second apron once this league year ends.

[60WinTim]

I'm all for signing him in free agency in another year. Phoenix gave up so much to get him, that I think they need to try and recoup half what they gave up but not sure I want to trade anything that would interest Phoenix apart from possibly some combination of pick 17, Minott, DiVincenzo, NAW and Naz. Of course, I would want to send out Ju, who Phoenix can unload in a year in a salary dump. I think other teams can put together packages more interesting to the Suns, so I think we express interest hoping he might want to join Ant in another year and hope he refuses to sign an extension unless he gets traded to Minnesota.

PS: I haven't found a Durant trade that is acceptable in the ESPN trade machine. I even got the collective salaries within 60K and it wouldn't work. Both teams are in second apron assuming the eligible players opt in. Anyone find a trade that passes muster in the trade machine?

Yeah, it is not feasible to concoct a trade between the Suns and Wolves with both teams in the 2nd apron. The trade can only occur once the new financial year starts in July. The Suns will still be a 2nd apron team, but the Wolves will no longer be in the 2nd apron, so they can trade multiple players for a single player where that player makes more than the salaries of the outgoing players.

The most important piece of making it work is Ju picking up his option, which seems like a foregone conclusion. The Wolves then need to add another 13 mil in salaries to make it work. It sounds like Conley has a no-trade handshake. So that leaves DDV and one of the kids. Another scenario would be Dilly and 3 of the kids.

But my favorite scenario is this: Ju, a sign-and-trade of NAW at the full MLE, and 3 of our worthless kids - Garza, Minott and Miller. Get 'er done, TC!

[BloopOracle]

Fingers crossed that KD tells teams he will only sign an extension with the Wolves so the prices goes down

[60WinTim]

Fingers crossed that KD tells teams he will only sign an extension with the Wolves so the prices goes down

I forgot to mention that we almost surely lose NAZ to free agency. Our roster would have to be filled out with our two draft picks and vet minimum FAs.

[kekgeek]

I'm all for signing him in free agency in another year. Phoenix gave up so much to get him, that I think they need to try and recoup half what they gave up but not sure I want to trade anything that would interest Phoenix apart from possibly some combination of pick 17, Minott, DiVincenzo, NAW and Naz. Of course, I would want to send out Ju, who Phoenix can unload in a year in a salary dump. I think other teams can put together packages more interesting to the Suns, so I think we express interest hoping he might want to join Ant in another year and hope he refuses to sign an extension unless he gets traded to Minnesota.

PS: I haven't found a Durant trade that is acceptable in the ESPN trade machine. I even got the collective salaries within 60K and it wouldn't work. Both teams are in second apron assuming the eligible players opt in. Anyone find a trade that passes muster in the trade machine?

Yeah, it is not feasible to concoct a trade between the Suns and Wolves with both teams in the 2nd apron. The trade can only occur once the new financial year starts in July. The Suns will still be a 2nd apron team, but the Wolves will no longer be in the 2nd apron, so they can trade multiple players for a single player where that player makes more than the salaries of the outgoing players.

The most important piece of making it work is Ju picking up his option, which seems like a foregone conclusion. The Wolves then need to add another 13 mil in salaries to make it work. It sounds like Conley has a no-trade handshake. So that leaves DDV and one of the kids. Another scenario would be Dilly and 3 of the kids.

But my favorite scenario is this: Ju, a sign-and-trade of NAW at the full MLE, and 3 of our worthless kids - Garza, Minott and Miller. Get 'er done, TC!

I’m pretty positive you can not combine salaries in a sign and trade. So Naw/Naz can not be involved

[60WinTim]

I'm all for signing him in free agency in another year. Phoenix gave up so much to get him, that I think they need to try and recoup half what they gave up but not sure I want to trade anything that would interest Phoenix apart from possibly some combination of pick 17, Minott, DiVincenzo, NAW and Naz. Of course, I would want to send out Ju, who Phoenix can unload in a year in a salary dump. I think other teams can put together packages more interesting to the Suns, so I think we express interest hoping he might want to join Ant in another year and hope he refuses to sign an extension unless he gets traded to Minnesota.

PS: I haven't found a Durant trade that is acceptable in the ESPN trade machine. I even got the collective salaries within 60K and it wouldn't work. Both teams are in second apron assuming the eligible players opt in. Anyone find a trade that passes muster in the trade machine?

Yeah, it is not feasible to concoct a trade between the Suns and Wolves with both teams in the 2nd apron. The trade can only occur once the new financial year starts in July. The Suns will still be a 2nd apron team, but the Wolves will no longer be in the 2nd apron, so they can trade multiple players for a single player where that player makes more than the salaries of the outgoing players.

The most important piece of making it work is Ju picking up his option, which seems like a foregone conclusion. The Wolves then need to add another 13 mil in salaries to make it work. It sounds like Conley has a no-trade handshake. So that leaves DDV and one of the kids. Another scenario would be Dilly and 3 of the kids.

But my favorite scenario is this: Ju, a sign-and-trade of NAW at the full MLE, and 3 of our worthless kids - Garza, Minott and Miller. Get 'er done, TC!

I’m pretty positive you can not combine salaries in a sign and trade. So Naw/Naz can not be involved

Dang! So much for that idea...

I really don't see a KD trade happening. It just isn't a trade for the future.

[TheFuture]

KD has already said that he's made enough money and just wants to win. That he isn't above signing a vet minimum to do so. Yeah, no way do I give up assets for a potential rental. I say just wait a year and see if he comes here.

[Q-is-here]

Durant vs. Randle:

Durant PPG/Reb/Asst/To per game: 26.6/6.0/4.2/3.1
Randle PPG/Reb/Asst/To per game: 18.7/7.1/4.7/2.8

Durant Net Rating and On/Off Rating: -1.0/+4.2
Randle Net Rating and On/Off Rating: +3.4/-3.7

Durant Defensive Estimated Plus Minus Percentile: 59th
Randle Defensive Estimated Plus Minus Percentile: 49th

Durant 2pt%/3pt%/FT%/TS%: 57%/43%/84%/64%
Randle 2pt%/3pt%/FT%/TS%: 56%/34%/81%/59%

Notes:
- Durant played a couple fewer minutes per game than Randle, for what it's worth

- Durant's Net Rating was the best among Phoenix's starting 5, whereas Randle's was the worst among Minnesota's starting 5. That's some important context. I think the Net On/Off rating is telling too, although in Randle's defense, it was Rudy and Naz on the floor when he was on the bench, which is a pretty damn good big combination.

- Durant is still an elite scorer. To average 27PPG in only 30 MPG on a TS% of 64% is pretty insane and certainly more efficient than Julius and Ant.

- Randle sported a surprisingly better Asst:TO ratio. For a guy that seems to be so efficient in his movements and shooting, Durant sure did turn it over a lot. And he played with Tyus, so it's not like his PG was encouraging the sloppiness.