Take your shot now. No guarantees things will be as peachy or favourable in the future. Go for it while you know what you have and can control that.

Spurs? You can wait. Your young guys are obviously not peak and there’s a lot of room for improvement.

Rockets? They are already in win now mode with all the vets they added. Their young players pool is quite thin and not much potential left to be fulfilled. I think rockets should go all in

The salary cap isn’t going to break up OKC anytime soon. Entering the second apron isn’t an immediate death sentence, I mean the Cavs are currently paying 230 million for their team while the thunder would be projected at 245 if they kept literally everyone besides Dieng. What really concerns teams is the repeater tax, which isn’t a worry for OKC for another 3 years.

I don’t know why it’s a forgone conclusion that the team will even break up, the cap situation isn’t that intimidating until the season after next. I could see them entering next season keeping literally everyone and only making some minor cap saving trades around K-Rich or JWILL. It’s the season after that which will be tougher but even then it feels like they’ll just move off Caruso or Dort and be fine. Hartenstein will also be off the books then too.

I think the days of you paying top dollar for a superstar then immediately contending is slowly dying. You just sacrifice too much depth to make with work. Past 5 champs all won by smartly adding great complimentary pieces to your core. The formula now is just MVP candidate plus solid depth.

Rockets and Spurs got great deals for both KD and Fox by trading away pieces who are not really part of their future but the Giannis deal might cost them immensely.

Clippers are going to ensure the salary cap doesn’t catch up to OKC for a long time.

Houston got KD to win now so it makes sense for them. The Spurs are building something and I don’t think they should rush it. If Presti was in San Antonio he would let this team go through a playoff run to see what they have, then start filling in the gaps from there like he did with OKC.

The Spurs have a long enough timeline for roster development that I don’t think it’s their time to make an all-in move. They’ve got young guards developing behind Fox and I’d wanna give them a chance to mature first.

The Rockets, on the other hand, could possibly go all-in on their biggest advantage against OKC in terms of raw positional size. That jumbo line up they ran during the season opener was kind of a nightmare for OKC, who either have seven footers or 2-3 tweeners with not a lot in-between. I can see a version of a Giannis Rockets team that could give OKC real problems inside.

I’d really really rather Giannis stays out East but yeah I see the vision 

Spurs doing that would be dumb no? They’re set as the next big team in the making. Dylan Harper, castle, Wemby is pretty nuts.

Honestly this whole “should we trade for him now” or “don’t send too much for him” stuff is blowing my mind. It’s freaking Giannis! You get him, nuff said. If it doesn’t work out, no one is gonna kill you for trading for possibly the best player in the league.

Like with the Spurs “they can’t give up Harper or Castle”. It’s freaking Giannis yes you can and should!

OKC has like 2 billion picks the cap simply won’t catch up to them because the peripheral contributors will get moved out and replaced by younger players

My take is it might not matter.

If they get 2 more high draft picks from the Clippers and possibly also one from the Mavs, they’re not waiting that out unless they’re waiting for 5+ years.

This also isn’t a situation where they have a 35% max guy and 2 30%+ max guys. SGA is a 35% max but Chet and Jalen are both 25% max guys. They can’t afford their current veteran depth but they can afford rookie scale deals. They’ll still have depth as long as they’re getting quality production from their future draft picks.

And, even if you try to wait them out, you still need to match them in terms of talent. At the end of the day, it’s still SGA/Chet/Jalen. You still need to compete on that talent level.

I think for the Rockets, that’s just not possible unless Amen and Sengun improve a lot and they find/develop a legitimate 3rd guy. If they wait, I don’t think KD has that many years left. It’ll be Sengun/Amen/??? vs. SGA/Chet/Jalen. Unless Sengun/Amen become MVP level guys, they don’t have the advantage there.

For the Spurs, I think it’s an option. Wembanyama has the upside to be better than SGA. Castle looks great. Fox will still be good in ~3 years and even if he falls off, Harper or Vassell could step into that role.

Rockets went all in to try to beat the Warriors when they had the super team. Durant doesn’t get younger. Wemby’s health is never a guarantee. You gotts try to win now in my opinion bc OKC has plenty of options moving forward.

