OFFICIAL LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS 2023-2024 SEASON THREAD

[shoeking2102]

For those who want a more detailed look about how we can acquire KD, here's how (Hint: Hard, but very possible if he actually wants to come to LAC)

 First tweeted  back on June 6th that the Clippers were interested in Kevin Durant, likely by sending back Blake Griffin in a sign-and-trade.  Durant's a top-4 talent in the NBA (with LeBron, Steph, and Kawhi, in no particular order), and while it breaks my heart to even talk about moving on from Blake, we're at the point where it has to be discussed.
I've heard a LOT of different rumors and scenarios, some with legs, some without.  Here's some realistic options:
[h3]Old Fashioned Sign-and-Trade[/h3]
The simplest way for the Clippers to go from a cap-maneuvering perspective would be a straight-up sign-and-trade where they send one of their stars back to Oklahoma City.  Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan all work mathematically, so it's a matter of which max-salary star Doc Rivers is comfortable parting ways with.  A lot of speculation is centered around Blake Griffin, because of the time he missed last season and his higher appeal as a superstar and first option offensively.  DeAndre Jordan also would seemingly fit better if the Clippers were to add a Durant-like wing scorer.

Kevin Durant's maximum starting salary is 26.6 million, so Blake Griffin's 20.1 million and DeAndre Jordan's 21.2 million both get the job done.

In this scenario, the Clippers' off-season would largely go on normally post-trade--they'd have their three bird rights players in Austin Rivers, Jeff Green, and Jamal Crawford, along with the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions.  They would, however, be hard-capped at an estimated $117 million (triggered by acquiring a signed-and-traded player), which would make fitting those bird guys and the MLE pretty difficult.  With Durant's help on the perimeter, the Clippers would probably have to let one of their bird players leave to give themselves breathing room under the hard cap.
[h3]Move Blake or DeAndre to a Third Team, Sign KD[/h3]
If the Clippers get a commitment from Durant that he'll sign with them, they could opt to maximize their value by trading Blake Griffin  or DeAndre Jordan into a team's cap space, renouncing their bird rights free agents, and signing Kevin Durant outright.  When you remove Griffin or Jordan's salary and the cap holds of Rivers, Crawford, and Green from the Clippers' cap sheet, you're left with enough money to sign Durant with room, and have some left over to get some supporting guys in return from the Blake trade.

For example, the Clippers could send Blake Griffin to Boston for Jae Crowder, Jaylen Brown, and some combination of assets that don't come with a cap hold (unsigned rights to second round picks, future picks, or Ante Zizic/Guerschon Yabusele, whose cap holds go away if they agree to stay in Europe their rookie year).  In this instance, they'd take back enough salary that they'd be left with less than a full max slot for KD--he'd have to take a paycut of about $108,000, which isn't too unrealistic.

The best part is that Boston wouldn't be able to hold the Clippers hostage, because tons of teams have room to add Blake Griffin, and the Clippers can let those bid against each other.  If Boston's holding out, the Clippers can go talk to Philadelphia, Minnesota, Orlando, Utah, Milwaukee, Phoenix, or any number of teams--as long as their packages don't give the Clippers too much money back.  How much can they take?

