pdpdpdpdpdpdpdpd | Raptors

319 | 6 hours ago

I can’t imagine if they beat the dubs in 2018, they were so close man

Less-Tax5637 | Knicks

184 | 6 hours ago

Chris Paul, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook are three of the greatest players of the modern era but they all get slandered to no end. Genuinely amazing what playing in the same conference as prime Steph Curry can do to a mf. Sucks that the Hardest Road only has room for 1

crookt

40 | 5 hours ago

Kevin’s hardest road discredits the entirety of late 2010s NBA history man. That pussy shit should have been vetoed faster than a healthcare bill on the current president’s desk. 10 years later and he’s still trolling strangers online who are right to call him weak for doing that to avoid staying ringless, on burner accounts.

The 2019 Raptors were ridiculously deep, and the Durant and Thompson-less Warriors fucking STILL took them to 6 games. Holy fuck, what was the NBA thinking by doing nothing about that move? It’s still flabbergasting to me.

smalldrop | Warriors

52 | 4 hours ago

You know the NBA can’t veto trades, right? That only happened with Chris Paul because the league owned the Hornets at the time. (Also it wasn’t even a trade, KD just signed in free agency.)

diderooy | SAS

6 | 2 hours ago

It’s amazing the bullshit people toss out on Reddit. It’s even more amazing the bullshit people upvote without bothering to Google.

The Commissioner shall have the power to declare null and void any Player transaction made by and between Members of the Association or by and between Members of the Association and any organization outside of the Association.

https://ak-static-int.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/12/NBA-Constitution-and-By-Laws.pdf

crookt

5 | an hour ago

So that means this theoretically can apply to both trades and free agency, but is never applied or enforced? Never heard so before but I’m not knowledgeable about the NBA’s contractual inner workings.

flaming_burrito_ | Lakers

6 | an hour ago

It’s not a power the commissioner would want to ever pull out if they can avoid it because doing it often would erode away some of the trust teams have in being able to choose and build their own rosters. And 99% of the time there is no reason to use the veto power

crookt

2 | an hour ago

If any move is the 0.01% of the time the NBA should pull out that veto or threaten using it and stop a deal…it’d be for that one or the Luka trade. Does anything else even come close to those two? I’m a Lakers fan, even I’ll say that was a brain-broken trade somebody should have stopped.

strataromero

1 | 16 minutes ago

It was not a basketball trade

crookt

1 | 10 minutes ago

I understood that. As someone else said above, even though the veto’s only been used for Chris Paul to the Lakers in the case of NBA ownership, it apparently can theoretically be used whether in the case of a trade or signing a free agent, even though it has not yet been employed to stop a free agent signing. Again, I know Durant wasn’t traded to the Warriors, I argued the NBA should and could have stopped him from signing there as a free agent.

smalldrop | Warriors

2 | an hour ago

That’s genuinely interesting, I had no idea. Considering it’s never happened, I think it’s fairly clear that wasn’t written with any intent or expectation that the commissioner would be doing it to arbitrarily enforce parity.

crookt

1 | 7 minutes ago

Right? I had no idea either, but policies’ de facto interpretation always seems to outweigh de jure letter of the law eventually. It’s why judiciary entities exist, to interpret and rule on policy when clarification is needed.

crookt

-10 | 3 hours ago

Doesn’t really matter, as to potentially having prevented what that move did. A generational MVP talent should not have been permitted to join the winningest regular season team ever (because of the confluence of financial situations on the Warriors’ contract situations that summer, including releasing Barnes). It denied every other team any chance of winning until BOTH Thompson and Durant got hurt in the Finals. The Warriors did it expressly because they could only beat LeBron when both Love and Irving were injured, Durant did it because knew he’d likely have stayed ringless otherwise (as Giannis proved correct), the equally if not more deserving Rockets suffered for it in multiple postseasons, both the league and fans suffered a severe hit to the legitimacy of free agent moves that insane and the league the fans love, and the two finals series prior to 2019 were boring, forgone conclusions if you exclude JR not checking the clock. Who was going to be interested in watching the KD Warriors steamroll every team possible to a free ring?

It’d have be like if the Boston Celtics signed Jordan to put next to Bird, McHale, and Parish in the 80s, because MJ wanted a ring right away and Boston just felt like it. “Um ackshually it’s legal, so let’s completely upend all competition and destroy every team for 3 years”? Really? They barely even warmed up before the 17 and 18 Finals games, this happened for free rings and cost the NBA a lot of its legitmacy and fan interest. Shouldn’t have been allowed, I’ll stand by that.

