2024-2025 Around the NBA Thread

[Mainstreet]

I hate to go back to this but again, some of us were confident that we could have had Durant for much less and we jumped the gun. AFAIC the writing was on the wall, Durant had to go and Brooklyn didn't have any real suitors. Had we made the trade and hung onto Cam and a few picks we'd have been in much better shape when it came to filling out the post trade roster.

If, by holding firm, someone else was able to jump in and steal KD before us or if the Nets turned us down even at the last minute, than so be it. We simply didn't have the assets to pay the price we did for KD and still round out the rotation.

We mostly agree, but I wouldn't have traded Bridges.

 

[AzStevenCal]

We mostly agree, but I wouldn't have traded Bridges.

I'm torn on that, now and when it went down. I love Bridges but if we had the chance to get KD without giving up much more value than Mikal, I understand the appeal and I'm okay with the gamble. But with CP3 aging out and Ayton pulling such a disappearing act, we were no longer all that close to winning it all with or without KD.

 

[Mainstreet]

I'm torn on that, now and when it went down. I love Bridges but if we had the chance to get KD without giving up much more value than Mikal, I understand the appeal and I'm okay with the gamble. But with CP3 aging out and Ayton pulling such a disappearing act, we were no longer all that close to winning it all with or without KD.

As I saw the trade, Bridges, was untouchable.

The Suns could have made a trade like the Mavericks if they hadn't panicked, who acquired Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington.

 

[Chaplin]

As I saw the trade, Bridges, was untouchable.

The Suns could have made a trade like the Mavericks if they hadn't panicked, who acquired Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington.

Bridges wasn't untouchable. That's revisionist history, and obviously incorrect, since he was traded. You hang your hat on "what ifs" and it's amazing that you continue to do so for so long. What if we didn't trade Mikal? What if we drafted Haliburton? What if we signed a 4th string center or a 5th string guard? It's not like we traded Bridges for Gordon Hayward or Mike Conley.

You have to give up to get, that's the reality of trades. Mikal Bridges was gangbusters on a bad Nets team for the first half of his time there, but he did fall back to earth and wasn't this great indispensable superstar you'd like him to be. The problem with the KD trade has nothing whatsoever to do with Mikal Bridges and even Cam Johnson. It's all about the draft picks. I'm in the camp that the picks aren't going to be as valuable as everything thinks they will be, but I will concede they were at the very least potentially good trade chips. The value in the KD trade is ONLY in the picks, especially now, considering Bridges is nothing more than a good role player and Cam Johnson is always injured.

 

[Yuma]

I hate to go back to this but again, some of us were confident that we could have had Durant for much less and we jumped the gun. AFAIC the writing was on the wall, Durant had to go and Brooklyn didn't have any real suitors. Had we made the trade and hung onto Cam and a few picks we'd have been in much better shape when it came to filling out the post trade roster.

If, by holding firm, someone else was able to jump in and steal KD before us or if the Nets turned us down even at the last minute, than so be it. We simply didn't have the assets to pay the price we did for KD and still round out the rotation.

we'll never know.