Official 2016 Free Agency Thread

That'd be an interesting fit and I know they'll make a run at him along with everyone else, I just don't think he leaves. Why do it? He just went through the Spurs and almost beat the Warriors. I'd sign the 1+1 and tell the owner he's got a season to give me somebody with experience. If you can't do it, I'm out. Might as well trade me.

 

Agreed. I think we will too.

 

I can only come up with one reason that Durant would leave; Russell Westbrook. Yeah, they're buds, brothers, whatever. This doesn't work in the end though, it is an issue that there is no clear #1 on OKC, and that they both get tight and turnover prone to close games, and go 1 on 1. Title teams seem to need a clear leader, and I don't know who the clear leader is on OKC, so we see arguing, and bickering, the opposite of what we see from GS. If KD goes to SA for example, he's the clear man, it becomes his team. Same with a lot of other situations. That may be just what he needs to take over the end of games and get over the hump. Or from a different angle, say he got traded to the Clippers, maybe it's still Chris Paul's team, but now he has a PG that's pass first and going to get him the ball.

He and Westbrook work really well together because they're so great, but at the same time they don't work in the end for some reason. We've seen this for many years now, it keeps ending the same. If I'm KD I explore my options. I don't think we are in play because we are years from being in contention, but he should look at some top West teams, and he should look at some teams in the East too like Boston, because the East is so weak all it takes is one superstar to join an already good team to make that team a Finals contender instantly.

 

Yeah barring some kind of Miami-esque LeBron and KD conspiracy to go to LA this summer, there's nothing here for Durant right now. We can't find another FA that would give him a comparable team to the Thunder.

If LA wants to get him, go get another high profile FA he likes and some vets while preserving one max slot next summer. Be interesting and exciting and maybe even be that scary 8th seed type of team and suddenly the landscape changes. A long-shot, but still that's got to be the long-term goal of LA.

 

I would cry in a corner for a month.

 

I think we would need two max slots going into next summer. A scary 8th seed probably isn't enough to convince Durant. But a scary 8th seed where he can also pick a running mate to join him, then it gets interesting. It's why we shouldn't waste a spot on this guy.

 

A scary eight seed with four young prospects that are killing it AND a great FA (Horford?) AND a solid Iguodala-esque veteran (Deng or Parsons?). I think that's a pretty great scenario but maybe not enough for Durant. If it's not, oh well. We'd still be pretty great. The reality is we're not going to get much better than ^^ that scenario.

 

I think that scenario you named would leave us enough for two max deals. But I'm not sure about Deng or Parsons. At that point you'd have Ingram and Deng/Parsons already at sf, then Durant comes in? None of those 3 are ideally pfs, and even if one of them could, that cuts into Randle's minutes.

In the end though, I don't think Durant comes here regardless. With Ingram, we now have too many quality pieces who's age range doesn't match up with Durant. And unlike Philly, they are also all different positions so moving them isn't a forgone conclusion like with Philly having to move two of their three centers. I mean, think about next year's roster. We will have two young guards in Russell and Clarkson; a potential star at Durant's position in either Ingram or Simmons; a solid pf rotation with Randle and Nance; and we will likely have Black and another center at pick #32 like Chinanu Onuaku or something. That's a lot of guys we'd have to unload just to get some more veteran help. We have been very fortunate that our draft position and "Best Player Available" has matched up so well the last few years.

 

I see what you're saying, but I'd sacrifice one or two kids if consolidating them meant getting a difference maker. I'm content to wait it out while these kids grow because I see the makings of something brilliant, but at the same time if we traded the kids and ended up with a roster that was capable of winning a ring tomorrow then I'll do it. I want a ring tomorrow.

I don't worry about signing Parsons or Deng and how that fits with Ingram by the way. I sign all the talent I possibly can and worry about fit later with Luke. We're a 17 win team with 6 players under 25 years old, we need some players that know what it's like to win in the NBA.

 

I'm sure their numbers are better than mine, but ya'll see the point.

He's 100% better off signing the 1+1 deal in OKC to preserve his Bird Rights there. It gives them one season to figure it out and get things going. If not, then he can leave.

By the way if he signs the 1+1 and then leaves the next summer he's still getting something like 4/158 million or so. It makes almost no financial sense to sign long-term this summer, but who knows what he wants from a team? Worth talking to him still obviously.

 

I don't see how he leaves with this scenario unless he sees a chance to win elsewhere and he's good with his $300 million Nike deal too. But I mean, to leave this summer, that's giving up almost $100 million, to sign long term this summer, almost $60 million, I sure couldn't walk away from that.

 

And what reason could you do it for? A better chance to win? Good luck finding a better situation than the team that just took the defending champs to seven games. I'd be shocked if he left OKC.