ThirdEyeKaiii

4 | 2 hours ago

Its been a whole decade and you’re still writing essays about this with tears in your eyes. But yeah it’s KD who needs to move on lol amirite

crookt

0 | 2 hours ago

I said it was weak, it hurt the league, and explained why. Keep telling a stranger they’re supposedly upset about shit they don’t think about day to day if you like, it doesn’t matter much either way.

False_Pear1860

1 | 2 hours ago

Lmfaooooo is this copypasta or are you still seething like it’s 2017

crookt

0 | 2 hours ago

Sounds like you were born that year and you don’t like reading valid points much, so neither. I don’t really care about the reaction to my comment or think about the past anymore, I mostly want the NBA to not allow something like that move to happen again, so I said my opinion on that era. You can defend it if you care to, I said it was a pussy move under a post about the Rockets of that era, explained why, and immediately got KD defenders calling me butthurt.

False_Pear1860

0 | an hour ago

I don’t really care about the reaction to my comment or think about the past anymore,

Lmfao most obvious lie possible. You very clearly still think/care about the past or else you wouldn’t have written a god damn essay about a legal free agency move from a decade ago.

Sounds like you were born that year

Damn you got me bro, I am 9 years old. Perfect response.

I’m not defending KD either. It was a weak move, but you can’t still be melting down about it so badly 10 years later.

And there’s no precedent for the league vetoing/preventing a trade. That is not a precedent they should or can set

crookt

1 | an hour ago

That’s nice, I considered something from a while back and left it online under a related post about their WCF opponents. Such anger I must feel inside lol, please tell me more about how upset I feel. It’s very interesting.

Your comments imply it, so I said it. If you don’t want to be called it, stop acting like it.

Having an opinion isn’t a meltdown, you’re in a culture where having any strong opinion gets called “crashing out” because apathy, ragebaiting, laughing at/scorning others is supposedly awesome and means you’re superior. Giving a fuck enough to speak your mind isn’t “crashing out” lmao. Terrible basis for replying.

Never said there was, I said there should have been because of what the move did to competition for the next few years.

False_Pear1860

1 | an hour ago

Having an opinion isn’t a meltdown

No but having a meltdown is lol.

Never said there was, I said there should have been because of what the move did to competition for the next few years.

I don’t think the league should get to decide who wins and who doesn’t. I’m of the opinion that teams and free agents should be allowed to operate within the limits of the rules of the league. I don’t think we should disregard rules just because somebody else’s team is better than yours for like two playoff runs.

This whole complaint has next to no merit anyways because this whole discussion stems from how close the Rockets were to beating the KD Warriors anyways. If nobody else had a chance, how come Rockets fans tell me they’d have a 2018 ring if not for injuries?

DAC_Returns | Bulls

9 | 3 hours ago

It was entirely on the NBPA. Owners wanted a gradual cap increase rather than one big jump in cap over one offseason, with the extra revenue being equally distributed to keep pace with the revenue split. Players rejected that proposal, so the Warriors ended up having space for a max contract free agent signing without breaking up their core or giving up anything.

crookt

0 | 3 hours ago

I’ve heard this weird situation financially that benefitted to Warriors so fantastically can’t be replicated again because either the CBA changed or the loophole was closed, is that accurate? Or can Jayson Tatum join OKC the next time he’s a free agent, if he feels so inclined to ruin the NBA for fans and the 29 other teams completely?

Keksmonster

5 | an hour ago

It was basically just the combination of the cap spiking and Curry still being on a super cheap contract from his injury riddle early years.

It was a very fortunate combination for the Warriors but hardly anything super wild

crookt

1 | an hour ago

I completely forgot about Curry’s constant ankle issues early on, you’re right - I had no idea the first unanimous MVP was on a bargain contract at the time and that helped them sign Durant. Just a perfect storm. Definitely think the signing should have been disallowed, but hindsight’s ²⁰⁄₂₀ I guess.

Salty_Pancakes | Warriors

3 | an hour ago

I know I’m biased, but I’d say if anything, what has happened since has totally validated KD’s choice. Yeah it was a bit easy. Big deal. There are no guarantees. Heatles were supposed to win a bunch. They only got 2. And for how much people were whinging about the KD warriors breaking the league, aside from the first, which was pretty easy, they barely escaped the rockets the next year, and then the year after they were an achilles and an ACL tear away from winning, but didn’t. And them’s the breaks. And that was it.

