I don't know if I see this front office trading KD, but I honestly think they should as long as it doesn't turn into some kind of fiasco. Not even because of the burner account stuff, just because I don't think we're legitimate contenders next season, and I think he's a career-ending injury waiting to happen. We should get what we can for him now and kind of do a soft retool at a bare minimum. The problem is it's hard to find a deal that sounds really appealing because you generally have to match his $43.9 million salary, except for the few teams that have cap space. Most realistic ones I can see right now: 1) Sign-and-trade to the Lakers for Austin Reaves. I could maybe see them doing this, especially if LeBron decides to stay for one more run at a championship? It depends on what they decide regarding Reaves' long-term fit and what other offers they have on the table. 2) Trade to the 76ers for Paul George + draft compensation. I could see Morey being interested, maybe, but PG's contract would really put us in a tight spot financially. How much do we value the picks they have on offer? They do control the Clippers' unprotected 2028 pick, which could turn out to be high lottery. 3) Trade to the Magic for Jalen Suggs or Desmond Bane. Either guy would fit okay with what we do, but I'm not sure KD would be interested in playing for Orlando, or that they'd be interested in 38-year-old KD. If they were looking to get off of Paolo, that also technically works, but his fit on our team would be really, really bad, and I hope we don't do anything like that because I don't think he'll ever be a championship-caliber #1 option. 4) Trade to the Heat for Tyler Herro + whatever. Herro's been very injury-prone, and him and Amen have beef. But he would I guess fill that shotmaking hole from KD's departure. If we could get Kel'el Ware that package would be very enticing, but depends on whether the Miami front office values him as highly as their fans do. KD would probably be willing to play for them, question mark? 5) Trade to the Clippers into cap space for draft compensation. I could see them being interested, and this kind of makes sense as a salary dump / get something back kind of deal, but they don't have much in the way of draft picks. I guess it could maybe get us back into the 2026 draft. Would probably be hard for the fans to stomach getting ""nothing"" (or just a bench player or something) back for a player of KD's caliber in terms of immediate rotational help. Unlikely, but you never know: Cavs, Celtics, Knicks, Raptors, Pistons, Nuggets -- weird fits, hard to match salaries, the players we'd want from them are probably untouchable, etc. Anything I'm missing?
