I’m not including Bari in the trade. by the time KD is off the books we can sign Bari to a decent deal.
Repost, Tari's value at $3-5 Million has exceeded his contract and likely will even with a rookie extension. These are the high impact value players that you scout for to help steal games and potentially tip the scales to win playoff series in the future. 37-40 year old Durant as a rental at his salary is absolutely not worth trading our young core guys, for thier value and flexibility long term. Yeah, these guys are going to be high value extensions, which you keep imo. And have proven to have very high impact in games and over the years.
Houston is the only trade partner that actually makes sense. They need their picks because nobody they trade for will actually make them contenders. Durant wants Hou. PHX wants Hou and Stone better understand that. The trade that makes sense is Booker for picks and filler/Green. Then they can offload Durant for whatever **** package the Heat or Spurs have. Houston has all leverage. If stone gives up any of its core then he failed massively. Remember, Houston doesn’t have to do anything. There’s a viable solution that there core internally gets better and they compete for a championship for the next 4-7 years. I truly don’t think this trade is likely for Durant. Booker makes 10x more sense logically.
Booker makes more sense but if he wants that 60-70 million dollar extension it would be a hard no for me.
I don’t like the odds of our core improving enough to compete for a title. It is possible, but still unlikely. We need Amen to become a three level scorer or Tari to become Kawhi like. Both of those high end outcomes are difficult, but possible. The most likely result is both of them improve a good but, but that is still not enough to become a top 10-15 player. I would put the most hope in Amen of course. Sengun is really good, but not a superstar. I don’t see either of those happening next season, so the earliest we would really develop enough to oontend for a title is the following year. We get closer to young guys needing to get paid and our depth getting too expensive to keep. Adams is another year older and we are in year 2 of a team friendly contract, so the double big advantage is eroding and doesn’t have a long shelf life. We don’t know if another superstar will shake loose, and we might not be able to outbid other teams like SA or OKC. The path to a title is pretty dang murky. **** I would definitely deal JG, Jabari and the 10th pick and filler for KD. It brings in another high upside variable that accelerates our timetable to next season. For the 25-26 season, there is a scenario where KD remains a top 10 player, amen, tari, sengun improve enough that we can contend. We improve in every way possible - outside shooting, efficiency, defense (KD remains an outstanding defensive option), scoring in isolation, scoring close and late. The floor spacing alone lets us see what Amen, sengun and Tari can become with proper outside shooting around them. If KD falls off the face of the earth, well, we are a play in or low seeded playoff team. And we are waiting on the PHX 2027 draft pick. For the 26-27 season, we are looking for amen and/or Tari to move into superstar status. KD has a wide range of outcomes. - still top 15-20 player on the high end, and injured and useless on the lowest end. If the latter happens, we are screwed because he is occupying a lot of salary and we are on the hook for one more year. Again a lower seeded playoff team, waiting on reinforcements. If the former happens, we are that much closer to a title. At this point, amen is likely a max player, sengun gets extended further, tari gets paid if health and performance warrant. TLDR. - I just have a hard time seeing a path to contention with just internal development.
If your trade JG, Bari and the 10th... you have Sengun, Durant, Brooks, Amen and FVV. Adams, Jeff G, Tari, Cam, Holiday or Reed. Looks good it's just when Durant, Adams and Tari aren't playing a lot of the season...
I agree that Booker makes more sense. In a way, the Suns being so unhappy with the Durant offers maybe makes a Booker trade easier to pull off because those offers will look a lot closer to what they are looking for. You start by returning all of their picks and offer them every player not named Amen or Sengun and tell them to make the money work how they want and then you work from there with deciding how many of the 5 other young guys you'll throw in and how many picks on top of the three Phoenix assets (#10, 2027 FRP and 2029 swap).
I actually find it highly likely Sengun on Thompson end up being good enough. And I don’t mean that in the Joker/SGA sense. But I do mean that in the Halliburton sense. Green and Shepp also represent outline chances for somebody that could eventually fill this role. so I do think that we have someone on our roster. We just have to see what happens over the next couple years. supplementing with Durant is fine. If we think that Durant fixes everything for us, why not look at Harden? I’m also thinking that Houston hangs around and then takes one more late stab at Booker. Matching his salary, giving up a young player and then giving Phoenix their draft back. Green/Cam/Jock/2027 first/2029 first for Booker. They trade Durant to wherever and they begin to tank. We keep #10 and go a few different ways w/it.
Booker makes infinitely more sense than Durant does, but not if they don't want Jalen Green. If that is true, I'm not sure how it would get done without a third team. Either way, this is about Durant unfortunately. Even if it probably shouldn't be.
What pseudo psychology? What's up with you? This is such a weird fixation. Don't read it if you don't like it. Thanks.
I hope Stone shock us and flips FVV, Jock, #10 for KD.....Fred free up money next year for PHX and he helps with winning now. The JG trade package isnt working Stone. move on.
I just don’t think it is. Who are the Suns going to get back that’s going to flip the franchise around? Nobody. Who’s the only trade partner that can give them back their future? I just don’t see another way. Durant trade value is almost nothing.
Your wishful thinking of FVV getting traded is not happening. If the Rockets get KD it is a win now move. They are not going to trade their veteran point guard even if he’s overpaid and overplayed. Fred actually won us a lot of games and stepped up when Jalen was sh**** the bed. He just needs to be managed better by Ime.
Why do we want to make a trade with the suns, that could make them better for the next few years, while aimulataneously making our best assets worse? Let durant goto miami and focus on improving the roster elsewhere.
And the truth is I think it is Durant behind the scenes trying to make it to Houston but they (Phoenix) are dragging it out.
When players try to push their way to Houston once Houston establishes itself as a top tier team the league always drags it out. Carmelo, Jimmy B, Chris Bosh, Durant before he chose GS... it goes on and on...
What's funny is some people look for hidden gem players on other teams, like some of the trade proposals you might see. But other teams are looking at Tari, Jabari, Reed, Cam etc. as the hidden gems they can develop. We already have them, don't take them for granted just because you have seen them a couple years at the start of their careers. As mentioned there are countless examples of teams that moved young players who hit their stride in their prime years, NBA players hit prime years after 25 typically. I can give the Spurs some credit, they are basically saying we're going to develop our young core and offer garbage take it or leave it. They understand the long game, as the Duncan Spurs won by developing their young talent over years and home grown role players like rookie Kawhi. Playing the long game, making smaller moves that make sense and not being impatient increase your odds of success long term.