But KD is still a 2 time, back to back champion whatever anyone says. Who in the league would not take that deal if it were made to them?

David_Does_Dallas

4 | an hour ago

Sure KD could take it, but doesn’t mean people can’t be rightly annoyed at the competitive disparity it instantly created.

crookt

4 | an hour ago

Man, the point wasn’t that Durant shouldn’t have wanted to win it all or won with any team. Wanting to win is normal. It was that the league should’ve sacked up enough to stop it from happening on the 73-9 Warriors. LeBron and Bosh didn’t join a 73 win team, which is why Durant’s move is still sarcastically called “the hardest road” - the whole point is it shouldn’t have even been an available road. Like how a small loan of a million dollars, all the PPP loans being forgiven, or being a nepo baby fast tracked into wealth shouldn’t be the case but inexplicably is (yes,unrelated I know).

If a healthy Jayson Tatum was a free agent, and had joined the 68 win Thunder last summer so Shia could never even be doubled, would we be defending that too in 2026? Really?

Salty_Pancakes | Warriors

0 | an hour ago

What I’m saying is, I get it. I get why he did it.

People can label it whatever they want and call him soft but at the end of the day, 20-30 years from now, KD will still have those 2 championships and finals MVP. Hardest road or not that 2017 team was one of the greatest teams of all time.

He can afford the nice CeraVe ointments to soothe any burns that may ensue.

crookt

2 | 38 minutes ago

Agreed, KD wanted to win which I get. I’m saying I do not get why no one stopped it or even considered doing so.

We can all say a title’s a title, but not really 100% of the time. Mikan and West kinda did play against bummy, weird-looking white dudes, Michael did only really face a fantastic (but injured) defender for 3 games of the 96 finals, the 2020 season will be debated literally forever, the 99 Knicks and 07 Cavs both were not too serious of opponents for the Spurs of each era, injuries’ what-if’s dog every franchise every year, etc. Money doesn’t buy respect, and people aren’t going to remember anyone’s commas or ointment commercials, they’re going to remember that Kevin Durant was an amazing player who also joined a 73 win team and almost made it to the East finals after leaving, at best. Yes, he is an amazing player, but those two titles leave Durant with the same type of legacy Kobe had before winning without Shaq.

I honestly wouldn’t be mad at KD winning it for Houston before retiring, he’s one of the 3 players that deserves the retirement tour treatment. He should get the ring as the undisputed #1 guy before he goes, he’s got a few years left to prove he can. Might as well, right?

Suomiballer

-3 | 3 hours ago

Maan shut up already

crookt

3 | 3 hours ago

No

TheRealestGayle | Magic

-8 | 4 hours ago

You can’t veto free agency. It’s also equivalent or lesser to the heatles move. Lets not forget KG Boston era. Kobe/Nash/Dwight Lakers (ruined by injury) KD nets were terrifying (another injury ride) Cavs big 3 Bron/Love/Kyrie. It’s kind of ridiculous how much people don’t realize the carry load Steph has had to do in his career.

crookt

1 | 3 hours ago

Curry had amazing teams from 2013 to 2023, I think? With what, the one exception of the year Curry was injured and they used it to foolishly draft Wiseman #2? With only Jackson’s coaching, the Kawhi leap year, and LeBron being LeBron spoiling the success of Curry both being amazing AND having incredible teammates, I think? Of course Curry is top 5-10 players ever, but he never carried a completely ass team for Golden State.

TheRealestGayle | Magic

2 | 2 hours ago

2022 Warriors was a Carry job. People like to talk about the big 3 but Draymond was getting all star nods averaging a triple single. Klay was not the same post injury. There’s an argument the Warriors don’t get their first title with a healthy Cavs roster. Without the support of Iggy/Livingston the dynasty was dying and fully came to a halt post KD. There has been a significant amount of Curry’s tenure where the team was just middling. Barely any talent. Running on fumes and Curry’s 3 ball.

crookt

1 | 2 hours ago

We’re calling the 2022 Warriors completely ass and running on fumes now? Poole before he lost his mojo (people were calling him the third Splash Brother because it looked completely true at the time), Thompson with the fro moving without the ball, Draymond being batshit insane and Kerr constantly justifying it, the ghost of Andre Iguodala, Wiggins the All-Star starter, with Lee, Looney, Porter Jr, Toscano, and Bjelica making up a more than serviceable bench mob? I can’t remember if they even needed Moody on the floor with that 11 man rotation. They had a great team, and enjoyed a perfect storm of very few injuries along facing a pre-nuclear Luka and a not-yet-stacked Celtics team. No carrying necessary, they enjoyed good opportunities to win it all because they had a good team and did so.

