Kevin Durant Offseason Thread

Sam Ray Not

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I’d still put my money on Kawhi to the Clips, fwiw. Ballmer, Jerry West and Doc v the complete shitshow that is the Lakers brass? I have no idea what makes Kawhi tick, but to the extent players care about legacy and acclaim, he has to consider the league-wide love that would come from him starting his “own team” on the Clips (even if joined by a great #2 guy like Jimmy Butler) vs. the outright scorn he’ll get from joining LeBron and AD on the Lakeshow. (Yeah, KD dealt with said scorn, but if anything that’s been a cautionary lesson.)

As for KD, wishcasting alert, but after all the sturm und drang of the past year my money is (marginally) on the Warriors. I also just think Kawhi on the Clips (with all their young talent), LeBron/AD on the Lakers, and post-Achilles KD on the Warriors would make for better competitive balance, and some ridiculously fun and fierce CA / Pacific Division battles over the next 3-4 years.
 
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The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa

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Get rid of the max salary. Keep the cap. Solves everything (insofar as one agrees the superteam superfriends era is a bad thing).

If Kawhi ends up a Laker, I'm gonna guess there will be serious discussions on max salary reform or elimination.
How about shifting the NBA schedule by 6 months into the warmer months so players won't have to pick destinations based on in-season winter climate.
 

Cellar-Door

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Get rid of the max salary. Keep the cap. Solves everything (insofar as one agrees the superteam superfriends era is a bad thing).

If Kawhi ends up a Laker, I'm gonna guess there will be serious discussions on max salary reform or elimination.
Sure, but that will never happen since 95% of the union would be idiots to agree to it. Far more likely would be to limit the number of combined rookie scale and minimum contracts you can have once the season starts (since limiting maxes would just cause a Miami situation where 2 guys take just under the max)
 

Captaincoop

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How about shifting the NBA schedule by 6 months into the warmer months so players won't have to pick destinations based on in-season winter climate.
There are a lot of problems with that concept, but also, I don't think cold climates are the problem.

If you're a 20-something millionaire, there are some cities that offer promotional opportunities and lifestyle conveniences that 90% of American cities can't offer.

In LA and NYC and Miami (and soon...Vegas) there is a whole layer of celebrity/VIP culture and society that doesn't exist in Sacramento or Boston or Milwaukee.
 

the moops

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As for KD, wishcasting alert, but after all the sturm und drang of the past year my money is (marginally) on the Warriors. I also just think Kawhi on the Clips (with all their young talent), LeBron/AD on the Lakers, and post-Achilles KD on the Warriors would make for better competitive balance, and some ridiculously fun and fierce CA / Pacific Division battles over the next 3-4 years.
You don't get to root for competitive balance after getting the warriors of the past half decade
 

DJnVa

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I also just think Kawhi on the Clips (with all their young talent), LeBron/AD on the Lakers, and post-Achilles KD on the Warriors would make for better competitive balance, and some ridiculously fun and fierce CA / Pacific Division battles over the next 3-4 years.
LOL. Okay, Warriors fan.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Lol, fair. I mean, yeah, I root for my teams to kick everyone’s ass and take names — but *apart from my teams* I root for competitive balance. Anyone here who’s disgusted by Russell’s eleven rings or who rooted for the Giants in the ‘08 Super Bowl, feel free to call out my hypocrisy. ;-P
 

DJnVa

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Lol, fair. I mean, yeah, I root for my teams to kick everyone’s ass and take names — but *apart from my teams* I root for competitive balance. Anyone here who’s disgusted by Russell’s eleven rings or who rooted for the Giants in the ‘08 Super Bowl, feel free to call out my hypocrisy. ;-P
I know you're really not comparing Bill Russell's NBA and lack of FA to today right?
 

Sam Ray Not

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On the abolition of the max salary: generally I support it, though I gotta say in the case of KD one weird side benefit of it is that a busted Achilles didn’t cost him any money. Most teams don’t balk at $35-40M for a diminished KD with a year waiting period (since even 80% KD is better than most max players), whereas I think a lot of teams would balk at the $60-70M he might have commanded if fully healthy in a world with no max salary.
 
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Sam Ray Not

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I know you're really not comparing Bill Russell's NBA and lack of FA to today right?
I’m just saying from a fan perspective I’m pretty sure everyone wants their team to be as overwhelmingly, historically dominant as possible, while rooting for close, entertaining parity for all the other teams. To expect me not to have wanted the Warriors to sign Durant, or to have started rooting against them when they did — or to permanently recuse myself from any further discussion of competitive balance — seems a little unreasonable to me.

