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2018 NBA Offseason Thread -- News, Free Agency, Trades, Etc


Patrick Bateman

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13 hours ago, d2o said:

I like Butler but if the choice is him or Wiggins I would keep Wiggins 1000 times out of 1000.   However this is Thibs and he loves his guys so he I'm guessing he would keep Butler.

Lmao. That’s a terrible decision. Butler is a legitimate All Star and two way player, Wiggins is trash. Butler is so much better than Wiggins, it’s laughable.

 

Besides which, Jimmy Butler’s late bloom is the exception, not the rule. You talk about Wiggins’ age like he’s a 19 year-old rookie. Being younger might matter if he was still some raw slab for molding, but at this point he’s a known commodity. His youth is only an advantage if he projects to be as good as/better than Butler, which he doesn’t.

 

Edited by Goo Punch
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13 hours ago, d2o said:

Meh, before Butler got to MIN all of Wiggins offensive numbers were comparable to Butler.   This yr proved to me that Butler isn't as good as Thibs and more important, Butler thinks he is.      In multiple close games this yr, he went into full Kobe-mode.   He shot every single time down no matter who or how many were defending him.    He almost single-handedly lost that last game of the season that got them into the playoffs.

Add in that Wiggins is 6 yrs younger and will be 10% cheaper and the choice is easy for me if I had to choose between them.

I mean, I'm not the biggest Jimmy Butler fan either, but at least he's a known commodity. With Wiggins, you're banking purely on an upside that he's really yet to flash. Shit, with how many cash-strapped teams there are, Butler may have to sign for under the max in a year if he wants to win. On a team where he's the clear cut 2nd (or even 3rd) option, he could thrive. Assuming he gets away from Thibs, NBA players today should have primes extend until they're 32, 33, at least.

He wasn't really supposed to be the #1 option in Minny, but KAT didn't make the leap that they had hoped, obviously.

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9 hours ago, BigOrange1 said:

i just think thibs is the absolute wrong coach for that team.  they should fire him and offer jay wright whatever the amount of money is that he can't turn down.

I'm not sure that Thibs is the right coach for any non-tanking team in the modern NBA.

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44 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

I mean, I'm not the biggest Jimmy Butler fan either, but at least he's a known commodity. With Wiggins, you're banking purely on an upside that he's really yet to flash. Shit, with how many cash-strapped teams there are, Butler may have to sign for under the max in a year if he wants to win. On a team where he's the clear cut 2nd (or even 3rd) option, he could thrive. Assuming he gets away from Thibs, NBA players today should have primes extend until they're 32, 33, at least.

He wasn't really supposed to be the #1 option in Minny, but KAT didn't make the leap that they had hoped, obviously.

I really get the feeling that Butler will have a Wade like drop off and be pretty much done at 32-33.  I'd rather have 8-10 yrs of Wiggins over 3-4 of Butler.   And I dont know if I would say he has yet to show any delivery of his potential.   He avg'd 23.6 last season on a decent 45% from the field.   I'd like for him to up his 3P% from 35% but again he is only 22.

 

KAT and Wiggins regressed this yr cause of Thibs and his loyalty to Butler IMO.

Edited by d2o
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Wiggins regressed because of Jimmy Butler? Insert Jimmy Butler gif here. First off, Jimmy Butler isn’t Russell Westbrook- he’s incapable of bringing all of his teammates down with his mere presence. Second, Wiggins didn’t even regress. Besides FT%, all of his 2018 numbers are right at or above his career average, and I’m not sure how you can blame his shitty FTs on one of his teammates. The only other stat that’s really down is his PPG, which isn’t a regression, it’s a natural occurrence when you add another talented scorer and already have a young center who scores 20+ ppg. You’re alone on this Andrew Wiggins island dude. You’re not gonna find anybody else who thinks very highly of him.

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1 minute ago, Goo Punch said:

Wiggins regressed because of Jimmy Butler? Insert Jimmy Butler gif here. First off, Jimmy Butler isn’t Russell Westbrook- he’s incapable of bringing all of his teammates down with his mere presence. Second, Wiggins didn’t even regress. Besides FT%, all of his 2018 numbers are right at or above his career average, and I’m not sure how you can blame his shitty FTs on one of his teammates. The only other stat that’s really down is his PPG, which isn’t a regression, it’s a natural occurrence when you add another talented scorer and already have a young center who scores 20+ ppg. You’re alone on this Andrew Wiggins island dude. You’re not gonna find anybody else who thinks very highly of him.

