Atleast you went into the aprons. We dont have centers and didnt spend any money

I’m just happy the Wolves finally had a team worth investing in and the NBA was like “no way”.

Great for the Warriors dynasty though!

Queta’s pretty good!

OKC are the best team in the league and have a great way to navigate it by utilising their extensive haul of draft capital.

Not for the team that’s trying to trade the aging superstar. But I hope we won’t ever see trades like the Paul George one again, in which one team unwittingly gifts years of dominance of the entire league to another.

Especially aging superstars that you can’t trust to play 85% of the games for health concerns.

It’s boring and dumb. It just perpetuates championship or bust and stingy owners.

At the same time it is driving down the price of stars for OKC themselves to swoop with their warchest if firsts.

OKC just going to do nothing except draft and sign extensions for 5-10 years and come out with 5 rings

Also drafting kids and expecting them to be able to compete in the playoffs is a big ask.

OKC has done an amazing job with drafting talent and player development, but the sustainability of drafting 19-20 year olds and expecting production is rough. Even with OKC they haven’t gotten very lucky with their last 2 picks of Topic and Sorber.

No way bro, just have an all star on the decline like pg13 and trade him for a future mvp and a bunch of mid first picks that you might luck into the lotto with. See its that easy.

I generally agree with you, but would give Presti a bit more credit. While the Thunder did tank with SGA, they also treaded water for a bit flipping stars for other “fading” stars they rehabilitated and r-traded and picks.

On the one hand, I am not sure Presti expected SGA to be a potential multi-year MVP. To be fair, outside of getting LeBron or Shaq in the draft, most GMs don’t know they are getting an MVP when they acquire them. Even if their teams thought they could be good All Stars, no way GMs were certain that Jokic, Giannis, Westbrook, Curry, Nash, or even Kobe were MVPs when they were drafted or acquired.

But SGA had phenomenal advanced stats already with the Clippers as a rookie. And Presti has traded for and drafted for so many high upside players who fit his system and the modern league that one morphing into a true MVP isn’t exactly a fluke either. Presti has given himself better odds of that than any GM in the league, even if a few had literally hit the lottery and gotten the number 1 pick in a year with someone like Wemby.

I wouldn’t hate a shift back to teams keeping their stars for a majority of their careers

We just got 4 picks for Bane. Teams will move that want to win now

or if you’re the Mavs, you complete all 3 steps, but then insert Step 4 (trade away #1) before you get a full year of the team built around him

Crazy thing is OKC didn’t even get any assets when they lost KD.

And absolutely nobody thought Shai would become the player he is today. The trajectory wasn’t there. A lot of dice had to fall just right for OKC to be this blessed.

It’s a nice time to be a thunder fan

Nets Trade with the Celtics wasn’t deemed terrible at the time. Bill Simmons even thought the Nets got a great deal.

Within the year after it went down things changed because KG and Pierce aged like 5yrs in an Offseason.

Then you had the stuff with Russia and Crimea leading to Sanctions which hurt the pockets of Prokhorov the Nets Russian Owner so he went from spending a ton to not having the ability to.

At that point the Nets kinda had to reset their Roster especially with Deron Williams ankles becoming glass after signing a 5y/$100m Max Extension.

Plus all of the “Heatles” stuff in Miami.

ironically enough the westbrook trade never ended being that damaging or helpful to okc. CP3 (who turned into payton watson), Topic and a 2026 1st that should be in the late 20s. But they got an absolute kings ransom for PG.

I think people are really underestimating how much good luck is contributing to OKC’s success. People in general underestimate the role that good luck plays in success.

And saying the above does not take away from how well OKC as an organization has executed on the opportunities that good luck brought their way. I just think it’s unlikely that anyone, including OKC themselves, will replicate what OKC has happening right now.

I’m no capologist but that’s a great idea — 10% of a supermax not counting against the cap seems fair and gives a team way more flexibility.

That’s an awful idea, it would turn into a win-more situation and would just lead us toward another anti-parity era dominated by dynasties like the 80s and 90s. Being able to exceed the salary cap to re-sign players is the whole reason those teams could be kept together (though it was obviously much more extreme back then, with the bulls approaching 3x the payroll of the Rockets despite the Rockets having Hakeem, Drexler and Barkley on the payroll)

Drafting the player is the benefit, getting a bunch of years of exclusivity for an elite player while they are getting paid well under market rate is a massive boon. How does it make sense to give them more money to work with to put them further ahead of teams that didn’t get as lucky in the draft?