When calculating cap room, teams have to factor in "roster holds", which are minimum-salary slots for every empty roster spot under 12.  If Paul Pierce retires, and Branden Dawson is waived, the Clippers will have Paul, Redick, Griffin, Jordan, C.J. Wilcox, and Brice Johnson on the roster--leaving 6 roster holds valued at $543,471 eating into their cap room.  Losing one of Griffin/Jordan, but adding Durant, is a wash.  How much salary they can take back in trade depends on how many players they take back, because each additional incoming player eliminates one more roster hold, increasing the amount by $543,471 (unsigned second-round picks or stash guys who don't have cap holds don't take up a roster spot and therefore don't eliminate roster holds).  Here's the chart for Blake trades:
[table][tr][td]Players[/td][td]Incoming Salary Allowed[/td][/tr][tr][td]1[/td][td]$9,586,479[/td][/tr][tr][td]2[/td][td]$10,129,950[/td][/tr][tr][td]3[/td][td]$10,673,421[/td][/tr][tr][td]4[/td][td]$11,216,892[/td][/tr][tr][td]5[/td][td]$11,760,363[/td][/tr][/table]
Here's the chart if the Clippers move Jordan:
[table][tr][td]Players[/td][td]Incoming Salary Allowed[/td][/tr][tr][td]1[/td][td]$10,611,315[/td][/tr][tr][td]2[/td][td]$11,154,786[/td][/tr][tr][td]3[/td][td]$11,698,257[/td][/tr][tr][td]4[/td][td]$12,241,728[/td][/tr][tr][td]5[/td][td]$12,785,199[/td][/tr][/table]
Jordan's numbers are all about a million more than Griffin's, because he has a higher salary than Blake, but Jordan will also likely bring less talent back in return, no matter how much salary comes in.  Any leftover room can be used in free agency, possibly by keeping Austin Rivers' bird rights ($5,910,512 minus one $543,471 roster hold = $5,367,041 needed to keep his bird rights) and/or Branden Dawson's non-guaranteed contract ($874,636 minus his $543,471 roster hold = $331,165 needed to keep his bird rights).  The Clippers would then have the room mid-level exception ($2.898 million starting salary for up to 2 years) to lure a veteran who is willing to take a paycut.

All of this is contingent on Paul Pierce retiring.  If he stays for another season, all of the "incoming salary allowed" numbers in those charts go down by $2,984,449 (Pierce's $3,527,920 salary minus his $543,471 roster hold), which severely limits the Clippers' options but doesn't deplete them, especially given the reality that the team would ultimately settle for an imperfect deal if a Kevin Durant signing was pending.

Here's your task in the comments: search around the league and find the best packages for Blake that fit within those salary constraints (realistic, please: no trading Blake for Andrew Wiggins AND Karl-Anthony Towns).  Turning Blake Griffin into Kevin Durant is a talent upgrade for this roster, but can the Clippers get enough of a return for Blake to make renouncing Rivers, Crawford, and Green worthwhile?  I think so, and I think that multiple teams present options to make that worthwhile.
[h3]The Dream Scenario[/h3]
Now, this last option is beyond a pipe dream--it's essentially an exercise in mathematics only, because I'm not sure how the Clippers convince all of the parties involved to help them in the way necessary to pull this off.  Anyway, here goes nothing.

As stated above, Kevin Durant's starting salary is 26.6 million.  If the Clippers were to pull off adding him without  losing a star, they'd have a $104,554,360 cap figure: seven players (Paul/Redick/Durant/Griffin/Jordan and Wilcox/Johnson).  They would be hard-capped at approximately 117 million, leaving them with solid wiggle room to avoid hitting that hard cap figure.  They would still be able to use the full MLE ($5.628 million starting salary for up to four years) and BAE ($2.203 million starting salary for up to two years).  Sounds like a dream world, right?

Here's how it works: the Clippers want to take back $26.6 million.  The salary-matching rules for an amount that high are as follows: you can take back 125% of outgoing salary plus $100,000.  In other words, the Clippers need to send out KD's salary - $100,000 * 0.8, which, for the $26.6 million, is $21.2 million.  So, they just have to put together a massive, multi-team combined sign-and-trade deal where they send out $21.2 million in salary so that they can bring in $26.6 million with Durant being signed-and-traded to the Clippers.  It would be the type of impossible and monumental transaction that the league has never seen--easy, right?

It's made even more complicated by the base-year compensation (BYC) rule in the NBA's CBA, which is designed to prevent teams from signing their own free agents to inflated contracts just to facilitate trades, which would be exactly what the Clippers would need to do.  Under this rule, players like Jeff Green, Jamal Crawford, and Austin Rivers have limitations placed upon their outgoing salary for sign-and-trade purposes: if they get a raise of over 20%, their outgoing value for trade salary-matching is either their old salary or half of their new salary, whichever is greater.