Maybe he wants to be alone on an island with Andrew Wiggins

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Paying $150M for a 45/35/75 volume shooter would be more palatable if he was a tough defender...or a savvy passer...or a great ball-handler...or a sneaky rebounder...or had high basketball IQ...or could be counted on for his hustle. But he's none of those things. Other than defense--which does tend to take a few years--those aren't typically things you can just pick up. So I guess the hope is that he'll bump up his shooting a few ticks and become an elite defender, sort of a glorified 3-and-D guy?

Edited by aggie08
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38 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Way too much smoke in that org.  Someone is gonna have to take a hit for all this shit and considering how hands on Cuban is I cannot accept him saying he didn't know shit was going on.

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It's gonna be an extremely intriguing offseason for a number of teams.  Not sure for any team more than BOS.  

 

Does Kyrie ask out?

Do they keep Hayward with Brown/Tatum blowing up.   With his prior relationship with Stevens?

Do they go after Kawhi?  AD?

Will they re-sign Smart?

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18 minutes ago, d2o said:

It's gonna be an extremely intriguing offseason for a number of teams.  Not sure for any team more than BOS.  

 

Does Kyrie ask out?

Do they keep Hayward with Brown/Tatum blowing up.   With his prior relationship with Stevens?

Do they go after Kawhi?  AD?

Will they re-sign Smart?

I can't imagine Boston making major changes.  It's fun to joke around on the online forums and poke fun at Kyrie, but I really don't think he's going to ask out (at least not this summer).  The dynamic though between Kyrie and Tatum will be interesting to watch going forward - you could make an argument that Tatum is a top 20 player in the NBA RIGHT NOW and better than Kyrie, so who's going to have the ball and who's going to be the decoy during winning time next season?

Kawhi is a possibility, but he comes with too much baggage (injuries and Uncle Dennis) to give up one of their prime assets.  (Has anyone asked Pop if he still considers Kawhi the best 2-way player in basketball?)

AD isn't going anywhere this offseason.  If the Pelicans had missed the playoffs or got run out of the 1st round then I could see it.  But they did enough to justify sticking with him rather than blowing it all up.  But the clock is ticking in NOLA to make sure AD with the Pelicans doesn't mirror Lebron with the 03-10 Cavs.

Re: Smart I think the Celtics would re-sign for the right price, given all their other assets and draft picks the next couple years that could fill that role.  I also wouldn't give big money to Smart or anyone from Boston giving the troubles that Crowder, Bradley, and IT have experienced as soon as they left Beantown.

Shit happens and the unexpected does occur (see OKC), but even if the Celtics do nothing this offseason, they'll be the odds-on favorite to win the East in 18-19 and are set up to contend for a title the next 5+ years, maybe longer.

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4 minutes ago, Message Board User said:

I can't imagine Boston making major changes.  It's fun to joke around on the online forums and poke fun at Kyrie, but I really don't think he's going to ask out (at least not this summer).  The dynamic though between Kyrie and Tatum will be interesting to watch going forward - you could make an argument that Tatum is a top 20 player in the NBA RIGHT NOW and better than Kyrie, so who's going to have the ball and who's going to be the decoy during winning time next season?

Kawhi is a possibility, but he comes with too much baggage (injuries and Uncle Dennis) to give up one of their prime assets.  (Has anyone asked Pop if he still considers Kawhi the best 2-way player in basketball?)

AD isn't going anywhere this offseason.  If the Pelicans had missed the playoffs or got run out of the 1st round then I could see it.  But they did enough to justify sticking with him rather than blowing it all up.  But the clock is ticking in NOLA to make sure AD with the Pelicans doesn't mirror Lebron with the 03-10 Cavs.

Re: Smart I think the Celtics would re-sign for the right price, given all their other assets and draft picks the next couple years that could fill that role.  I also wouldn't give big money to Smart or anyone from Boston giving the troubles that Crowder, Bradley, and IT have experienced as soon as they left Beantown.

Shit happens and the unexpected does occur (see OKC), but even if the Celtics do nothing this offseason, they'll be the odds-on favorite to win the East in 18-19 and are set up to contend for a title the next 5+ years, maybe longer.

I guess they could try and run Tatum as a small ball 4 or maybe Hayward there but I see them overlapping too much a honestly.   They are in a GREAT position to be successful no matter which direction they go!!   It will be interesting to see how it goes.

