Who is the best player in the league that you don’t want on your team?
Under any circumstance, you’re just out on them. This isn’t in a vacuum, it includes their salary and everything they bring to the table.
Kevin Durant
I’d want him back on my team but that also means the sonics are back
KDs always been vocal how much he liked being in Seattle and wishes for the Sonics to come back
We’re deadass prob the only fanbase in the NBA that still likes him
KD has an amazing opportunity to pull off a Lebron-returns-to-Cleveland style redemption arc.
Rooting for it to happen!
He’ll be way too old when the expansion teams debut
As long as he doesn’t shrink and can still shoot, he can probably play for at least as long as LeBron has.
i mean yeah, but i don’t think your talking about a “lebron-returns-to-cleveland-style redemption arc” involving a title run at that point. just a lil homecoming for the retirement tour
Eh. I got no beef with the guy. Let him use his burners, wouldn’t be the first celebrity caught doing so
Right - I don’t dislike him by any means. Kinda find his antics funny. But I wouldn’t want that drama on my team.
I think we generally have good feelings for KD. We just wish he woulda stopped caring about the opinions of randos on twitter and stayed so we coulda won a few more rings.
It’s hilarious how the sonics sub is basically just a thunder hate subreddit.
It’s a great business plan. Talk more about Seattle, sell more Durant Sonics jerseys.
Well then for you, there’s no real answer to this question. You’d take Terry Rozier actively point shaving if you got the Sonics back.
Yeah so
I would sign Raymond Felton to a league minimum deal to get the Sonics back.
only correct answer
I also picked KD.
Yup. This is the answer.
He’s taking the hardest road to the Knicks this summer
You mean back home to OKC? He can use it as an excuse
“To me, OKC were always the underdogs”
It would be glorious if we ended up trading MPJ for KD straight up lol
As a Rockets fan this is the answer
I concur
Snake jazz is pretty sick though.
LeBron James because he said he would retire if he got traded here.
Now Pat Riley, the name on the contract does say Florida!
Leresting place
LeRip
I grew up around Dr Phillips/Windermere area 20-35 years ago. Was in the O-Rena when Nick Anderson choked harder than anyone in Finals history.
I don’t blame him.
Ja Morant most definitely
The issue is he’s not particularly great. But otherwise I agree, sadly.
The thing is that for a moment he was great. He was a top 5 guard in the league for a couple of years.
All that kinda went out the window when he started acting like a fool.
You know I get why you say that. Trust me I thought so too.
But in hindsight the whole driving point guard who can’t shoot, can’t really defend, doesn’t have a good attitude/mindset and who is constantly injured is just never going to work. I’d bet a lot of money on it.
The thing is his shooting got worse and worse. He never evolved to play the NBA game and the imo in hindsight his style just inherently was never going to compete.
Flashy but not really valuable for competing.
Not to mention the fact that his #1 skill is athleticism which is great, but if you don’t develop any skills around it, your decline comes fast. These guys put a lot of miles on their bodies and when the athleticism goes from a 97 to a 86 they have to have the skills to stay on top and I don’t see him pulling that off…
Vince Carter is the king at evolving away from highlight athleticism. Dude changed his game and played into his 40s. You can’t help but respect somebody like that
Lowk underrated aspect of Blake Griffin’s game too. He just kept evolving right till the end
many such cases!
I’d say it’s the most common way people fall out of the league. You have 19 year olds coming to the league every year who are faster, more athletic, and given a longer leash bc they are young, and there’s still the same amount of roster spots every year. Somebody has to get pushed out and it’s usually the guys who are ultraathletic and unadaptable that are the first to go
I mean he basically averaged 25/5/5 for his first few years in the league, he was definitely as good as advertised for a minute, he just declined fast and hard.
Warriors series Ja was an absolute assassin for 3 games
This is the number one Ja hater in the universe btw. Like to a concerning level
Ja was easily our best player in the playoffs every single time we made it, and there is a good chance we beat the champion Warriors if he, Adams, and Bane weren’t all injured. Of course, that was then, but saying his style didn’t contribute to winning is fucking stupid. At his best, he was super clutch
His passing is being underrated too. People are making it sound like he was just a slasher
Rewriting history always gets upvotes, nothing else.