If you can get a guy like Giannis and especially if you get to pair him with Wemby or KD/Sengun, you take that every time. OKC has depth but Giannis and Wemby for example is a ton to deal with

I don’t think waiting around for the Thunder to fall off and just assuming you’re next up is a sane play. The decision has to be focused entirely on how ready your current team is. The saying is “strike when the iron is hot,” not “strike when a hotter iron hopefully cools down.”

As a Celtics fan, I remember people saying we needed to wait out the Nets super team of Kyrie-Harden-Durant. We literally beat them later that year in the playoffs and then they completely fell apart.

Things change.

OKC and Rockets should stay the course. The former is doing quite fine and doesn’t need to throw a spanner in the works. The latter made their moves and have their style. Getting Giannis will cost too much depth.

Spurs should capitalize on Wemby ASAP if they think he is that level of player.

Houston might believe they can push OKC in a playoffs series as-is, and will also be confident in continued growth from Sengun and Amen Thompson over the next two seasons.

They lost to OKC by one point in OT at the start of the season and play twice more in the weeks before the deadline.

This whole ‘the Spurs have to wait, Wemby is still young!’ argument would hold water with me if we weren’t talking about the most unique athletic profile in NBA history lol

He’s already dealt with clots and we’ve seen that end star’s careers before.

You can’t just assume you have a 10+ year window or whatever because of Wemby. We’re not talking about a 6’8 wing—we’ve never seen a guy with his size and mobility and it only takes one play to alter a career.

Obviously I want to see him play at a high level for 15+ years but I already wince seeing him land sometimes lol

I think the issue is how much you’d have to give up and what it leaves you with. As an example just put Giannis on the Spurs without removing any players. That team would be very, try good but with the awkward spacing and likely difficulty trying to fit Wemby and Giannis together without drowning Fox it’s not guaranteed to be a perfect match. OKC would clearly still be better baring the Spurs gelling in a way we can’t predict. So if they trade away a couple valuable young pieces and the draft picks that would potentially help them get another All Star caliber player to evolve with the Spurs young core the way OKC has it’s a huge risk. I think it’s worth it, but it’s a big risk.

Houston is more interesting. If you add Giannis to them they might become the favorites (of course the hypothetical is literally impossible). So how much of that potential incredible team has to go in the trade to get Giannis? For example if it’s Thompson, not only is that a super exciting young player but essentially the only real point guardish player they have. So this year would be very, very awkward. And the matching salary becomes a huge issue as well.

I do think it’s an interesting thing to bring up. The Rockets seem posed to compete now even if OKC seems unbeatable. The Spurs are off to a great start and I’m very excited to see their future but man it’s risky to add a 31 year old Giannis to a team otherwise composed of mostly guys still finding themselves in the league. I would like to see it even though my Lakers would get stomped by them probably.

lol if your best guys are ready you can’t fucking wait. You have to go do it now.

2 years is all it takes to go from MVP of the league, point per minute guy to an anvil weighing down your team with your supermax.

In the NBA tomorrow, or to be more precise, next season really isn’t guaranteed.

always take your shot now cuz your own window might close quicker than the other teams.

the spurs’ window also could not even open. what if wemby cant stay healthy? what if Harper doesnt develop into what they expect?

the rockets are the same, but theyre actually doin things to improve their odds now. youre counting on potential but potential more often than not fails. thats why either 1. theres been so much parity the last 10 years & 2. there was not as much parity back in the day. if it works, youre golden, cuz its so hard for other teams to reach it

I don’t think you ever make personnel decisions around if another team is “too good”, even if they’re as good as OKC. 2019 warriors were inevitable champions before Kawhi became MJ and KD and Klay get injured. Shit happens all the time in the nba, imagine if the raptors never got Kawhi in fead of GSW.

The only reason they won last year was favorable officiating against Denver and Minnesota.

Rockets should go all in, Spurs should wait. I think long term giving up Amen for Giannis makes sense. Spurs are playing with house money like the OKC were pre-Giddey trade. We need know which young pieces are the ones to stay.They should trade this offseason for a twenty something star.

They key to modern NBA is depth. Spurs should not give up young pieces. Rockets are on that KD timeline.

I wouldn’t rush into anything but claiming this Thunder team is going to be a dynasty level juggernaut for “at least” the next five years is a stupid bet. There are endless examples but it’s really as simple as looking back at the Thunder team with 3 future MVPs that looked like they’d be the future of the league and then never won a title together.

