The more I've thought about it the more I've backed off on the idea of trading Sengun this offseason. Regardless of fit issues, and they are pretty bad, I don't think you trade either of your two best young players in a retool/soft rebuild situation, unless you're getting back equivalent or better upside, which is unlikely here. I think what we need to do is find a KD trade that allows us to hedge our bets; get a stretch 5 who can conceivably replace Sengun in the future, and can allow us to reduce his minutes right now (he just doesn't hold up for 34mpg) and stagger his minutes with Amen so they only share the court for half of the game instead of most of the game. So I think my top trade target for KD is Minnesota, and I want Naz Reid back as the linchpin of any deal. He can come here and play basically the same role he does there, but with an opportunity to maybe replace Sengun as the starter in the future. Supposedly Ime Udoka is here to be our defensive guru, let's see what he can do with Naz. (I'm not optimistic; he's not actually a great defensive coach, he's just a good motivator until his players get tired of his schtick. But that's clearly the concept of Ime Udoka, if he's going to stay here, you have to work with that.) The only problem with this plan is Reed Sheppard. I just don't see the fit on a team that accepts having a barely-adequate defensive frontcourt. And I've never been sold on Reed's upside, frankly. He needs a rim protector behind him, and you're getting a great shooter out of that, but not a superstar. So I don't think there's a big hurry on trading him (we're not contending next season regardless) but I at least ask around and make him available, albeit at a premium price. I'm looking for a Trey Murphy level of guy coming back if I'm trading Reed, or at least somebody like Jalen Suggs (who is not a good shooter, but he's a credible high-volume 3P threat, good playmaker, and elite backcourt defender).
Problem is that Reed insn’t gong to garner much on his own. To get a Trey or Suggs you have to not only throw in more salary and you have to give up picks as well. Unless you need Reed to sweeten a bigger deal you might as well hang onto him, unless someone is foolish enough to give us a 26 lottery pick which I doubt. I don’t really like the idea of trading Sengun as long as Ime is coach. I also think Amen and Sengun have both showed signs of developing their shooting, especially Amen in the mid-range. It really depends on the return with Sengun. We may be undervaluing him as a trade piece. If someone gives up a haul for him, I’d pull the trigger.
Yes, of course it has to be a package deal if you trade Reed--probably with Adams and some second rounders at a minimum.
Develop Amen, Bari, Reed, and Alpi. Get another upside young guy/picks and vet role player in KD trade. Fact is, we are not as good as OKC and SA even with KD. Why lose in the 2nd round next year while his value diminishes and locker room continues to crumble
I'm generally in favor of giving it another year if we can get a better system and a point guard that KD respects so we don't get KD doing his PG impression. That being said... i think these would be realistic returns: To Wizards for Anthony Davis To Warriors for Jimmy Butler To Clippers for Darius Garland If knicks need to make a change I'd see if they would do Bridges for Durant. I wouldn’t do picks though.
Yes, we will essentially be recouping our losses. On Jalen, I don’t think he will ever be an efficient scorer so KD was worth the risk. It just didn’t work
The 27 and 28 drafts are supposed to be thin (and it appears they're changing the lottery rules). There isn't really any hope there either.
KD's injury and age make worried that we won't get good value this summer for him. I want him traded but I want to get something back. Maybe keep him until the trade deadline to give him a chance to play with Fred? If he plays well, then up his trade value and trade him then. What could we get? I'd trade him and take bad salary for a decent 2026 draft pick but I don't think we can get that. Perhaps we could trade KD+Tari for a good up and coming player and a 2027 draft pick. Maybe a team comes up short in the playoffs and thinks KD can help them. Maybe Orl beats Det and loses badly to whoever and decides they need a change. I would love Franz or Bane but they aren't trading them. I don't want Paolo. Suggs or Black or another young player and a pick.Suggs and Issac works salarywise.
Just to add a little more clarity to my post earlier advocating trading KD for a guy like Naz Reid: I think we might need to accept that we're not going to get a "starting caliber, rim-protecting stretch big" anytime soon. We might have to settle for the "starting caliber stretch big" part and continue with our existing plan of compensating for Sengun by building a powerful perimeter defense. So that's what I'm advocating trading KD for, and why I'm suggest it may not be necessary to move on from Sengun right away (we'll still be built to cover for him defensively), and why I'm suggesting that we at least be willing to trade Reed for a good return (although there's no hurry to do so just yet).
43% shooting, 5 rebounds, a paltry 3 assists Brandon Miller? Dude doesn't even shoot 4 free throws a game. He's a slightly longer Jalen Green who will probably demand 1.5x the pay. Just wow.
For the life of me I don't understand the dislike of Stone. Last season for a second in the west team we were 13th in offensive rating and 4th in defensive. Adding Durant made sense. I'd agree with you if we included 3 first round picks for him. Also I think we all realize Sengun is never going to be a superstar, but IMO he's on one of the best contracts in the league for what he provides. Had Sengun been paid like Evan Mobley I'd agree with you too. Mobley will get $60 million in 2030. Sengun $39 million. That's a win.