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I brought up the Kyrie+Memphis pick for Kawhi in jest, but I'd at listen to some offers involving Kyrie if I were Ainge.

I'm sure that Boston and Kyrie made reassurances about his future before agreeing to the trade, but he's already due for his big payday next offseason. I just can't envision them dropping $35M+ per with Hayward and Horford already on the books and Brown and Tatum needing to get paid eventually.

He's an amazing individual offensive talent, but he doesn't elevate the team's offense. Also, LeBron turned the series around when Cleveland started hunting down Rozier; the same would have happened to Kyrie. I'm not sure his elite offense is consistent or transcendent enough to balance out his limitations (not to mention injury history)... especially for $35M in a league shifting towards positionless basketball.

Ainge would get killed moving him a year after promising him the world. But if there's one guy who would make the smart basketball move, completely removed from human emotion and perception...

 

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It's interesting to see all these posts about moving Kyrie, because he was the missing ingredient vs Cleveland.  Boston lacked a true floor general and although Kyrie is more of a combo guard he's certainly better and more experienced than any of the dudes Boston trotted out there.  Boston lost because they lacked experience and playmaking.  Kyrie gives them that.  If anything, if I'm Stevens I watch my sets and lament how easy this series would have been with Irving.  Really Hayward is the extraneous player now with Brown and Tatum getting tons of playoff experience.  Brown wilted last night but he'll be better for it.  Tatum was the 2nd best player on the court last night.  IMO, Smart prices himself out the Celtics' market with a 14 AAV deal which means they're defense will suffer, but they probably run it back with Irving and Hayward and see if they can't get progress with most of the same pieces (Morris re-signed)....

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Kyrie almost certainly would have put them over the top last night, and he's a good enough player--when healthy--to warrant a max deal...from someone. I'm just not 100% convinced that that someone is Boston. 

The smart play is probably to just play it out next season and see how it goes, and figure out the financials later. But the right offer could be tempting.

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18 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

Kyrie almost certainly would have put them over the top last night, and he's a good enough player--when healthy--to warrant a max deal...from someone. I'm just not 100% convinced that that someone is Boston. 

The smart play is probably to just play it out next season and see how it goes, and figure out the financials later. But the right offer could be tempting.

You'd need to get a playmaker back and most likely a PG.  I like Rozier as instant offense off the bench but their offense had a lot of ugly moments because they had trouble getting into sets and couldn't run the PNR from multiple angles either.

Edited by Patrick Bateman
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I think people may be selling Hayward short a little. If the choice ever becomes Hayward or Kyrie, I'm taking Hayward if I'm Boston. He's the better overall player, and fits perfectly into Boston's switch everything scheme as the vastly superior defender. Hell, he's had a season where he averaged more assists (5.2) than Kyrie did this year. Kyrie's the better playmaker...but not by a landslide.

Regardless, Kyrie-Hayward-Tatum-Brown-Horford is no worse than the 2nd best 5-man unit in the league (on paper), so I guess they owe it to themselves to play it out. But there's going be some tough decisions to make next offseason.

Edited by aggie08
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6 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

I think people may be selling Hayward short a little. If the choice ever becomes Hayward or Kyrie, I'm taking Hayward if I'm Boston. He's the better overall player, and fits perfectly into Boston's switch everything scheme as the vastly superior defender. Hell he's had a season where he averaged the same number of assists (5.1) as Kyrie did this year. Kyrie's the better playmaker...but not by a landslide.

Regardless, Kyrie-Hayward-Tatum-Brown-Horford is no worse than the 2nd best 5-man unit in the league (on paper), so I guess they owe it to themselves to play it out. But there's going be some tough decisions to make next offseason.

Hayward's a good player, really good player, but there's too much duplication of labor from the other wings on the team if you're looking to make a move and optimize your best 7-8 players.  Irving has a skill set that would allow them best to do this and his 60 games with Boston this year was better than anything Hayward had done in his career.  The pieces just work better by keeping Irving.  Regardless, Ainge seems very comfortable running it back and seeing what they got with those two in the fold....

Quote

Ainge scoffed when told how some fans have wondered whether the Celtics should move one of their All-Stars after all the success they enjoyed without them.

"I get a kick out of the fact that, everywhere I go, people don't think we need Kyrie or need Gordon Hayward," said Ainge. "I have a much longer memory and remember how great those guys were and what an effort it took us to get them. I also remember how great they are and how young they are still.