There will be untimely injuries, there may be career altering ones, there will be draft or development busts, there will be guys unsatisfied with their roles that want to go somewhere else. If there’s anything to be learned from recent dynasty or near dynasty’s it’s that it is never as successful as it seemed at the moment.

Heatles, Warriors after adding KD, the Celtics last two championship teams (the Garnett one aged out quicker than expected, the latest one in the best case scenario only has an off year), pick your favorite variant of a super team involving KD, Irving, Harden, PG3, or Kawhi.

This core will not be in five straight finals. Be like the Morey Harden Rockets and go for it, give Goliath hell even if you die trying.

I wouldn’t trade for Giannis at this point. He’s 31 and can’t seem to stay healthy. 7 footers don’t typically suffer lots of injuries and then suddenly have a healthy stretch through their mid 30’s.

Now, mostly because I don’t think there’s any guarantee that’s there’s going to be a drop off in OKC anytime soon. SGA is 27, Williams is 24, Holmgren is 23, all three guys are under contract for the next 5+ years. Sure, they may have to shed some role players due to a tax crunch but they have a boat load of draft picks they can use to draft replacements or trade for cheap cost controlled replacements.

A team could punt the next five years waiting for a better chance and it just might not come.

I also don’t think this team is completely invincible either, they’ll be a tough beat in the playoffs but one of their top three misses a series with an injury and I think a good opponent has a real shot. they won 68 last year and went 7 games twice in their playoff run.

I think okc has the coaching, management, and asset advantage where they’ll always be the class of the league plus they have their core guys locked up. So you’ll be waiting forever. Its foolish to think they cant just keep the wheels turning even if guys leave.

The salary cap will not catch up to us before it catches up to those teams lol

If I was the Rockets or Spurs I wouldn’t do anything yet until you have a good enough sample size in the playoffs to fully evaluate what you have. I remember a time when there was talk if Jdub or Chet were good enough as second options to win a chip. Wemby hasn’t even played in a playoff game yet. Also trying to beat one specific team is always a horrible way to evaluate a team and whether or not to make trades. I wouldn’t be surprised if the rockets or Spurs (wemby healthy of course) as constructed now can take OKC to 7 or even win if they matched up in the playoffs.

Go for it if you’re ready. OKC has some talent on their bench who are under rookie contracts - even if they do have to make a roster move I think they will just reload with similar caliber players.

What’s the point of being good if you’re not winning in the Finals?

No one cares about who has the best regular season record. People only care about who walks away with the title.

I think SGA would still be playing for the Seattle Clippers – patience would serve the Rockets and Spurs well.

That it’s nice to think you can pick and choose your timeline. What happens when they are “ready” but there are no stars available, or none that are the right fit? Every second you wait, you’re closer to salary cap trouble with max contracts for the young stars. And for the Rockets, closer to KD’s decline.

Should the 2010s Rockets have tried to beat the KD Warriors? I think unequivocally YES. They were extremely close to a championship.

Waiting is so stupid.

The game is played on the court and not on the roster. You’d want to make a team that consistently can get to the highest level with enough breaks going their way.

Boston was supposed to be the team of the future and look what happened to them. Golden State was supposed to be unstoppable then Toronto wins. Kobe-Shaq LAL was unbeatable then Detroit cooked them.

I’d do it for castle and a couple of picks. I don’t see Castle fitting with this roster and I generally don’t see as much of the upside as a lot of other spurs fans. I think he will be a good player, but not a perennial all-Star or even a regular snub. I’d bet his stock will drop over time as he gets older and still can’t shoot plus some of his turnovers really concern me, so this is a good time to get something for him. If we have to gut our depth I don’t think we’ll be good enough to compete with the Thunder.

I think ultimately a team like the rockets offers a lot more than us because they are already committed to trying to win now.

If OKC keeps winning, they will most certainly be incentivized to keep paying. They have a sizable stash too of assets. They may have gotten a bit of luck as well, but they definitely made optimal moves management-wise and it’s stupid to assume they will suddenly be incapable of making the best moves in the future either.

If you’re a playoff team, you fight now . If you’re Dallas or worse, well you’re not getting back up in the next few years anyway so this doesn’t concern you.

Houston got KD barely sacrificing their window. They are in a “can win now” mode, not “must win now”.

If they trade for Giannis using Amen or Alperen, their window actually gets significantly smaller. I dont think its worth it and I am kinda sure Stone doesnt think as well. Dude did great so far.

