Kevin Durant Offseason Thread

coremiller

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Andre's not getting access to IPOs, probably he's getting access to VC pre-IPO investments and then making money when the company IPOs down the line. The Warriors are well connected in the Silicon Valley venture capital community (Joe Lacob, the owner, made his money as a VC), and no doubt an informal perk of playing for the team is access to those connections.
 

lexrageorge

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Andre doesn't lose his right to complain about Warriors ownership's handling of injuries just because he participated in an IPO or pre-IPO investment.
 

RG33

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You missed my point. I'll clarify.

Andre is complaining about ownership in one situation. Then turning around and benefitting from being an owner (shareholder) in another. That's called hypocrisy.

Making it a black/white thing is beyond silly. If he doesn't like the long regular season, he should be lobbying for roster expansion, not game contraction. Increase the pie for all professional athletes, unfortunately, you don't hear that enough from the stars.

Also, HNW's get very little access to hot IPO deal flow. Equity syndicate desks allocate 99% of those deals to institutional clients that pay the Investment Banks. Plus AI is getting access to those deals via San Fran VCs, which HNW retail have no access to either.
I know AI’s financial advisor pretty well. She handles about 15-20 NBA players. She runs probably a $1.5 billion book. I’m sure she has ways of accessing whatever she needs for her clients.
 

Sam Ray Not

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You missed my point. I'll clarify.

Andre is complaining about ownership in one situation. Then turning around and benefitting from being an owner (shareholder) in another. That's called hypocrisy.

Making it a black/white thing is beyond silly. If he doesn't like the long regular season, he should be lobbying for roster expansion, not game contraction. Increase the pie for all professional athletes, unfortunately, you don't hear that enough from the stars.

Also, HNW's get very little access to hot IPO deal flow. Equity syndicate desks allocate 99% of those deals to institutional clients that pay the Investment Banks. Plus AI is getting access to those deals via San Fran VCs, which HNW retail have no access to either.
Eh, I think you should watch the whole CNBC interview. Andre discusses the "black/white thing" (which imho is always better to discuss than to pretend does not exist) while also noting that NBA players now have it better than they ever have, and better than athletes in any other sport. He brings up the exploitation of players' bodies while also strongly supporting the 82-game season, saying "if MJ could do it year-in, year-out, so can we." You can call that "hypocrisy" or just being a smart, thoughtful, and complex dude who understands nuance and knows how to play the game, on and off the court.
 

benhogan

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Eh, I think you should watch the whole CNBC interview. Andre discusses the "black/white thing" (which imho is always better to discuss than to pretend does not exist) while also noting that NBA players now have it better than they ever have, and better than athletes in any other sport. He brings up the exploitation of players' bodies while also strongly supporting the 82-game season, saying "if MJ could do it year-in, year-out, so can we." You can call that "hypocrisy" or just being a smart, thoughtful, and complex dude who understands nuance and knows how to play the game, on and off the court.
I watched it yesterday. I thought you were referring to a few seasons ago when he used the vile term Master when several Warriors sat out a loss due to schedule/load mgmt.

My ax is two-fold
(1) He's making money off others in the equity markets, yet criticizes the ownership structure in the NBA. They are the same structure, the fact he doesn't understand that is pathetic. But you know he likes the show Billions and he wants to turn his investment into 10X what it is today in 10 years in a 2% environment. A great example for the investing public. Real smart to give him a middle of the day, private interview on CNBC to pump his book.
(2) I rarely hear players, in any sport, say the season length is fine, we just need roster expansion so more guys can make millions. It's really rare.
 

ElUno20

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I watched it yesterday. I thought you were referring to a few seasons ago when he used the vile term Master when several Warriors sat out a loss due to schedule/load mgmt.

My ax is two-fold
(1) He's making money off others in the equity markets, yet criticizes the ownership structure in the NBA. They are the same structure, the fact he doesn't understand that is pathetic. But you know he likes the show Billions and he wants to turn his investment into 10X what it is today in 10 years in a 2% environment. A great example for the investing public. Real smart to give him a middle of the day, private interview on CNBC to pump his book.
(2) I rarely hear players, in any sport, say the season length is fine, we just need roster expansion so more guys can make millions. It's really rare.
The regular season is already a different sport than playoff basketball. Roster expansion would make that worse, imo.
 