TheRealestGayle | Magic

1 | 2 hours ago

Yeah. I’m done. We obviously didn’t watch the same games. Every title is a team effort but just like class projects not everyone did the same amount of work.

artvandelay916 | Magic

40 | 4 hours ago

I refuse to let Chris Paul no longer be considered a top tier bitch on the court, there is plenty of reason to slander him

SwizzGod | Lakers

6 | 2 hours ago

Same with Westbrook. Nobody is denying their greatness but plenty of reason to slander

Economy-Berry2704

11 | 3 hours ago

Westbrook has an extremely suspect playoff resume after KD left and 0 of those games were against Curry.

He lost to him one time in 2016.

Sytherus

3 | 2 hours ago

They replaced KD with a top 10 player in the league with a similar skillset and couldn’t get out of the first round. 4-12 in the playoffs in the 3 years after KD left including 3-8 in the two years with Paul George.

Economy-Berry2704

1 | an hour ago

I won’t blame 2017 on Westbrook but he fell off a fucking cliff after that season and was not a top 10 guy anymore. He also consistently was even worse in the playoffs.

ntpbr1

2 | 2 hours ago

It’s not playing in the same conference as Steph Curry but more so playing against the best team ever. I mean 73 wins and then they add KD? That’s like if OKC added prime KD right now

Dymatizeee | Knicks

1 | 25 minutes ago

Prime curry + Durant deciding to join the team. If no KD , Harden easily win the chip those two years imo (assuming no Kawhi)

Coldsnowyandmisty

1 | 9 minutes ago

Steph has taken the hardest road and literally didnt make the playoffs.

Bro been on luxury road for most of his career.

Old_Supermarket_7575 | Thunder

0 | 2 hours ago

By people who don’t watch or like basketball

samhit_n | Lakers

12 | 4 hours ago

If that happened, they probably beat the Cavs in the Finals, and CP3 retires as a top 3 PG all-time.

Notoriouslydishonest

6 | 2 hours ago

They were up 3 games to 2 before CP3 got hurt.

And in Game 7, the famous 0-27 game, they shot 7-44 on threes and 13-22 on FTs and still only lost by 9. They really had a historically great team brought down by unbelievably bad luck and timing.

livefreeordont | 76ers

122 | 6 hours ago

He was the best player in that WCF. He was making all the right plays on both ends and got them up 3-2. It’s crazy he got hurt on a shot that iced the game too

yelsamarani | Cavaliers

34 | 6 hours ago

Always trust Chris Paul on getting injured right on the cusp of success.

nervousaboutschool17 | Raptors

19 | 6 hours ago

He was also going toe to toe with KD in 2019 while paul and curry struggled for most of the series

PhasedVenturer

27 | 6 hours ago

Chris Paul was going toe-to-toe with KD while also struggling? I don’t think you realize the MVP op is talking about

nervousaboutschool17 | Raptors

15 | 5 hours ago

Oh i thought they were talking about harden lol. Yeah CP3 was the best player in the 2018 WCF , it was kind of a dogfight of a series which allowed his IQ to thrive

PhasedVenturer

0 | 5 hours ago

As a CP3 fan, those tough shots in the late quarters of game 5 were nirvana and then…the rollercoaster of being a Chris Paul fan 😔

MySilverBurrito | Heat

8 | 3 hours ago

while paul and curry struggled for most of the series

Yea, until the Warriors spammed the high PnR in G6 to close the series lmao. (the game where Curry had 0 in the 1st half).

Sytherus

2 | an hour ago

KD averaged 33 ppg, while Chris Paul averaged 16 ppg and 6 assists.

No one was close to KD in the 2019 playoffs before his hamstring injury.

The series was close because Curry & Klay both had poor shooting nights in an overtime Game 3 loss that otherwise would have functionally ended the series (33 points on 39 FGA + 5 FTA combined).

fastheadcrab | Raptors

5 | 5 hours ago

Happened in 2015 too when the Clippers knocked off the defending champs. Massive shot in the clutch of Game 7 while dealing with an injury.