That said, fuck the Yankees. :)
 

lovegtm

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I’m just saying from a fan perspective I’m pretty sure everyone wants their team to be as overwhelmingly, historically dominant as possible, while rooting for close, entertaining parity for all the other teams. To expect me not to have wanted the Warriors to sign Durant, or to have started rooting against them when they did — or to permanently recuse myself from any further discussion of competitive balance — seems a little unreasonable to me.

That said, fuck the Yankees. :)
Na all good, it’s always fun to read your wishcasts. Just expect the rest of us to root for max Bay-den-freude. :)
 

bankshot1

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I think one of the weird consequences of the NBA cap rules, which I freely admit to find too Byzantine to understand, is that legally the Warriors can have a payroll of over $300 million, pay the tax, while competitors are largely incapable of competing for talent on the basis of salary.

As for Russell, I recall his most memorable salary demand was to be paid $1 (one) more than Wilt Chamberlain.
Red complied and Bill was paid $100,001.
 

Cellar-Door

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I think one of the weird consequences of the NBA cap rules, which I freely admit to find too Byzantine to understand, is that legally the Warriors can have a payroll of over $300 million, pay the tax, while competitors are largely incapable of competing for talent on the basis of salary.

As for Russell, I recall his most memorable salary demand was to be paid $1 (one) more than Wilt Chamberlain.
Red complied and Bill was paid $100,001.
Well there was a weird year that got them the guys on their team, another team COULD do the same if they had an underpaid star and/or rookie deal stars. The trick is taking advantage of those situations, drafting well, and being willing to pay insane amounts of tax. Like CHA for example, Kemba was making well under half of what he should, 6th highest paid guy on his team despite being the best player in the history of the franchise. Problem is they used their cap space terribly AND can't draft. PHI should be primed for a similar move, they have 2 stars on rookie deals, and added 2 All-Star caliber talents, question is can they convince those guys to stay, and will they pay the tax.
 

bankshot1

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Paying insane amounts of tax is the key. In that respect the Warriors are like the SiaS MFYs.Then the kids took over and tried to hold the line on the luxury tax.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Hmm, notwithstanding the Woj prediction of no formal presentations (or KD’s statement that he “won’t be recruited”) it looks like both Splash Brothers are flying to NYC for the “non-pitch.”

Not sure if I read that more as desperation or as bringing in Uehara...
 

bowiac

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On the abolition of the max salary: generally I support it, though I gotta say in the case of KD one weird side benefit of it is that a busted Achilles didn’t cost him any money. Most teams don’t balk at $35-40M for a diminished KD with a year waiting period (since even 80% KD is better than most max players), whereas I think a lot of teams would balk at the $60-70M he might have commanded if fully healthy in a world with no max salary.
I mean, I assume you were mostly joking here, but the reason this is a "side benefit" is that the existing system is already screwing KD out of earning $60-70M per year.
 

radsoxfan

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I mean, I assume you were mostly joking here, but the reason this is a "side benefit" is that the existing system is already screwing KD out of earning $60-70M per year.
I didn't take it as a joke, and maybe "benefit" is the wrong term, but I get what SRN is saying. Because super-elite players are getting screwed with the max and forced to be underpaid, they can lose a ton of value due to injury, age, or whatever without actually losing any money. I wouldn't really consider that a benefit I guess, but maybe it'll help KD sleep better at night.

I did kind of joke earlier in the thread that CA medical malpractice laws cap pain and suffering at 250K, and big verdicts are reserved for high future medical costs or large loss of future earnings. Hypothetically if his docs did totally screw up (not saying they did), they would benefit from the max also. It would be hard to sue for much money given KD clearly is still going to max out his contract offers. If he went from 60 to 40 million a year due to the Achilles, plenty of lawyers would be a lot more interested in the case.
 
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lars10

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Lol, fair. I mean, yeah, I root for my teams to kick everyone’s ass and take names — but *apart from my teams* I root for competitive balance. Anyone here who’s disgusted by Russell’s eleven rings or who rooted for the Giants in the ‘08 Super Bowl, feel free to call out my hypocrisy. ;-P
The warriors don’t have to be one of the haves for there to be competitive balance.. and their having three or four all stars has actually played against your theory.. the nba is better without a super team.. Russell’s celts played in an entirely different nba.
 

oumbi

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How about shifting the NBA schedule by 6 months into the warmer months so players won't have to pick destinations based on in-season winter climate.
But then again, who wants to play and live in New Orleans, Dallas, or San Antonio during the summer? Weather is with us always in one form or another.
 

bowiac

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The weather thing misreads the reason why certain teams are destinations. The Lakers and Miami are destinations because Los Angeles and Miami are cool cities. Shifting the NBA season won't change that.

