Phoenix Suns expect to part ways with Kevin Durant this offseason. Could the Spurs be a good landing place?

[baseline bum]

On the other hand, you never know what the future holds and Wemby could be gone in an instant, for one reason or another.

Yeah it's amazing how fast le windows can close in the NBA. One of the greatest teams in league history, the Moses Malone / Julius Erving / Andrew Toney / Bobby Jones / Mo Cheeks Sixers, were up and gone as contenders in a flash. Won the 83 le in dominant fashion and then got busted by crackhead Michael Ray Richardson in the first the next year and were never a serious contender again. We were spoiled as by getting 19 years of contention with Timmy and it's so ridiculous to think that could ever be recreated again. All I want is one more, maybe two if I wanna get greedy.

[baseline bum]

i dont think so either. if durant was part of the banana boat crew, i could see CP3 recruiting him and then paul signs on for another year as a backup. but otherwise nah, i dont think he'd go out of his way to push for the spurs in the last years of his all-nba level play

like some of the others here, i wouldnt give more than vassell + keldon + 1 FRP + handful of SRPs. i agree with the poorly worded nick wright take... that of the spurs next 10 seasons, next season is probably the one they have the lowest chance of ringing. so if we have to give up multiple picks and trade assets to push all in for ~2-3 years, its probably not great.

but yeah its fun to think about. a lineup of Fox/Castle/Barnes/Durant/Wemby with Paul/Champagnie/Sochan as the main bench guys, plus whoever we pick in the first round... could be fun. spurs would also still have the full MLE to sign a key bench player or two

I think the Spurs will need to dip into the MLE to bring CP3 back since they don't have Bird Rights.

[Ice009]

I think what was said was that there was a group of teams that would compete for championships over the next ten years, the Spurs are one of them, but SA is the least likely of the teams to win next year.

Okay, that makes more sense. I couldn't understand what he meant.

i dont think so either. if durant was part of the banana boat crew, i could see CP3 recruiting him and then paul signs on for another year as a backup. but otherwise nah, i dont think he'd go out of his way to push for the spurs in the last years of his all-nba level play

like some of the others here, i wouldnt give more than vassell + keldon + 1 FRP + handful of SRPs. i agree with the poorly worded nick wright take... that of the spurs next 10 seasons, next season is probably the one they have the lowest chance of ringing. so if we have to give up multiple picks and trade assets to push all in for ~2-3 years, its probably not great.

but yeah its fun to think about. a lineup of Fox/Castle/Barnes/Durant/Wemby with Paul/Champagnie/Sochan as the main bench guys, plus whoever we pick in the first round... could be fun. spurs would also still have the full MLE to sign a key bench player or two

Doesn't Durant not like Chris Paul at all? IMO, the only scenario where I can see him coming to San Antonio is if the Spurs win the lottery, I think he'll be interested in that case.

[Ignazzz]

Why? He’s going to be a 2-3 year rental, at best.

We’re going to win les with Wemby. By being impatient, you’re almost ensuring that the window will be short because of all the assets expended. A lottery pick could be here for 10-12 years along side Wemby.

Joshua Primo 8 yras left ;-)

[exstatic]

Joshua Primo 8 yras left ;-)

Wemby,being on an island late in his career, like Jokic.

[CGD]

I pray some other team trades for Durant. He brings way too much baggage.

[quentin_compson]

It's really wild that the Suns have only two more wins than the Spurs. What a colossal failure their season is ... And it's not like they were crazily unlucky injury-wise, either.

[Ice009]

It's really wild that the Suns have only two more wins than the Spurs. What a colossal failure their season is ... And it's not like they were crazily unlucky injury-wise, either.

Yeah, I'm quite shocked how bad they've been. I expected them to be in the top 6. This is the kind of season I expected the Lakers and Lebron to have, but that darn Luka trade turned it all around for them.

Has Durant played at all the past week or so or is he still out injured? If so, looks like he's already played his last game for the Suns.

[djohn2oo8]

He might be a Rocket

[mo7888]

He might be a Rocket

How do they do that without taking back similar salary though? Does anybody have that kind of cap space to do an unbalanced trade?