Taking giannis now might be better. Okc can keep their core and constantly use their fr picks to re aquire cost controlled talent longer than giannis will remain at his current level.

I feel like Houston can beat OKC now but I know that’s pretty unpopular

Rockets now spurs later

When was the last time a super-star on a long term contract lead to a championship ? 2020 AD trade? Kawhi was a rental.

These superstar trades usually deplete the roster of any usable bench depth.

One thing I’ll always respect about Daryl Morey he saw the KD Warriors form and said fuck it we’re in too.

You go for it now. The Thunder have a bunch of Picks. J Will SGA and Chet are signed for the next 5 years. They are not breaking up anytime soon

If spurs could flip Fox and draft capital for Giannis I’d do it, would not trade Castle or Harper for the same reason they refused to entertain any players of future value when they acquired Fox.

I think the Rockets can beat the Thunder this year. I think the Spurs can probably beat the Thunder in the next 1-2 years. The Thunder are amazing, but I think some people are getting ahead of themselves. Legler is talking like they basically already won the championship after we just watched the Nuggets and Pacers take them to 7 games. Two great but imperfect teams. Even my Wolves were only 1 play away from tying the series 2-2 in the WCF after BEATING THE THUNDER BY 42 IN GAME 3. My point is the Thunder are not invincible. People were kind of starting to talk about the Celtics like this last year and look what happened. Shit moves quick in the NBA.

You always go for it within reason. The Thunder are one injury away from being just really good not unbeatable.

Also 2016 Warriors looked even more unstoppable

I think people get lost in the trap of guys with potential not realizing that a lot of their “untouchables” will never even sniff Giannis’ impact. It’s the Peter Griffin boat meme, you take the fucking boat.

take the shot now.

by the time the salary cap catches up to us, we’ll be in the next cba and who knows what the rules are there. i imagine the next cba will be less strict than this one since it seems everyone agrees that we’ve overcorrected too hard w the second apron lol

Do you have a top 5 in the world coach who can actually compete with Daigneault and a vastly superior roster in a series? If not, you best be punting.

No. They will not come together fast enough. Giannis is not guaranteed to stay healthy. Chet is always one bad bump away from missing time. And truly if SGA goes out that’s a lottery team. Don’t throw away Sengun, or try to rush Wemby’s clock. Please let New York throw it all in or let Giannis dance with the girl he came with.

Rather my team swing and miss than stand pat and watch others do it. Never know what happens. Masai couldn’t have imagined KD and Klay getting hurt in the Finals. He just called his shot and traded for Kawhi. And might’ve dodged the biggest bullet by letting him walk. Won the ring, not the FA sweepstakes. I’ll take that any day.

Any OKC falloff is years in the future. By that time the Rockets and Spurs will also have their guys on max deals and be dealing with similar cap issues. Who knows if Amen becomes a superstar by then or if Wemby is healthy. I think the window is now if you can get Giannis at reasonable cost.

It’s a great idea to just wait a few years. All GMs across the league should just wait 3-5 more years before contending.

People are overreacting to OKC team record. Yes, it’s impressive but they are still beatable, just like the 2016 Warriors were beatable. Just a couple months ago, 2 teams took them to 7 games. If you believe that you have a shot now, take it. With Clippers potentially giving Thunder a #1 pick this upcoming draft, there’s no guarantee that your future will pan out better anyway

Spurs aren’t even dominant now. I think it’s dumb for them to even consider it

If you can get Giannis, get him

Aren’t the second apron penalties really penalties that stop you from adding to your team? Like no/worse mle, draft picks moved to the end of the draft, heavily restricted trade

Cant the thunder just re-sign all the guys they have? Besides Caruso all of them are under 28

Part of the problem with waiting for OKC’s roster to get more expensive is that your roster also gets more expensive at the same time. OKC has the advantage of a stockpile of picks to get more young/cheap talent, and their stockpile will probably last longer than yours

You wait 1 year. IMO the guys that make OKC such a bitch to play are the surrounding guys. JDub is good but I haven’t been blown away by him on either end. Chet is great but has flaws in his game and his frame isn’t super conducive for being consistently healthy. Dort/caruso/Hartenstein are the guys that are problematic to play against.

