NBA 2025-26 Season Thread: THE NY KNICKS ARE CHAMPIONS! BING BONG!
Lettuce NBA!
and lettuce lol @ James Harden
In fairness, they have 3 picks NOW, but 2 of them are varying degrees of protected.LAC's pick is unprotected, Philly is only 1-4 but they're pretty solid so far, Utah is protected 1-8, so that's probably going to convey if Utah keeps hanging out where they are.
All I'm saying is that the fact that it's even possible is a major flaw in the draft rule architecture because a champ
Can’t save tard/criminal owners from themselves with more Stepien Rules.
Also LMAO thinking Flagg wouldn’t take a 50% paycut and rent the van himself to move to OKC by Monday.
I'm a son of a gun, Austin Reaves really is that guy. He said he was and everybody laughed.
It's not about bad architecture when you get a MVP as a toss-in in a trade and your drafting in the middle of the 1st round ends up hitting all-nba caliber players
I tweeted about stocks
All I'm saying is that the fact that it's even possible is a major flaw in the draft rule architecture because a championship squad can't play and develop all of that talent. SGA, JDub, and Chet are signed. Not exactly the scenario a high USG future NBA star is looking for, let alone multiple in the same class. The entire point of drafts is to distribute that talent.
They won't the LAC trade so significantly, it broke the league for a while. Simple as.
Good on them, but there's not really anything you can do except hope GMs wise up and realize that trading half a decades worth of unprotected FRP for one guy (even if theres a handshake deal for a 2nd guy) isnt a good idea in almost every case.
They won't the LAC trade so significantly, it broke the league for a while. Simple as.
Good on them, but there's not really anything you can do except hope GMs wise up and realize that trading half a decades worth of unprotected FRP for one guy (even if theres a handshake deal for a 2nd guy) isnt a good idea in almost every case.
Every GM does that deal.
If Giannis says he will go to your team, but you need to trade all your first plus one of your good kids and a couple of others for one of the other Top 8 players in the league, I think you do it. And I don't think you think about it too long.
They won't the LAC trade so significantly, it broke the league for a while. Simple as.Good on them, but there's not really anything you can do except hope GMs wise up and realize that trading half a decades worth of unprotected FRP for one guy (even if theres a handshake deal for a 2nd guy) isnt a good idea in almost every case.
Every GM does that deal.If Giannis says he will go
Huge gap btwn 1-3 & 4-8 imo, but yeah iirc most att graded that trade win-win at worst for clips
Any knowledgeable fans care to discuss the NBA? PM me.
KON
Every GM does that deal.
If Giannis says he will go to your team, but you need to trade all your first plus one of your good kids and a couple of others for one of the other Top 8 players in the league, I think you do it. And I don't think you think about it too long.
Of course they do, at the time, people thought getting PG+Harden was about as close to a lock ring as you can get.
The problem is there exists a percentage of outcomes where SGA, who was already solid as a rookie, becomes great and OKC hits those draft picks. It's the world we're living in, and given how fragile most players are, it wasnt super improbable.
I'm sure I'm forgetting about something here, but when was the last mega-deal involving multiple firsts in modern times that worked out well for the team acquiring the super star?
2011 Nets sent Deron Williams to Utah for and 11 and 13 FRP. Feels like Utah got the better of this one as they ended up getting the #3.
2019 OKC trades Russ to Houston. OKC got 4 FRP (24 and 26 and 21 and 25 swaps). Obviously worked out well for OKC and poorly for Houston.
2019 PG goes from OKC to LAC for 7 FRP (5 outright, 2 swaps). Helped build OKC's dynasty. PG breaks down and is never the same.
2021 Harden from Houston to Brooklyn for 8 FRP (4 out right and 4 swaps). Brooklyn did it to pair with KD and Kyrie and ultimately they end up playing 16 games together and it was a disaster.
At some point it's probably worth reconsidering the idea that "if someone offers you Giannis for your next decade of picks, you say yes". I think the main issue is that, unlike the NFL where you can turn a team around in a year, in the NBA if you suck, you're going to suck for a while. Trading 5 years worth of picks is basically a death spiral if your gamble doesn't work out.
Like, look at Chicago. They're decidedly meh, if Milwaukee offers Giannis for a treasure trove, you can easily make the case that they'd be one of the best teams in the east. The problem is if Giannis gets hurt, leaves, whatever, now you're back to being trash with no picks for 6 years and MIL is picking top 5 every year.
Basically you have to factor in the job and tenure of the GM who makes these type of deals.
If it works out for him great. If he doesn’t do the deal he may be gone soon anyway.
And let’s not forget the impact ownership has in three types of decisions.