So, how do they get to 21.2 million?  Jeff Green's salary last year was $9,300,000, so it's safe to say that he won't get double that.  Jamal Crawford's salary last year was $5,675,000--is double that possible?  Yes, but it's more likely that he lands somewhere underneath that.  Those two together are $14,975,000--we need to find $6,225,000 more to make it work.

Austin Rivers made $3,110,796 last year.  He's due to make well over double that, which will help significantly.  If Rivers gets a $12,000,000 offer, the Clippers are just $225,000 short, which is reasonable enough of a paycut for Kevin Durant to take if it means ending up on such a stacked team.  Even if he doesn't want to do that, Branden Dawson's non-guaranteed deal going out would more than cover the difference.

If the Clippers would rather keep Rivers' cap hold and re-sign him, they can try to find the $6,225,000 in other places.  Paul Pierce is due to make $3,527,920 next year.  If he's going to retire anyway, one of the teams taking the Clippers' other players could just let Pierce retire once he gets there.  If he's going to play, the Clippers could give a team C.J. Wilcox for their trouble, and let that team waive Pierce (who probably would retire anyway if traded).  Wilcox's salary of $1,209,600 combined with Pierce's number puts them just $1,487,480 short of being able to take on Durant's $26.6 million.  Branden Dawson's $874,636 moves the Clippers within $612,844 of Durant, and that's definitely within feasible paycut range for Durant.

Here's the problem with this pipe dream: why the hell does anyone except for the Clippers or Durant do it?  The Clippers want KD, that's obvious.  For this to be relevant, KD has to want the Clippers too.  But why do Crawford and Green (and maybe Rivers) get signed-and-traded instead of just leaving?  Why do the teams that are getting those guys help the Clippers get KD back in a trade when they can just sign those free agents with cap room?  Why does Oklahoma City help Kevin Durant flee to a Western Conference rival who can't sign him without their help?  It's beyond me.  Maybe you can use second-round picks to convince Crawford and Green's new teams to do sign-and-trades, but I'd imagine that it would be hard to get Oklahoma City on board.

There you have it: the three ways for the Clippers to end up with Kevin Durant: the easy and most realistic path of sign-and-trade, the slightly-harder-but-still-worth it path of moving Blake to a third team and signing Durant with cap, and the impossibly complicated and unrealistically difficult path of teaming Durant with the Clippers' existing core.  If Doc Rivers pulls the last move off, I will refuse to ever listen to complaints about his front office moves again for the rest of time.Clippers Off-Season 2016: Kevin Durant Scenarios

 

[casper90403]

is it lit in here?

I see you guys are talking about a Blake for KD deal.

Been asking for that for damn near 2+ years. It makes so much sense for both teams. This only occurs if KD tells them he's not coming back.

BUT, its not a better situation than what he has on OKC.

OKC current group with KD vs. CP/KD/DJ is a better situation.

Lets all not talk about it to avoid yet another disappointment. Reminds me of when Lebron was linked to us prior to going to Miami.

 

[HIM]

It's not lit in here per se....


We're a level headed group 6/7 NTers

 

[shoeking2102]

We're a level headed group 6/7 NTers

I like that *khaled voice*

 

[shoeking2102]

Upon further review, we probably would have to trade Blake to a team that can take his contact and get some cheap picks / players in return in order to get durant.

The thinking is that, from what I read is that a player, who's signed via a S&T, has to sign a 3 year deal. That eliminates Durant's ability to be a FA next season, which is probably a must for Durant. Plus it's unlikely that OKC would trade Durant to a western conference power, even if they're getting blake griffin in return. 

 

[HIM]

I'm hoping Durant goes East. One less team to worry about in the West

 

[casper90403]

There's zero change the Clippers can get KD unless one of the big 3 is traded for him. And he's not taking a significant cut.

Am i the only one that sort of wishes DJ would have stayed with Dallas? We'd be in a good spot now.