That's why you see the Knicks perpetually linked to every big FA (and probably would have landed one if Dolan wasn't such a doofus), and also why other warm weather cities like Atlanta, San Antonio, Houston, etc... don't get much traction.
 

lovegtm

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The weather thing misreads the reason why certain teams are destinations. The Lakers and Miami are destinations because Los Angeles and Miami are cool cities. Shifting the NBA season won't change that.

That's why you see the Knicks perpetually linked to every big FA (and probably would have landed one if Dolan wasn't such a doofus), and also why other warm weather cities like Atlanta, San Antonio, Houston, etc... don't get much traction.
Yup, and if anything, America is better in this regard than most countries. In most places, players wouldn’t even consider living outside one of the 1-2 major metropolises (aside for purely monetary reasons).

This all feels like solving a problem that isn’t really there. With the exception of the one-time Durant cap fuck-up, the league has been totally fine in terms of having diverse cities in contention.
 

Devizier

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Yup, and if anything, America is better in this regard than most countries. In most places, players wouldn’t even consider living outside one of the 1-2 major metropolises (aside for purely monetary reasons).
its worth pointing out that in countries like France and England, like a third of their population lives near the capital.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Yes. Him okaying them all flying to NYC.
Actually, I misreported — Klay is apparently face-timing in, lol. But yeah, given Steph's hectic life, I'd think his flying to NYC suggests at minimum that the Warriors are still in it. Fwiw, Rich Kleiman told the NY Post yesterday he still hasn't decided:

Q: When you wake up Sunday morning, will Kevin know what he’s doing?
A: While I’m doing this interview, Kevin is completely undecided in figuring out what he wants to do.

https://nypost.com/2019/06/29/kevin-durants-right-hand-man-free-agency-sneak-peek-infamous-knicks-tweet/?utm_source=twitter_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site buttons&utm_campaign=site buttons
 

ElUno20

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I feel like that bodes well for the dubs. Especially with curry and klay flying to nyc.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Wowza. Right after his agent (and Woj) said he was gonna be fielding meetings with teams throughout the week? I want to say that feels like good news, but who the F knows. Fwiw, KD also "liked" a pic of Alonzo Trier wearing his shoes...
 

the moops

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Agreed. Doesn't even give him time to take meetings with NYK or LAC really.
Does he really need a meeting though. He knows they will give him the max. I guess to hear their plan maybe? I dunno, seems like a phone call would do the trick. Kemba is signing with Boston without having a meeting
 

JCizzle

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Does he really need a meeting though. He knows they will give him the max. I guess to hear their plan maybe? I dunno, seems like a phone call would do the trick. Kemba is signing with Boston without having a meeting
I love Kemba, but he isn't KD haha. If I was KD, I'd want to meet the owner and medical staff for sure.
 

ElUno20

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My guess is he saw the lakers assembling a super team and said fuck it, let's go squash that bullshit out.
 

LesterFan

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An undeniable vibe of confidence is emanating from Brooklyn as we speak: The Nets sure seem to believe they are getting Kevin Durant's commitment tonight to go with Kyrie Irving"s ... with DeAndre Jordan, Durant's close friend, to follow
 

luckiestman

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Cool with this; I’d sort of like to see a glamour market team get rewarded for actually building an organization, instead of just being a smoking crater and waiting for stars to sign.

(Also makes Horford + MLE more likely of course :) )

Does it make it more likely? I can see arguments either way.
 

DJnVa

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Cool with this; I’d sort of like to see a glamour market team get rewarded for actually building an organization, instead of just being a smoking crater and waiting for stars to sign.

(Also makes Horford + MLE more likely of course :) )
Why does KD going to N.J. make the Horford thing more likely?
 

Cellar-Door

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I doubt KD changes the Nets' thought process on a S&T. They'll set a value they want for improving a rival, and if it is met they'll do the deal, if it isn't they won't.

Also interesting is... a S&T could have wildly different values to the Celtics... if they can bring back Horford it's a huge value, if they can't or don't want to (his price remains too high) then it's of value, but less so.
 

SemperFidelisSox

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I understood Lebron going to Miami. Better situation. I understood Durant leaving OKC. Didn’t like Westbrook, wanted to chase championships.

I don’t understand this.
 

lovegtm

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I understood Lebron going to Miami. Better situation. I understood Durant leaving OKC. Didn’t like Westbrook, wanted to chase championships.

I don’t understand this.
Live in NYC, build his own legacy, play with his buddy, join a solid org. Seems straightforward.