I’ll play devils advocate a little here because I do think we should trade KD but mainly to restart essentially tanking for the hopes of finding a young star in the draft. The simplest answer is that Stone/Ime are tied to this roster and ownership likely won’t accept going back to building through the draft. But, if we look at this through an actual basketball lens, Kevin Durant was far and away the best rocket this past season. I know there are plenty of people that didn’t like the trade but I think he was better than the collection of Green/Brooks/Maluach and he provided the thing we needed most which was shot making. KD is just a better player than Green/Brooks and I expect that to continue to be the case until he retires. Also, due to age and twitter controversy, he just won’t have the trade value that matches his on court production. You likely either get a late 1st rd pick or a collection of mediocre players in return, nothing that would actually make us meaningfully better. The best realistic version of the rockets in 2027 likely includes KD. Any dramatic improvement of the team will likely come from development of the young players or trading some of the young players (because they have more trade value).
All that is true if you are focused on 1 season. A season you have virtually no chance of making the WCF
I don't think you could get anything back in a trade that propels you into being a true contender either (now or in the future). You could maybe argue that trading KD increases our odds of not making the playoffs and therefore improving our draft odds. If Sengun or Amen or Reed make some crazy leap and become superstars KD is a nice sidekick. If they don't we're screwed regardless. The true path to contention is to tear it down and re-start the rebuild. In that case, trading KD is just one of many trades to gain draft capital and improve our lottery odds.
I completely agree with this - BUT: Man, it's scary to go back to tank in this environment where 8 teams all have the same lottery odds and you can literally end up picking anywhere in the lottery 1-14 no matter your record. The odds really suck .... The only way to bolster your chances is multiple (unprotected) picks in a single draft and even then it's open to sabotage. We own Brooklyn's swap rights this year - they will probably suck to infinity to be in the bottom 3 and cost us a 3% penalty on their pick coming up. The more I think about it, the more I Hate these new rules. Teams who don't own their picks have no incentive to stay out of the bottom 3 ... You are kinda damned if you do, damned if you don't, just at the mercy of the Silver adjusting the lottery balls so they fall in your favor and I think that rat b*stard hates Tilman for his politics - we aint never getting a #1 pick.
The plan was never to rely on on "OLD" players.... although 33 isn't "capital old". KD is OLD but he actually played more than most of the MVP candidates this season. The FO sure as hell would like the young core to take that leap so the OLD players are more supplemental.... To explain cause and effect to you.
Best argument still... owner ain't trading KD unless he wants out. Owner ain't interested in another complete rebuild by trading away our players for picks.