 

[shoeking2102]

There's zero change the Clippers can get KD unless one of the big 3 is traded for him. And he's not taking a significant cut.

Am i the only one that sort of wishes DJ would have stayed with Dallas? We'd be in a good spot now.

KD did praise David West for taking a paycut then said "It's not always about money" so you never know lol still doubt we get him. However, him electing the Clips as one of the 6 teams to meet with thursday is encouraging. We'll see.

And I totally disagree with your stance on DJ. DJ has turned himself into one of the best players in the NBA. He is invaluable to what we do and you probably can't replicate it with any other 5 in the league. He was the top screener in terms of generating pts off screens for this past playoff run, and he only played 6 games. That tells you how important he is to the Clippers. His gravity from his screens and dives to the hoop, his elite level rim running and finishing ability, Crazy motor, and he quaterbacked our defense this year which was top 6 in the league, and top 3 since christmas and A LOT of it had to do with him. Then, you factor in the fact that he doesn't miss any games either. He's fantastic man.

He's back to back all nba on both sides of the floor and now an olympian and he warrants every bit of that. One of the best 2nd round steals in recent memory. Love him.

 

[casper90403]

I like DJ, but i can't help but think what if we would have signed Hibberts scrubness for the year, and then be in position to go after someone huge this off season.

DJ slightly overrated but makes up for it being on the Clippers. I like him though.

 

[shoeking2102]

Tbh I think DJ is slightly underrated and people don't realize how great of a player he's become.

It's like because he cant shot free throws or doesn't have ideal back to the basket ability, that that masks everything else that he does. 

Like I said, there isn't another five in the league that could replace DJ for LAC, and he's probably one of the two or three best 5's in the NBA.

 

[lawdog1]

DJ has far exceeded any expectations I had for him. I was hoping, at best, he get somewhere close to a lite version of prime Tyson Chandler. And he's exceeded that. That said, I don't think he's a max player in terms of the value he brings to the team. (Market-wise he is, but value-wise, I don't think so). I think we could come close to equaling his production with someone serviceable at C, but much less expensive. (Think about how good Cole was when he had to fill in for DJ last season) And then we'd have more money to try to sign a dynamic wing scorer, which is really what we need to get to the next level.

So, DJ is great, I'm not sorry we have him. But I wouldn't be mad right now if we didn't have it and had more money to throw at KD, etc.

 

[casper90403]

Like I said, there isn't another five in the league that could replace DJ for LAC, and he's probably one of the two or three best 5's in the NBA.

this isn't really saying much though. That position is weak.

Good player, not worth what he makes, but we had no choice but to sign him. I get it.

I'd love to know what his stats are in the 4th qtr. To me, he cleans up in Q1-Q3

 

[HIM]

DJ has far exceeded any expectations I had for him. I was hoping, at best, he get somewhere close to a lite version of prime Tyson Chandler. And he's exceeded that. That said, I don't think he's a max player in terms of the value he brings to the team. (Market-wise he is, but value-wise, I don't think so). I think we could come close to equaling his production with someone serviceable at C, but much less expensive. (Think about how good Cole was when he had to fill in for DJ last season) And then we'd have more money to try to sign a dynamic wing scorer, which is really what we need to get to the next level.

So, DJ is great, I'm not sorry we have him. But I wouldn't be mad right now if we didn't have it and had more money to throw at KD, etc.

Take this rep, Lawrence.


Happy DJ came back. Would not have been mad if he left and we had a legit shot at KD.

 

[shoeking2102]

Maybe the meeting we have for KD isnt for this upcoming season but its for next season when KD is a FA again and CP and Blake are both off the books

 

[shoeking2102]

 
@WojVerticalNBA   17m17 minutes ago

Sources: Brooklyn shopping Jarrett Jack w/ buyout date looming Thursday. Without trade, Nets plan to waive PG; would clear nearly $6M on cap

Fresh off an ACL injury, later part of his career, basically washed even though he was okay in BKN pre knee injury.