And it’s always in the same vein here, “this X that changed to Y? Well actually it was always Y and all the Smart Ball Knowers who Know Ball, like me (and you if you upvote) always knew it was always Y”.
Morant is nothing special this season. But that’s not “the best player” lol, that’s the ghost of Ja Morant.
2022-23? He was fantastic. Sure, he had some really useful teammates too.
I think there was only 1 season where he was definitively a top 5 PG and that was his MIP season. The following season, he also had a case for top 5 behind Curry, Luka, Dame, SGA. But I’d say guys like Trae, Hali, Booker, Brunson, Kyrie, Harden were in a similar tier as Ja that season. The position is just so stacked with talent year in and year out.
The fact that he both comes to mind and is easily dismissed as not great though shows how much he has fallen off from his expectations.
I agree, I don’t think he’s amazing but it’s the first name that popped in my head lol.
He’s not a terrible player. Prior to the injury he was still a productive player. Coming this season we’ll see how he recovers. He’s not even a locker room virus, he’s a PR headache.
That Luka Doncic guy seems like a bum. I’m just a random guy btw… my name is… uh… Hico Narrison.
Jalen brunson too
“He is too fat.” Lol Nicole is such a tool.
“A certain horrible GM… let’s call him Nico H… no, that’s too obvious… how about N. Harrison?”
“And I would’ve gotten away with it, if it wasn’t for you lousy fans!”
Lamelo Ball.
Shit
This is where your gobert points get to cash in. Like yeah I think this is probably trash but you guys have earned this gobert respect. which is still a crazy difficult sentence to get out of my mouth.
Gobert will be fighting wars on defence and then getting slandered for dropping Lamelo dimes on the other end. Can imagine this year doing a number on his PR if it goes wrong.
Lamelo will be the best point guard he’ll have ever played with. If he can’t catch Melo’s perfect lobs, it’s gonna be a rough year.
Given your teams weaknesses and strengths you want him regardless of what r/nba says
I’m still far too in my feelings about this trade. Two words.
Nahs Read?
He’s the most baffling player I’ve ever seen. Does not pass the eye test in the slightest but advanced stats love his creation and offensive opportunity.
I think it’s more about who he is as a person than his performance on the court.
Lemelo is very entertaining. Especially if he isn’t on your team, or you aren’t playing against him.
His contract is solid though, guys like Embiid and butler have crazy contracts
Kevn Durant.
Doesn’t give a shit about the franchise, the fans, or winning. Just wants to get his 25 a night and peace out. Won’t make adjustments, won’t facilitate or try to make guys better. He’s admittedly selfish. Not a leader or a good locker room guy and will bail at the first sign of trouble, and then you throw his Twitter bullshit on top.
I agree, he is Carmelo with rings that he got from joining a stacked warriors team.
He’s Michael Jordan of Carmelo Anthonys
Lol, perfect
too good lol
This is it.
Kevin Durant doesnt care about winning?
gonna be a lot of KD and Embiid so I wanna throw Zion in there.
He finally put it all together last year was genuinely very good and overall healthy. I just think it’s damn near impossible to build around a 6’6 power forward who can’t really shoot or defend. You’d have build a team similar to the 2021 bucks but even then you’d need a lot more defensive help then they had because giannis was so great defensively.
Extremely talented. Extremely fun to watch. Just probably not a guy who’s gonna be key to a winning team.
I really want to see him on the T-Wolves for maximum chaos. I think him, Ant, and LaMelo would be so much fun for 15 games.
Minnesota would be a single giant orgy, don’t do that
The prince estate is vacant, right?
Believe it or not, no, actually.
Ya know, I’m fully aware of Zion’s limitations but every year he makes me want to roll the dice again. We’re the Pelicans might as well have fun.
My man.
I don’t necessarily “want” it to happen, but if I could like, see an alternate future, Zion with Wemby is a pretty intriguing concept.
Wemby covers the defense problems, Zion covers some of the bruiser problems. Wemby has the spacing to let Zion do his thing. Etc.
I feel like Zion with a team that can space the floor would be real fun
Ehhhh to a point. Barkley showed you can do it and zion is the player that could. He isn’t Barkley in anyway. But he is the only player that could be barkley. So I wouldn’t want him on my team as the nuggets but could be worth the risk if i was the hornets or portland or wizards.