OKC is very much a defensive oriented team they wear you down with their defense and it makes their offense much easier. When they have to start getting rid of those defensive role players I think they will go back to being a normal contender.

easy, injuries.

Its going to hurt Giannis value I think a lot. Teams will hesitate, until the price dips a bit where someone can’t resist.

Rockets are built to “win now” so they make sense

Sengun still has another leap/leap and a half to make before he’s a top 10 player, it’s a safe enough bet that Thompson isn’t a top 3 player ITL (Giannis is) so you can justify trading one of them for Giannis, and suns picks aren’t top 5 worthy as predicted + Booker likely not available either, and the suns picks were acquired in anticipation of the suns stars + a general downfall, if you can get Giannis for 2 mid-late suns picks 1 Mavs lottery and a self pick or two that gives you the best chance to win now without completely blundering a transaction

Spurs cant count on Wembys longevity. I think they should be making moves now.

There is a 0% chance Houston would trade Sengun for Giannis I have no idea why you even proposed that as an option lol. If they try to get into the sweepstakes (I don’t think they will) they’re going to offer something like Reed + Tari + FVV + a boatload of picks and Milwaukee will say no.

With that said I don’t think “waiting it out” is a viable strategy to beat OKC 5 years from now. They simply have enough assets to restock with rookie contracts as they ship out the costly role players. Injuries happen, you have to go for it when you’re in a position to do so. But trading Sengun for Giannis isn’t really going for it, it’s biting off your nose to spite your face.

Spurs can wait. The Rockets need to act now because old ripe old age of KD.

Thunder would be stupid to trade anyone from their core. But if they can get Giannis for all those picks theyre hoarding plus some of the role players, the gotta do it. Other teams dont got shit to lose so might as well offer the best you got.

For both of those teams I think the answer has to be go for it!

As long as each team can make a trade to get him without destroying their ability to build a contender around them, then I think their is no time like the present.

For the Spurs: the big elephant in the room is that Wemby has a body type that historically has shorter NBA careers and ones that are mired with games missed. Fox is playing at an elite level and with him and Giannis, it gives the Spurs an elite team even without Wemby, so they would be able to keep him in bubble wrap for as long as possible instead of needing to push for seeding.

If the Spurs can get Giannis by trading something like: Harper OR Castle plus filler like Barnes/Olynk plus picks in 26, 28, 30, 32, they’d have a core that would give OKC a ton of problems.

For the Rockets: The window here is clearly built around KD and how long he can remain a perennial All-Star level player. I think Sengun and Thompson are both VERY VERY good, but I don’t love the fit together and I think without KD between them, and without more star power around them, I’m not sure thats a long-term contender unless they can hit on some more picks.

I’d trade Thompson, Eason, FVV, DFS plus picks in 27-29-31, I think they can also beat OKC with that squad.

Windows don’t last very long. No modern team has won more than 3 chips in a row.

Remember when everyone thought the Celtics & the Nuggets were going to be winning multiple chips? Those windows didn’t last long. OKC has already won one. If the Rockets or Spurs have a chance to win one now, or in the next couple of years, why shouldn’t they? They’re also going to have to deal with paying their young players. If they could win one, say, next year, they should absolutely go for it.

Plus, there are some who think you need to learn how to win championships. Gannis has already won one. Playing with someone who was the main guy on a championship team, on a deep playoff run, might be worth it in the future. In the Rockets case, they would have two of those guys. In the Spurs case, they would have one of those guys plus another young player they hope will become that guy.

Take the shot now!

I thought they were way too high on Rockets as they’re built right now. Without Kirk, that Spurs trade idea would’ve been ridiculous.

I am all for Raptors mantra. You never know. Also, Spurs are built for sustainable success while Rockets aren’t so idk how Rockets fit anywhere here. Way way too high on amen. Bucks will prefer sengun though so they’re a great fit for trade

Sell high on Amen, ez call

The only thing getting Giannis now does for the Spurs is shorten their window. As a Thunder fan I’d love to see them offload some of that young talent and roll the dice with two potentially injury prone bigs.

The spurs aren’t good. Wemby doesn’t play basketball.

Why would any superstar in the east attempt to to go the west right now? Makes no sense at all.

Trading for Giannis doesn’t help us enough now and absolutely torpedos our future. Let the Spurs do it

Second apron rules will be ripped up by the time OKC big 3 is on their second contracts. CBA expires at the end of the decade