I'm wondering what any team might give up for an obviously declining Durant on a 4 year deal (His extension doesn't kick in until next year). It also takes $35,295,876 in outgoing salary to match his $44,119,845 cap figure for this year. Looking at his preferred destinations of Miami & PHX .... That's Lowry & Herro plus another ~$2m in guaranteed money (Strus or Yurtseven). Maybe PHX has an easier time matching with a S&T of Ayton to Brooklyn where Ayton can earn up to ~$31m combined with one of Torrey Craig or Cameron Johnson to make the money work. Question is, are these teams willing to sell their souls for an opportunity at a championship in the next 2 years? And are they willing to give up that kind of talent to take on 4 years of Durant who's going to have to be load managed. He's played only 0, 35 & 55 games the past 3 seasons. The Nets rode him hard just to make the playoffs where they were swept by the Celtics with Durant shooting only 38% from the floor and 33% from 3 in 44 minutes per. That contract can easily be just as toxic, if not worse than John Wall's was for us and Westbrook is currently for the Lakers. $44,119,845 $47,649,433 $51,190,021 $54,708,608 I can't see a team giving up $35m in contracts plus a load of draft picks .... This isn't Durant the MVP. They aren't getting a Harden haul in return.
Pheonix is more or less almost passed their window with CP3 getting way up there in age. Switching Durant for Ayton would probably give them the best shot at winning a championship in the near future. So if I were Pheonix I would jump on that trade. But I doubt that the Nets would go for just Ayton - and adding too many players would significantly reduce their chance at a championship and adding too many picks would mean, that they are done in a couple of years without the hope of being relevant again in the near future. But overall a trade Durant - Ayton (plus whatever) seems to make the most sense for both teams.
I think he's saying Durant is VERY thin-skinned & CP3 is VERY demanding as a teammate I agree on both counts Makes for a combustible mix
I think this is the deal that ultimately gets done. Phoenix takes their shot, but will have to give up some picks. Kyrie will be gone too so the Nets look to be pretty bad next year with Simmons, Ayton, Mills and a bunch of guys trying to compete. Unfortunately, they won’t be top 5 bad, but certainly could be a lottery pick. Not sure that will help us next year. Let’s see what they get for Kyrie.
When has Durant been linked directly to the Lakers at all? This is all just media click-baiting Kyrie for Westbrook is the only LAL-BKN connection that makes any sense Guarantee you Durant will not be a Laker
KD is very insecure. GSW just proved they can win without him. Now he's trying to win one without GSW. He's definitely not going LAL. It's a mess there. Kyrie wants to united with his ex. But LAL can't find anyone to take Westbrook without including 1st round pick.
Well Kyrie easily could have by declining his option and walking over and signing with LAL outright as a UFA. so it's on him if he really wanted to reunite with his ex
What am I missing in the Kyrie-Westbrook trade? Why would the Nets do that? Westbrook should be pretty close to being an untradeable contract - at least the Lakers would need to sweeten the deal somehow just to get rid of him. Kyrie is a headcase and unpredictable, but on the court he is without a doubt the way better and more valuable player right now. He should net at least 2 first round picks or one pick and one really promising young guy - without taking on a bad contract. And do the Lakers even have any picks left that they could trade?
I'm sure he won't either. The media is trying to drive this up, based on KD's perceived desire to be traded to the Lakers.