Barkley showed you could do it 40 years ago. I think having a complete nonshooter the size of a 3 is difficult
Bro we need anyone we can get right now honestly
Anyone younger than 35 please
Nope, you’ll be getting LeBron
And for the twelve games that Curry/Lebron/Green/Butler/Porzingis are healthy, you’re in for a magical experience.
12-0, All in the playoffs.
League just lets them skip the first round
Nah, just had a scheduling conflict with the finals. Game one was scheduled for the same time as bingo night in the home.
For real 😅
James Harden, what a tool
It’s crazy how all three of the old OKC big three are top answers lol.
Well yeah they’re all like 37 now
Even in their primes they still have the same issues today, Harden disappearing in big games and too much of a partier, KD abandoning ship and having leadership problems, and Westbrook making questionable decisions.
No one in their right mind would dislike KD in his prime on their team
Harden has always lost to team’s better than him. Yea Harden parties, but he’s also in the gym a lot more than your average player, and thats been well documented. This is such narrative talking point without a basis in reality.
Harden is still really good at an advanced age. Homie is 37 and dominating games still. Not as much and not really like he used to, but that’s still wild.
The whole parties narrative is strange because there have been many, many fans of partying in NBA history and they don’t make it to 37. Maybe he’s just bored out of his mind and wants to go somewhere after playing basketball from 7-10PM. Like these guys work nurse hours, that’s midday for him.
I get it you don’t watch games but seriously? No one is passing up on a prime Westbrook, Harden and especially KD.
Great individual players but poor team players. KD just latched on to the Warriors dynasty run.
I hate that I agree with you.
he’s never joined my team but i notice a trend of “WE GOT HARDEN!” to “fuck why did we get harden.”
I think he was nice at sixers and their fans mostly liked him
Nets fans are fine with him too
Should’ve stayed with them, crazy that they let him go tbh
Cavs made the ECF and beat a 60 plus win team to do so, and was your best plaayer overall in the playoffs at 36. Idk why you would say that.
Lol, y’all would have gotten bounced by the hospital raptors without him
Embiid but that’s probably too easy(I still think he’s a top player).
This isn’t even him he’s just hurt and unreliable. When he can play he’s the shit but that’s less than it used to be now
The best ability is availability…
This playoffs run was especially brutal because his knee hadn’t been a problem at all and he was cooking every game and then the appendicitis came in and fucked it up again.
He’s a big boy and getting older so the knees will always be an issue but it did seem like there was finally real progress. However, even if he were 100% for an entire season he still would be sitting B2Bs out of caution
Miles Bridges for beating his wife.
I could never root for him.
He’s not a great player though.
And how anybody can root for him is beyond me.
17/6/3 on 46/33/82 splits isnt bad but hes also been a pretty heinous guy.
I guess kawhi. Injury concerns and everything behind the scene.
AD injury concerns and contract
Trae young injury concerns and contract
How did this Trae get the injury prone label? He missed some time last year then was out with tankitis
I think there is reasonable concern that he lost his first step as a result of injuries, and if you are an undersized guard who can’t blow past people anymore, paying him what you are paying him over the next four years might get rough.
KD.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/players.html
KD is the 27th highest salary next year. It *should* be a good contract. He’s more than the 27th best player, arguably still a top 10 player.
But do you *want* him on your team over the 26 guys above him? I would want him over Deaaron Fox, yes. Paul George maybe given the money. Jimmy Butler and Joel, yes, given the contracts. Davis is $15M more than KD. So him too.
Not with his twitter fingers
KD burner bout to light you up with dat hardest path
The answer was Russel Westbrook for the last 10 years to me
I like Old Man Russ. He was decent for us, particularly from a mentorship perspective. I think he’d be good for Acuff.
I loved him on the Nuggets. Def coulda used him last year.
Not a wrong answer, but Russ is a far cry from one of the best anymore.
I feel like after he left LAL he basically disappeared from discourse completely
vet min vs max changes expectations
I can’t help but chuckle that Harden, Westbrook and KD are the majority of the answers. Now imagine them on a team together!
They weren’t as bad in their early years, it’s more what they all became after those first years in OKC.