I feel like if / when Austin leaves us for another team this summer at some point we're going to make a play for Jarret Jack as a back up PG. Also has a great relationship w/ CP.

Not saying I would be happy w/ JJ being our Back up going into the season, but I could totally see Doc making a play for JJ as our back up PG if Austin doesn't return. Feel like he would be in our price range as well.

 

[casper90403]

Also has a great relationship w/ CP.

not sure if serious.

These two dislike each other, mostly from Jacks side

But i've always liked Jack

 

[shoeking2102]

KD can outright sign with us and we don't have to depart with the big 3

I don't want to get anyone's hopes up in regards to us signing KD. I can and think he should stay in OKC.

But what I posted in the offseason thread is something that seemingly no one is acknowledging, the fact that LAC can outright sign KD w/o having to part with any of the big 3. To me that's kind of a big deal because he gave them an audience in the first place which shows at least some sort of interest, and playing with the big 3 in LAC is probably the most attractive situation outside of staying in OKC. (I don't include the warriors here because the idea of KD joining up on a 73 win team that just beat you is such a fantasy, that I would have to see it to believe it.)

But in any event, here's how:

 There's been a lot of talk about Kevin Durant's  free agency in the last few days since he announced which teams he'd meet with: Oklahoma City, Golden State, San Antonio, Boston, Miami, and the Los Angeles Clippers.  When discussing possible landing spots, the narrative has been almost entirely dismissive of the Clippers' chances, likely due to a combination of disregard for the Clippers' fit and dismissal of their cap situation.
Both of those issues can be contested, though: San Antonio and Golden State are seen as the more attractive contenders, even though the Spurs  lost to Durant's Thunder  this spring and to the Clippers last spring.  The Warriors  are undeniably the most attractive landing spot if Durant wants a ring, but they'd have to trade away Andre Iguodala  orAndrew Bogut  to clear space, as well as let Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezeli, and Brandon Rush  walk.  Adding Durant to their core of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, andDraymond Green  would strike fear in the heart of every front office in the league, no doubt, but they would have to move a lot of the attractive supporting pieces.  Kevin would also be leaving for the team that just eliminated him, taking a far easier way out than LeBron James  did when he signed with Miami--a move he was crucified for.

The Eastern Conference teams that Durant is considering are probably the least attractive options of the bunch--the Boston Celtics  still have tons of picks and prospects that they haven't been able to turn into a championship core for Durant to play around, and the Miami Heat  were an average team in the East last season, and now Dwyane Wade  is 34 years old, Chris Bosh  may never play again due to his health, and Hassan Whiteside  and Luol Deng  would likely both have to depart in free agency in order for the Heat to sign Durant.

So, the Clippers.  Why would Kevin Durant choose the Clippers?  I believe that Durant should, and will, re-sign with the Thunder, but I think it's fair to deviate from that realistic pessimism to at least describe what makes them an attractive option.  Chris Paulis the best passing point guard in the league, and he would guarantee Durant both the best floor general and pick-and-pop distributor in the game.  Russell Westbrook  is no slouch at point guard, don't get me wrong--but Paul and Westbrook have very different styles, and it's possible that Paul's more efficient and distribution-oriented game would appeal to Durant.  Down low, he'd be teamed up with at least one of Blake Griffin  andDeAndre Jordan, and while Serge Ibaka  was an athletic roll man, he doesn't have anything on one of Griffin, one of the most skilled and athletic big men in the game, or Jordan, the most magnetic rim-diver in basketball.  Beyond those three, what does Durant need?  A couple shooters, a couple backup big bodies, a backup point guard--all easy enough stuff to find for the minimum when you have a starting lineup featuring Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan.