Apisith

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Nice financial breakdown in Forbes of the potential signings of KD, Klay, Cousins, Looney and the possibility of a $350M GSW payroll.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmurray/2019/06/25/golden-state-warriors-nba-free-agency-kevin-durant/#20567de87f5f
Do they make enough money to be able to pay nearly $200m in luxury taxes every year? Fair play if they do. I think it would be pretty damn crazy for them to do this. They can probably do it for next year but Draymond will be gone the year after. Not sure it's worth it because Klay and KD will be out for a significant portion of the season.
 

johnmd20

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Eh, I think you should watch the whole CNBC interview. Andre discusses the "black/white thing" (which imho is always better to discuss than to pretend does not exist) while also noting that NBA players now have it better than they ever have, and better than athletes in any other sport. He brings up the exploitation of players' bodies while also strongly supporting the 82-game season, saying "if MJ could do it year-in, year-out, so can we." You can call that "hypocrisy" or just being a smart, thoughtful, and complex dude who understands nuance and knows how to play the game, on and off the court.
It's not smart or complex to complain about being exploited by the ownership class while at the same time celebrating his success as an inside part of an ownership class. It's not nuanced to complain about bodies being used when this same person has made 136 million dollars in his career.

He's not an NFL player. It would be a little more nuanced if an NFL player was decrying the ownership class, in a game that actually kills players and exploits them with non-guaranteed contracts. The NBA is by far the best situation for any professional athlete. Andre is a very good NBA player who has made only a few all star teams. He's made 136 million dollars in his career. He's not being nuanced, he's being a hypocrite.
 

Cellar-Door

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Yikes....it could be his religious views, views on marriage...or that he was a terrible coach that actively discouraged two of the best shooters in NBA history from shooting 3 pointers.

Probably one of those things
Also, even if it was his views, this is evidence of AI being in a basketball bubble. There are few if any jobs where you can record sermons (including anti-gay sermons) at work using your employer's facilities and logos to stream on the internet as part of your side-business and not expect to be fired.
 

Sam Ray Not

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To the surprise of no one. I was perplexed that anyone ever considered his opting in a possibility.

edit: lol @ "huddling"
 

djbayko

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snowmanny

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SAS screaming right now that he has information, confirmed by second source, that Dolan is hesitant to offer KD max and is waiting in additional medical input/info.
 

prizminferno

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Really no reason to go after a guy that won't play again til he's 32 and has an injury nobody has ever came back the same from. Gonna be ugly.
 

ifmanis5

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I fully expect for the Knicks to miss on KD and Kyrie and then massively overpay for D.Russell who will play well for a bad team. That's their shared NBA destiny.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Really no reason to go after a guy that won't play again til he's 32 and has an injury nobody has ever came back the same from. Gonna be ugly.
I mean, other than the fact that sports medicine/rehab keeps advancing; and that the most recent and physically similar comp to Durant — his friend Rudy Gay, who blew his Achilles at the exact same age (30.5) — was back on the court *nine months after the injury* putting up similar or slightly better numbers than he did before the injury?

Knock on wood, but I don't think it's unreasonable to imagine post-Achilles KD gets to at least 90% of his peak self physically, with of course 100% of his ridiculous combo of length and skill. A slightly less explosive KD could easily resemble or surpass age 31-35 Dirk Nowitzki, who was an NBA Finals MVP and easily a max player.

From a Knicks fan perspective: is whoever you consider the Greatest NY Knick of All-TIme (Walt Frazier? Willis Reed? Bernard King? Ewing?) even 75% as good peak KD?
 

OurF'ingCity

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If you are KD or Kyrie, why would you ever choose the Knicks over the Nets? Brooklyn has a better current team, better ownership, and you get to be in the same city regardless. Plus Kyrie has the Jay-Z/Roc Sports connection now as well.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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If you are KD or Kyrie, why would you ever choose the Knicks over the Nets? Brooklyn has a better current team, better ownership, and you get to be in the same city regardless. Plus Kyrie has the Jay-Z/Roc Sports connection now as well.
If you are Kyrie, why would you ever choose the Nets or Knicks over Boston? Boston can pay the most money, Boston has the better current team, better ownership (or at least one with a longer track record of being decent) and you don't have to move from your current city.

If you are KD, why would you ever choose the Nets or Knicks over Golden State? Golden State can pay the most money, Golden State has the better current team, better ownership and he also doesn't have to move from his current city.

I get your point btw but the fact that these two are even linked with either franchise above their current ones tells you everything you need to know: for both players, there appears to be more to their next destination than just winning and money.
 

OurF'ingCity

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If you are Kyrie, why would you ever choose the Nets or Knicks over Boston? Boston can pay the most money, Boston has the better current team, better ownership (or at least one with a longer track record of being decent) and you don't have to move from your current city.

If you are KD, why would you ever choose the Nets or Knicks over Golden State? Golden State can pay the most money, Golden State has the better current team, better ownership and he also doesn't have to move from his current city.