It would also largely destroy the trade market, as the two teams would be in a different position regarding the cost to performance of the players unless they had already been traded recently. You’d see a handful of players tossed around like a hot potato while other players who might want to leave for a better situation would be screwed because nobody wants to take on what is effectively a salary cap penalty.

Lastly, it would royally fuck over any top tier player that got drafted to a poorly run franchise. It would make taking on an un-discounted max contract crippling, as you then have to compete against teams that effectively have a significantly higher salary cap than you do.

You didn’t ask me, but I think it’s absolutely valid.

I just think there are certain players you absolutely acquire when you have the opportunity and figure the rest out later.

Giannis is one of those players.

Yes, but we’re talking about Giannis who performs at a level way beyond a max contract.

Yeah AD can only net you an overweight bad D guy. 

Wasn’t it like one pick and the rights to some euro dude?

Not multiple picks, but I can see AD trading well. Something like SGA for AD, Max Christie and a 1st. I think that would be fair.

If youre trading multiple picks for AD, they better be seconds

Bingo, and don’t forget we were also trying to get KCP’s and Cole Anthony’s contracts off our books. Casuals just look at the trade and see Bane, the picks, and nothing else.

Bane’s contract is a Max contract, there’s like 2 million in incentives so his number probably comes in just under. It’s not a super max

Seems like these types of news drops are coming from gms trying to get the best deals they can. May all be leverage depending on the source it’s coming from and what interest they have in acquiring said assets

The headline literally reads “teams are wary…” not “teams aren’t trading…”.

It’s an issue of your own perception.

The post specifically says trading picks for a max contract, Bane isn’t on a fucking max contract so it’s not the counter you think it is

Lol this made me laugh out loud 😆

Even Giannis wouldn’t be able to save us.

36, 40, 56, 76, 51, already missed 16 games this year, so best case scenario 64 (yeah right).

No one is questioning the talent. If you get 76 games, yeah you’re getting a bunch of picks. But I wouldn’t count on AD getting healthier as he ages. He’s worth multiple if they’re shit picks, just on the off chance he’s healthy. But I can’t see him pulling in 3 firsts unless they take bad contracts too.

“Negative trade value” what’s your metric? You’re being facetious. AD’s performances were good in 2021, 2022 and in 2023, and the start of 2024. He was an all-star. He’s played more games than Kawhi who until recently was a darling and people’s favorite two way player.

You don’t need to go to 2020 with 6 seasons of basketball in him to make your point. This sub and its weird fantasy of shitting on AD is ridiculous at this point, Mavs fans I can understand, but with other fanbases, I don’t think not being objective should be allowed.

If the positive trade value is the metric of Luka and the entire trade then no, even if he was 2020 AD that wouldn’t change the perception the trade had.

His bad form could be attributed to the negative environment in Dallas and teams have pulled the trigger for less.

See Vlade Divac not taking Luka and losing his job over it a few years later and getting memed on for it

See Nico Harrison trading that same player in his prime and being fired a year later after crushing his own franchise

These guys actually thought they were way ahead of the curve

Just like nba fans who think they’re smarter than the professionals. I bet a sizable portion of this sub believes they’d be a decent GM.

Bane has 4 years left on his contract, fit the Magic’s needs and let them use KCP’s salary slot to bring in a all-star level player before Paolo & Franz extensions take away any of their financial flexibility.

These are the basic mechanics of all trades.

his situation is closest to the Kawhi Spurs one and they didn’t exactly get a haul from Toronto.

Kawhi wasn’t as good as Giannis, had huge health concerns, and was closer to free agency.

Giannis will probably extend wherever he goes.

I hope AD makes it to free agency. I’m sure some dumb GM will give him a max, but there’s zero chance you’re competing for a championship if you’re paying a 33-37 year old Anthony Davis $65-75M unless by some miracle he plays 50-60 games in the regular season and the entire playoffs. I just don’t see it happening.

IMO, there are 3 guys in the NBA right now worth the 35% supermax from a basketball perspective. Maybe another 5-8 guys worth the 30% max. Healthy AD may be worth 30% of the max, but he’s never healthy and he’s going to want 35%.

I don’t care about Davis but to act like Giannis won’t for a haul is laughable.

Wrong, he went for 4 first and an additional pick swap