So why is the media being so dismissive of the Clippers as an option?  Well, the expectation is that they'd have to trade Blake Griffin to the Thunder in a sign-and-trade because of their cap situation, and that OKC might not be willing to accept.  That expectation is kind of silly.  Beyond the fact that Blake Griffin is a thousand times more valuable than any sign-and-trade compensation teams have been given for as long as I can remember (normally it's just a trade exception and a future pick, not an All-Star in his prime), the Clippers have no need to send anyone to Oklahoma City.  They could very easily move Blake Griffin or DeAndre Jordan to a third team for a package that has a lower salary price tag, and then sign Durant outright, as detailed here.  But, I get it.  If the Clippers move Blake and sign KD, the Clippers would be really, really good--but would they be a significant enough upgrade over Oklahoma City for Durant to actually leave for that future?  Maybe, but it's far from a sure thing.

I don't quite understand, however, why more people aren't talking about the Clippers just... signing Kevin Durant.  By my estimation, the team can move all of their salary except for the big 3, and offer Durant a salary pretty damn close to his max--a little over 24 million as opposed to his maximum salary of 26.6 million.  If the salary cap comes in higher than the projected 94 million, that gap shrinks, because the Clippers' room grows as the cap does while Durant's max grows approximately 30 cents for every dollar the cap goes up.  That means if, for example, the salary cap goes up from 94 million to 96 million, the Clippers would now be able to offer a little more than 26 million to Durant, and his maximum salary would only have moved up to approximately 27.2 million--shrinking his potential pay cut in half.

What would it take to get that money for Durant?  Well, it wouldn't be pretty, but it's definitely possible.  Right now, the only non-big three contracts that the Clippers have are J.J. Redick  ($7.4M), Paul Pierce  ($3.5M), and C.J. Wilcox  ($1.2M).  Wilcox and Redick are both valuable pieces for their salary and the Clippers could move them to any number of teams free of issue, maybe bringing back future picks in return.  Pierce's contract is a little rougher, but if he refuses to retire the Clippers could easily make him a package deal with Redick, and teams would still line up to take on 11 million of salary for the sharpshooter.  Beyond moving those guys, the Clippers would have to cut Branden Dawson's non-guaranteed contract, trade or renounce Brice Johnson's draft rights, and renounce all of their free agent cap holds.  Then there you have it: the Clippers' cap sheet would consist of Paul, Griffin, Jordan, a $24,063,927 salary for Kevin Durant, and eight roster holds.

The obvious criticism is that the roster would have to be filled out with all minimum-salaried players, but if you put those four stars together in your starting lineup, they will come.  Players like David West  last summer would take less money to join a stacked roster, and we saw it in Miami with the big three: if you put enough star talent on a team, limited role players and ring-chasing veterans can do enough around the edges to win you a championship.

In my estimation, this is probably the most attractive offer that the Clippers can make to Durant--not "we'll trade Blake for you" or even "we'll trade Blake or DJ for a cheap package and then sign you", but "we'll get rid of everything else and put you together with three other superstars".  It's a long shot, and the rest of the roster would be thin, but if Kevin Durant makes a commitment to join your team then the other pieces around the edges become incredibly less important.  Why are we willing to discuss the Warriors and Spurs trading an important piece (Danny Green  and Boris Diaw, or Andre Iguodala) and letting their free agents walk (Boban, Duncan, Manu or Barnes, Ezeli, Rush) to grab Durant, but the Clippers doing the same thing (with Redick and Rivers, Crawford, and Green) is off the table?

When the Clippers' three stars travel with Doc Rivers  and Steve Ballmer on Friday to meet with Kevin Durant in the Hamptons, I think that this might be the pitch that they put forward.  It could end up being a very hard one for Durant to say no to

 

[wavycrocket]

Miles Plumlee
Allan Crabbe
Dwight Powell
Zaza
Luol
Marvin Williams
Chalmers
DJ Augustine

Those are some names to target.

 

[lawdog1]

KD can outright sign with us and we don't have to depart with the big 3

I don't want to get anyone's hopes up in regards to us signing KD. I can and think he should stay in OKC.

But what I posted in the offseason thread is something that seemingly no one is acknowledging, the fact that LAC can outright sign KD w/o having to part with any of the big 3. To me that's kind of a big deal because he gave them an audience in the first place which shows at least some sort of interest, and playing with the big 3 in LAC is probably the most attractive situation outside of staying in OKC. (I don't include the warriors here because the idea of KD joining up on a 73 win team that just beat you is such a fantasy, that I would have to see it to believe it.)

