Spurs have been fattening Castle all season for a Durant trade. I just dont think they have the assets to pull it off. Fits them perfectly right now as no one on that team can shoot.
Why do people still believe this noise? The dynamic here hasn’t changed. PHX reporters have been putting out that HOU “maaaybe is going to trade a lot for KD” since around the deadline. Gambadoro + this Shams report is repeating the same thing. Gambadoro is a literal Ishbia mouthpiece. This is PHX is trying to build leverage to get the most they can in a KD trade from others, after they failed trading him to GSW. HOU has the most assets. So they want HOU in the running as a boogeyman to leverage other teams. PHX has zero leverage otherwise so they have to try to create it from scratch. Meanwhile the reporting and sourcing from the HOU side + Marc Stein + Bontemps/McMahon etc have consistently said HOU isn’t interested in KD. Common sense says the same. PHX called HOU not the other way around etc. I mean, obviously HOU people aren’t leaking trade plans in the middle of our playoff run lol. This is just PHX making a market.
they have all the assetsnto pull it off. if the Spurs want Durant and Durant oks it, they are easily in the driver seat.
What assets? the 8, the 15 and Castle? None of that projects to be anything more than a role player. I'd probably take something with more upside though I do think the Suns end game has to be getting their picks back from the Rockets. If the market is dry for him though then I could see the Suns blinking and trading him to the Spurs though I feel teams like Portland or Memphis could offer a lot more value. Maybe Atlanta or Orlando who also could use him. Dallas also fits but I don't know what they could possibly offer. Would we entertain facilitating a Durant to Dallas deal where the Suns get their 9 overall pick back and another 1st and a 1st from Dallas plus salary filler and we get Derrick Lively? Maybe that's too much for Lively and we just draft the Maryland kid.
Yeah and Giannis is mostly a defensive guy with great passing skills. He would be the player to play under Ime Udoka.
Why would we give up 2 picks and all the filler (likely some combination of FVV, Jock, Jeff) for Derrick Lively to be the 3rd center? 9th pick we can get that 3rd center ourselves. Maluach, Derrick Queen, Sorber etc
You don’t think the 8th pick and Castle is a better option than the 9th pick and FVV? The Spurs have Atlanta’s frp unprotected in 2 different years. The argument was all we would offer is FVV and 1 Phoenix pick. We could outbid them, but it would be a horrible overpay.
Here are the first round picks that San Antonio has remaining: Own: 6 of their next 7 Two unprotected from Atlanta (2025 and 2027) Swap rights: Atlanta (2026) Swap rights: Boston (2028, top-1 protected) Swap rights: More favorable of Dallas and Minnesota (top-1 protected) (2030) Swap rights: Sacramento (2031) Spoiler Vassell $27M Barnes $19M Johnson $17.5M Sochan $7M Branham $4.9M Wesley $4.7M Don’t even think they’d need to give up Castle (similar to the deal for Fox, 3 poo-poo picks, salary filler) “None of those guys are any good.” … Well yeah, they aren’t getting the package they gave up.
Like Kyrie >>> 1.5 picks and a role player will be the price for Durant. Durant will negotiate down from his 2 years and $120m extension. Durant is the cheapest person we can acquire who solves our exact specific problems on the court without causing new problems on the court. You can give him the ball in the playoffs and in crunch time. We can get him without needing to give up a key young player from the second seed. He's a major upgrade on FVV and he will not want to bring the ball up unlike Harden for example. He's deadly on and off ball from the mid range and the perimeter and he plays defense with huge wingspan. He's the right fit if we discover we need him after these playoffs. I think Udoka and Ivey want him. The players look up to him. I believe this is a less risky investment that sending 4-5 picks for a DeAron Fox level player. It fits perfectly in our plan. In 2 seasons Amen/Green/Sengun will be in their prime, we may not even need a replacement for Durant.
Durant will not come here if we give up the core guys. Expect Eason / Whitmore / Brooks or FVV to be dealt. Picks.
Giving up a guy isnt a big deal cuz with KD making the max somebody will have to go eventually. KD is very risky cuz his bday is in September, he will be 39 by next year and 41 when its time for his extension. He is also extremely injury prone stepped on Jabari and is our for the season.