I'm sure I'm forgetting about something here, but when was the last mega-deal involving multiple firsts in modern times that worked out well for the team acquiring the super star?2011 Nets sent Deron Williams to Utah for and 11 and 13 FRP. Feels like Utah got the better of this one as they ended up getting the #3.2019 OKC trades Russ to Houston. OKC got 4 FRP (24 and 26 and 21
Gobert leads the Wolves to 2 WCFs
There is some amazing efficiency in the NBA this year.
Jokic has played in 19 games this year. He has shot above 50% from the field in 17 of those games, and he still had a triple double in both games in which he shot below 50% from the field.
Giannis has shot above 50% in all 15 games he has played in this year.
Meh, ignoring that we're still in the middle of that, still feels like id rather have Kessler and the 27+29 as opposed to 2 WCF apps with 0 Finals apps. Guess thats closer than the others at least
Meh, ignoring that we're still in the middle of that, still feels like id rather have Kessler and the 27+29 as opposed to 2 WCF apps with 0 Finals apps. Guess thats closer than the others at least
Winning a Championship and then getting Luka for the player traded isn't good enough?
It’s been said a million times but every team does that trade with OKC.
The things that make it so bad were incredibly unlikely and would not happen to anyone except the snake bitten second class LA basketball team I have decided to be a fan of.
-Kawhi/Uncle Dennis pulled the leverage card in a way that other stars have not. They dragged it out til the end of the summer so Clips had no other choice. They made it known that getting PG was part of the deal so OKC basically got the return for two top-10 guys in one trade. Kawhi was a total FA coming off winning Finals MVP, and is basically the only star ever to leave right after winning a title. It was a once a generation setup. They were the best team in 2020, had a shot the next two years, and were above average for another couple years until age finally caught up to them.
-SGA being an mvp level guy was not at all on the radar. His profile was like a Chauncey Billups, good D, decent offense. We did a dynasty draft in 2022 and I got him in the second round. He didn’t finish a season for three years in a row and then took the hardest and rarest leap from fringe AllStar to top 5 guy. If he’s like a 22 point a game guy instead of a 32 point a game guy, OKC can’t be making these Caruso and Hartenstein type deals cause they need more scoring.
-OKC really only hit on Jalen Williams out of those picks so far. He was 11th in 2022 - which just happened to be the year after Kawhi got injured in the playoffs and they went 42-40. Every single other year involved that pick would have been in the 20s and they wouldn’t have had the chance. Great pick but incredible timing.
TLDR - you still do the trade. If there’s something to be learned long term strategy from this, it’s that the most important thing to have is a top 5ish guy. Everything else is secondary. Kawhi was at the time. SGA is now. If you have the chance to get one, you almost always do it. You want to say Gobert, old Harden, even older KD, and freaking Desmond BANE weren’t on that level - fine. But if Luka had been shopped, almost every single team would’ve given up that package for him.
Winning a Championship and then getting Luka for the player traded isn't good enough?
When did the Wolves win a ring??
Again, yes, they do, but at what point do we look at the data we have and start to ask if maybe they shouldn't?
At some point it's probably worth considering if the evaluation of unprotected 1st, especially those with a time horizon 6 years in the future is correct or if teams are actually failing to properly price in uncertainty here.
Again, yes, they do, but at what point do we look at the data we have and start to ask if maybe they shouldn't?
At some point it's probably worth considering if the evaluation of unprotected 1st, especially those with a time horizon 6 years in the future is correct or if teams are actually failing to properly price in uncertainty here.
Well every player is going to be valued differently by every front office. There’s definitely been inflation in the pick price for star over the past decade which would seem to indicate that FOs are saying that picks are LESS valuable than they were historically viewed to be.
Either that or theyre realizing that they’re going to get fired anyways if they don’t win, so might as well.
Anyways, as a fan I would say one championship is worth 5 years of pain, especially for the majority of teams in the league who haven’t sniffed a title in decades. Like if Kawhi had just not gotten hurt in 21 and they win against a very beatable Suns and Bucks lineup, I would say it was objectively an even outcome and would do it again knowing the result.
Basically you have to factor in the job and tenure of the GM who makes these type of deals.
Either that or theyre realizing that they’re going to get fired anyways if they don’t win, so might as well.
Yeah, I think this is kind of what I'm getting at. Nico is a moron, but he just came out and said it:
"The future to me is 3-4 years from now. 10 years from now I don't know. They probably bury me and Jason Kidd by then. Or we bury ourselves."
5+ years is a long time for something, anything, significant to go wrong, but these guys don't really feel the price since they'll be gone if they roll the dice and crap out. The market faces inflation when everyone can buy on cheap credit.