Kyrie
KD
Kyrie Irving
Yep
Boston crew agreeing
I’d go either Gobert or Trae. Gotta build your offense and defense specifically around them so team-building is a little too difficult compared to what they bring to the table.
You can have Deandre Ayton. I watched some of the Lakers playoff games - a time when he should be playing at maximum effort. Instead, I saw him jogging back on defense, clueless as to what to do on offense and generally being dead weight. Get him out of here!
He’s the best player you wouldn’t want? He’s like the 200th best player in the league lmao
SGA. Can’t watch that shit for 82 games. Plus I have no team for him to be on.
Kyrie Irving. And it’s not even close.
Embiid just due to injuries, talent wise I think he’s still top 7 or 8
Kawhi Leonard.
I can’t believe there’s rumors linking him going back to the Raptors. Fuck that. He’s corrupt. The aspiration stuff is unforgivable.
Durant, Harden, LaMelo, and Draymond
Jaylen Brown - not because he isn’t good, but because I don’t think he makes the Blazers beat OKC or the Spurs next 2⁄3 years and we lose the bucks picks.
This was my answer, but largely because I don’t like watching him play offense (aesthetically).
SGA because it must be exhausting rooting for him.
I admit he’s a great player, but I want to enjoy watching my teams play, even if we’re not as good.
It’s quite easy
Lol no it’s not, he’s great to watch
To be honest I suspect that SGA wouldn’t play like that if he wasn’t on the Thunder.
Ja I think
Jaylen Brown
Luka
I agree. Can’t stand his whining and flopping
Ja Morant
Deni
Cultural reasons, I assume.
Lebron. Way too expensive for a rental
Also if you’re a contending team, if you clear out money to sign LeBron unless you use an MLE once he retires you lose that salary slot bc it’s not like you can sign and trade him
SGA
I think now that the Giannis trade happened my answer changes, it would have been KD or LaMelo but not now. I think my answer now would be Trae Young
Jordan Poole
SGA would be miserable to watch for 82
James harden. Its always james harden.
Sabonis seems like an all star basically cannot work on a championship team from a mechanical standpoint - his skills simply are not optimizable regardless of team construction to actually win
La Bron
Lebron
Chet Holmgren
Ironically lebron
Honestly - Giannis. It seems like a major headache to deal with him at this point, and you gotta use a couple roster spots for his brothers.
Any of the women beaters
Jaylen Brown. No underlying stats say he’s good. Last year he only got a bump due to usage.
Plus he’s a headcase. Same philosophy as Kyrie, he just doesn’t talk about it as much.
1,000,000%
My team received enough slander for the last decade 🥲
I would not be happy if shai was on the lakers at all
Lamelo. He’s too goofy and like two or three times a game he takes a shot that Stevie wonder knows is gonna miss
SGA or Kawhi.
Ja
It’s Anthony Davis, and the fact he’s so absent from this discussion is only a testament to why. Dude is in street clothes so often we forget he’s in the league. Mvp impact when he strings together a healthy run, which got LA a title, but his body seems incapable of staying in one piece.
Guessing Harden and Sabonis get some votes here. Both are productive players with massive drawbacks and a history of shrinking in the playoffs.
Ja probably, the rest i’d take
Jaylen brown
James Harden
Kyrie, KD, Lebron, Harden or any overpaid guard who cant or wont play defense.
SGA.
Talented player but can’t respect how much he searches for the foul rather than actually scoring. Put him in the Jordan era and he’s a role player, but somehow he’s a two time MVP in the modern era…
i don’t like him but he’d fit incredibly well in the Jordan era lol way more than most other modern stars, a two way guard who’s primarily a mid range shooter fits in any era
Giannis. If he couldn’t carry the bucks to a deep playoff run consistently in the East, he can’t do it in the West.
Giannis
any of the OG OKC 3 (Durant,Westbrook, Harden)
Fox, Trae Young, Ja. Not sure who’s least bad out of those three.
Kawhi Leonard
Luka KD Lamelo Giannis (too injury prone and over due or an Achilles with all these calf stains and injuries) Donavan Mitchell Jalen Duren Kristaps
Bron or KD. don’t want durants attitude or lebrons age
James harden
Wemby