Agree with all of that. Playing with CP, Blake and DJ is the only way coming here makes sense for KD from a basketball perspective. I know you said it was possible before, but I guess it seemed so unlikely to me that I didn't really consider it. Still think it's a huge long shot. But you're right, I don't think KD would be giving us a meeting if he wasn't at least entertaining it as a possibility. The fact that, if we pulled that off, we'd literally have nobody else under contract besides the "big 4" doesn't bother me. That's basically the spot the Heat were in after they got LeBron and Bosh and they managed to fill out the roster well enough.

All that said, my expectations on KD continue to hover at around zero.

 

[shoeking2102]

Agree with all of that. Playing with CP, Blake and DJ is the only way coming here makes sense for KD from a basketball perspective. I know you said it was possible before, but I guess it seemed so unlikely to me that I didn't really consider it. Still think it's a huge long shot. But you're right, I don't think KD would be giving us a meeting if he wasn't at least entertaining it as a possibility. The fact that, if we pulled that off, we'd literally have nobody else under contract besides the "big 4" doesn't bother me. That's basically the spot the Heat were in after they got LeBron and Bosh and they managed to fill out the roster well enough.

All that said, my expectations on KD continue to hover at around zero.

80% chance he stays with okc, I think. But on some level there's gotta be some interest if he's meeting with us.

The real point of that though was the show that we could for sure get durant and keep the big 3 which makes lac far more appealing, if he decided he wanted to move on from OKC. The big 3 will also be in attendance at the meeting as well.

And I have no doubt we would be able to fill out a competent roster after signing kd if we were to do that. On some level sas and gsw both would have to do the same if he committed to them as far as essentially cleaning out their team.

 

[shoeking2102]

Miles Plumlee
Allan Crabbe
Dwight Powell
Zaza
Luol
Marvin Williams
Chalmers
DJ Augustine

Those are some names to target.

Some appealing names for sure but in this climate almost all of those guys are going to get their money

Want allan the most but I think portland matches anything regarding him

Marvin williams would be dope but he isnt really a 3 more of a small ball 4. Would for sure welcome him though.

Zaza could be a nice backup big for the right price too

 

[lawdog1]

I especially hope Blake doesn't get traded now since he just started following me on Twitter. Would be awkward for him to be on another team now that he and I are BFFs. LOL.

 

[lawdog1]

Some appealing names for sure but in this climate almost all of those guys are going to get their money

Want allan the most but I think portland matches anything regarding him

Marvin williams would be dope but he isnt really a 3 more of a small ball 4. Would for sure welcome him though.

Zaza could be a nice backup big for the right price too

Agree that, if nothing changes, a lot of those guys will be too expensive for us. Definitely a lot of guys worth making a call to though.

KD is the key to everything though pretty much. I don't think we'll see many FAs sign until after its clear where KD is going.

 

[shoeking2102]

If and when we dont sign KD,

Im all for bringing back Austin Jeff and Cole (especially cole) and then filling out the rest

 

[lawdog1]

Following up on one of the points in the article shoeking2102 posted, it really is a little puzzling why the media seems so much more dismissive of our chances of landing KD than all the other teams that got meetings. Like today on Twitter, Arash Markazi posted something like, "Durant more than likely goes back to OKC, with the Warriors the only real wild card." I asked him why he would say that.

GSW and SAS are pretty much in the same position as we are. They can keep their main stars and sign him, but would have to give up some key role players. So, its going to come down to what core KD likes best and which he thinks he can fit best with. I honestly think the fit would be better with CP-DJ-Blake than Curry-Klay-Dray or even Kawhi-LMA.

Its either that the national (and even local) media isn't doing its homework and doesn't realize we can sign KD outright without losing any of the "big 3" or just lame anti-Clippers bias creeping in again.