But Chris Paul also ate himself out of the 2022 Phoenix-Dallas series, his production dropped off an abyss after Game 2 and his 37th birthday party, and also has been involved with teammate beefs at nearly every stop in his career.

So he deserves the all the bad and criticism as well as the praise

fromfrodotogollum

1 | an hour ago

What were his plates per minute stats?

Rich_Ad_4886 | Knicks

103 | 6 hours ago

Not what the post is talking about, but man, prime Clint was a fucking force.

rickjamesbich | Rockets

35 | 5 hours ago

That clip of Harden teaching him how to roar after a dunk(?) lives rent free in my head to this day

TaiCTr | Warriors

12 | 3 hours ago

Cant mention the clip and not drop us the link man

gwatson86 | Rockets

5 | 2 hours ago

After a block.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/4Kwymbw5LR

jer113 | Rockets

4 | 2 hours ago

Clint got the game sealing block against Utah, giving him 6 for the game

I remember vividly because I got up off my fucking feet and went nuts

crichmond77

2 | 3 hours ago

Link?

keanancarlson | Timberwolves

30 | 6 hours ago

He made KAT look like a little boy. It was so frustrating

dillpickles007 | Hawks

11 | 4 hours ago

Crazy underrated, go back and look at his stats, he was cranking out 10 win share seasons for a while. Extremely dumb by the Rockets to bring in Russ and then get rid of Capela.

Obviously he benefitted from playing with Harden/CP3/Trae but he was the perfect rim runner/lob threat/board cleaner.

thestallion11 | Hawks

9 | 4 hours ago

He was genuinely one of the best Centers in the league his first year with the hawks. Just a dominant old fashioned big man

AceMcStace | Trail Blazers

57 | 6 hours ago

Man if someone left open like a single door in Toyota center that game 7 one of those 3’s go in and we talk about this team way differently

b1droid | TOR

59 | 6 hours ago

Two threes during the streak got waved off, one was a clear 4 poijt play lol

Gluxion

27 | 3 hours ago

its funny how that call alone cost harden like 15 spots in the all time NBA ranking. not exaggerating either

Torgud_

21 | 4 hours ago

Scott Foster was not going to let them win that game, end of story.

GeneRayburnJr | Timberwolves

15 | 5 hours ago

I would simply win the game despite missing 40 of 47 three point attemps by relying on the dominant offense of Rudy Gobert.

Obi_Wan_Benobi | Spurs

8 | 3 hours ago

I was working nights at the time and listening to that fourth quarter on the way to work, a 40 minute drive, and as I got out of the car they said “0 for their last 27” and I knew it was bad, but I still thought I misheard.

That’s impossible.

No.

It’s just improbable….

samhit_n | Lakers

2 | 4 hours ago

They would have won the game if they had just shot 22-25% from 3.

Dumbass1171 | Bulls

14 | 5 hours ago

They need to add this team to 2K man

masukan

5 | 6 hours ago

I just wish rockets gave them one last chance it would be fitting too..

CountOff | Pistons

4 | 6 hours ago

That’s wild

Wonder what the KD /Harden / Kyrie different combinations had as records too in the Nets era

samhit_n | Lakers

13 | 4 hours ago

They played just 16 games together, and had a 13-3 record.

They weren’t as dominant, but they probably win a ring in 2021 if they were healthy. There was also no team close to as dominant as that Warriors team when this trio was together on the Nets.

Saturdaze-Sundaes | Knicks Julius Randle

4 | an hour ago

16 games is criminal man. Crazy that time was just unbelievable ball

Scoobersteve321 | James Harden

4 | 6 hours ago

That’s pretty incredible

Overall-Palpitation6 | Grizzlies

3 | an hour ago

Capela at his best was the perfect big to play with these guys. Screen, roll, dunk, rebound, defend without fouling. That’s all he needed to do, and got an A+ on the assignment for years.

Any_Garbage_4359

2 | 6 hours ago

If only they hit a couple of those 27 missed threes.. the nba would be way different rn

YouDaMANRAJ | Australia

1 | an hour ago

The team that got me into the NBA, what a special group

mttlmb11

-7 | 6 hours ago

Damn they musta won two or three rings together huh

The Houston Rockets were 42-3 when Chris Paul, James Harden, and Clint Capela played together in the 2017-18 regular season.