[LeBowen]

How do they do that without taking back similar salary though? Does anybody have that kind of cap space to do an unbalanced trade?

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/cap/_/ye..._maximum_space

Nets, Pistons, Bulls could absorb a part of his contract while sending significantly less salary the other way.
But I doubt KD has interest in going to any of those teams.

[mo7888]

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/cap/_/ye..._maximum_space

Nets, Pistons, Bulls could absorb a part of his contract while sending significantly less salary the other way.
But I doubt KD has interest in going to any of those teams.

Agreed. He won't go those teams. Maybe one can be involved in a 3 team deal and get an asset? That's the only way I can see Phoenix doing this and saving some money.

[Guru of Nothing]

The grumpy old man tour angle of Durant and Paul is something that had not occurred to me until just now. According to my cipherin, that would give us both the oldest roster in the nba, and the youngest.

[spurraider21]

How do they do that without taking back similar salary though? Does anybody have that kind of cap space to do an unbalanced trade?

a) find teams that have cap space to absorb some of the salary
b) heck, they could combine and trade both durant and booker to houston, conceicably. those 2 guys have a combined 100mil in payroll next year. rockets could pick up FVV's option, combine him with Jalen Gree (whose extension will kick in), and those 2 alone are already at nearly 80mil. so they'd need a team with 20 mil in cap space to absorb the balance. of course, houston could also add additional players like jabari smith, reed sheppard, and match altogether if they really wanted to

[LeBowen]

Agreed. He won't go those teams. Maybe one can be involved in a 3 team deal and get an asset? That's the only way I can see Phoenix doing this and saving some money.

Anything is possible in this league.
I guess Suns would be fine with going below second apron.

[The Truth #6]

Durant is never happy, even when winning les. He's been fairly cancerous for about, what, 5-6 years now in a row, with high expectations met with horrible results year after year...but, uh, yeah, sign me up!!

[baseline bum]

EDIT: fck n/m, misread Houston's cap numbers

[baseline bum]

How do they do that without taking back similar salary though? Does anybody have that kind of cap space to do an unbalanced trade?

Rockets could pick up the option on VanVleet, send him out, and sign and trade the pick they get from Phoenix (prob #13/#14). Phoenix only needs to dump about $3 million to get under the second apron for 25-26 and that trade would drop their payroll almost $6 million. Similar for trading Evin + Kelon + signing and trading the ATL pick (assuming #12-16). Would slash about $5 million or so from Phoenix's payroll to let them slide just under the second apron by a couple million.

I think these are the kind of offers Phoenix is going to have to choose from. ROFL three picks and a young player, ing delusional.

[CGD]

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/cap/_/ye..._maximum_space

Nets, Pistons, Bulls could absorb a part of his contract while sending significantly less salary the other way.
But I doubt KD has interest in going to any of those teams.

That or Houston sends salary to the third team, which seems more likely.

[baseline bum]

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/cap/_/ye..._maximum_space

Nets, Pistons, Bulls could absorb a part of his contract while sending significantly less salary the other way.
But I doubt KD has interest in going to any of those teams.

Phoenix only needs to trim $3 million off their payroll to get under the second apron. They shouldn't have any trouble doing that in a Durant trade.

[scott]

In a two-team deal, if the other team doesn't have cap space, then they can take back 125% of what they send out. So if Durant is scheduled to make $54.7 next season, then the minimum they'd be able to take back in a two-team trade with a team without cap space would be $43.8, which would almost be enough to push PHX under the second apron (Spotrac has them at $11.4MM over the 2nd apron). But I think they can get the rest of the way there by renouncing some of their cap holds. At that point they can aggregate outgoing salaries in trades to try and fill out their roster.

[scott]

And for those wondering... Devin + Keldon = $44.5 next year, so those two (plus picks) for Durant would be legal.

[Obstructed_View]

[bigfan]

Time to take off the training wheels, no more old guys.

[Guru of Nothing]

What a night it would have been to be behind enemy lines!