I get your point btw but the fact that these two are even linked with either franchise above their current ones tells you everything you need to know: for both players, there appears to be more to their next destination than just winning and money.
Well, Kyrie is a pretty unique case vis-a-vis Boston. As for KD, I agree with your point and think he most likely will stay with GS.

My point was that I don't see anything in the NYK organization that would convince KI or KD to go there instead of Brooklyn, so I'm not sure what the "more" you reference would be there. It would obviously be a different story if the Knicks had traded for Davis, or if the Knicks were able to offer substantially more money, or ANYTHING that Brooklyn can't, but I don't see what that would be - maybe I'm missing something.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Well, Kyrie is a pretty unique case vis-a-vis Boston. As for KD, I agree with your point and think he most likely will stay with GS.

My point was that I don't see anything in the NYK organization that would convince KI or KD to go there instead of Brooklyn, so I'm not sure what the "more" you reference would be there. It would obviously be a different story if the Knicks had traded for Davis, or if the Knicks were able to offer substantially more money, or ANYTHING that Brooklyn can't, but I don't see what that would be - maybe I'm missing something.
Completely agree. My only point is the fact that either is considering moving from their current teams for almost anywhere else defies some common sense.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Okay, I'm a little concerned that KD in that pic is so close to the Angelika Theater in SoHo that he might have seen a matinée of "The Last Black Man in San Francisco" (great movie, btw) and been inspired not to be that guy.
 

nighthob

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I fully expect for the Knicks to miss on KD and Kyrie and then massively overpay for D.Russell who will play well for a bad team. That's their shared NBA destiny.
Why would they try to sign Russell when their backcourt of the future is destined to be Barrett & Chris Paul? ;)
 

ifmanis5

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SAS this morning: KD won't interview in person with the Knicks. Maybe they get a phone call. Which is surprising since the talk today is that the Nets aren't an automatic either: https://twitter.com/IanBegley/status/1144590332056805376
There have been some strong suggestions on TV/Radio lately that the Brooklyn Nets are the front runners for free agent Kevin Durant. That notion is not accurate, sources familiar with the matter say. More here:
https://www.sny.tv/knicks/news/sources-nets-not-the-favorites-to-sign-knicks-free-agent-target-kevin-durant/308563782Lots of spin and leaks from all sides, hard to know what to believe.
 

ifmanis5

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Cellar-Door

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Makes perfect sense for them to have him as their fallback option should they miss out on Leonard
I assume they would want both. They had been talking about Kawhi and Jimmy Butler, KD only takes clearing another 2M or so more than Butler.
 

Sam Ray Not

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So ... why post it?
Someone tweeted it out in response to Woj's news that Clippers were one of the four finalists this year, and I thought it was a fun blast from the past. Brings back how intense that Summer of '16 courtship was, between Ballmer weeping, the Celtics busting out TB12, and the Warriors sending four members of the Hamptons Five to ... the Hamptons (what are the chances???)

Per Woj, this year's courtship is expected to be significantly lower key and more informal, possibly consisting of just a phone call or skype.
 

coremiller

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Someone tweeted it out in response to Woj's news that Clippers were one of the four finalists this year, and I thought it was a fun blast from the past. Brings back how intense that Summer of '16 courtship was, between Ballmer weeping, the Celtics busting out TB12, and the Warriors sending four members of the Hamptons Five to ... the Hamptons (what are the chances???)

Per Woj, this year's courtship is expected to be significantly lower key and more informal, possibly consisting of just a phone call or skype.
That meeting is where the Hamptons 5 moniker came from.
 

DJnVa

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Oh man, Kyrie possibly left at altar?

That's too bad.

Wording of the Woj tweet:

Reporting w/@RamonaShelburne: Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard have been discussing free agent scenarios that could include a future with them playing together. For now, there are two clear possibilities for them to sign into the same franchise: Clippers and Knicks. Story soon.
 

ElUno20

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Im calling bullshit. This is some pr spin by the clipps and Knicks so they dont look so bad when they end up with nothing.

"But but we were in consideration "
 

JCizzle

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I can't wait until this generation of players moves on. This stuff is getting nauseating.
I'd rather this than he ends up with LeBron and AD. Having two top five players on the same team is bad enough, having three of them just removes all tension from the season.

By the way, the Lakers fans replies to any report that a player might not end up on their team are beyond Charmin soft. God that fanbase is so hateable. Us green teamers look like absolute cynics compared to them.
 

bowiac

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I can't wait until this generation of players moves on. This stuff is getting nauseating.
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.