"So we need Gordon and Kyrie, absolutely need them. If this playoff run and all the series of the playoffs didn't show that, then I don't know what does. We were able to win some games and we were able to fight through some tough battles, but we're much, much better with Kyrie and Gordon."

Thing that scares me about Irving is his knee, which will continue to degenerate.... if that was the reason to look at moving him then I agree, but every team will know this as well.  Apparently Hayward is having to learn to run again as his gait will be a little different.  Scary stuff too.

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Yeah, without injury, I doubt any of these things would be getting discussed (especially since they'd be gearing up for the NBA Finals). But selling high on old/injured players is kind of Ainge's jam. Chronic knee issues on tiny guards would scare me, but if their medical team is confident going forward, then it's well worth the risk. At best, you wildly succeed. At worst, recurring injuries make the tough decisions for you, and you move who you have to move, even if they'd get nothing for Kyrie in a year.

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15 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Hayward's a good player, really good player, but there's too much duplication of labor from the other wings on the team if you're looking to make a move and optimize your best 7-8 players.  Irving has a skill set that would allow them best to do this and his 60 games with Boston this year was better than anything Hayward had done in his career.  The pieces just work better by keeping Irving.  Regardless, Ainge seems very comfortable running it back and seeing what they got with those two in the fold....

Thing that scares me about Irving is his knee, which will continue to degenerate.... if that was the reason to look at moving him then I agree, but every team will know this as well.  Apparently Hayward is having to learn to run again as his gait will be a little different.  Scary stuff too.

I’ve talked a little about this before, and I don’t claim to be an expert, but Todd Wright cannot stress enough how important your feet are to the rest of your body, and anything that happens to your feet can have a trickle down effect on the rest of you. He’s talked about James Thomas’ regression at Texas and how his senior year he had to run down the court with one arm dangling at his side, otherwise his hip would move out of place. He said this all stemmed from James walking incorrectly as a kid. Bottom line, if I’ve only learned one thing from Coach Wright it’s how seriously an injury to the foot can affect a basketball player’s entire body. I know that Gordon’s injury wasn’t directly to his foot, but there’s zero chance that his foot didn’t receive a ton of collateral damage in that fall. I’m not surprised at all that he’s having to learn to run again.

Edited by Goo Punch
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1 hour ago, Patrick Bateman said:

It's interesting to see all these posts about moving Kyrie, because he was the missing ingredient vs Cleveland.  Boston lacked a true floor general and although Kyrie is more of a combo guard he's certainly better and more experienced than any of the dudes Boston trotted out there.  Boston lost because they lacked experience and playmaking.  Kyrie gives them that.  If anything, if I'm Stevens I watch my sets and lament how easy this series would have been with Irving.  Really Hayward is the extraneous player now with Brown and Tatum getting tons of playoff experience.  Brown wilted last night but he'll be better for it.  Tatum was the 2nd best player on the court last night.  IMO, Smart prices himself out the Celtics' market with a 14 AAV deal which means they're defense will suffer, but they probably run it back with Irving and Hayward and see if they can't get progress with most of the same pieces (Morris re-signed)....

No don't get me wrong.   I would not move Kyrie if I am BOS.   I just was wondering if he would want out.   He went to BOS to be the MAN!   It's clear that Brad Stevens is the man right now.   That can change but right now its the truth.

 

He absolutely gives them what they need.   I would think they would be more likely to move Hayward but coming off the injury AND his relationship with Stevens I dont believe they would move him.

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1 hour ago, aggie08 said:

I think people may be selling Hayward short a little. If the choice ever becomes Hayward or Kyrie, I'm taking Hayward if I'm Boston. He's the better overall player, and fits perfectly into Boston's switch everything scheme as the vastly superior defender. Hell, he's had a season where he averaged more assists (5.2) than Kyrie did this year. Kyrie's the better playmaker...but not by a landslide.

Regardless, Kyrie-Hayward-Tatum-Brown-Horford is no worse than the 2nd best 5-man unit in the league (on paper), so I guess they owe it to themselves to play it out. But there's going be some tough decisions to make next offseason.

Whoa!!   Hayward is by no means a better player than Kyrie.  More importantly, as mentioned they have multiple players like Hayward while they have none like Kyrie.

Edited by d2o
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4 hours ago, d2o said:

Whoa!!   Hayward is by no means a better player than Kyrie.  More importantly, as mentioned they have multiple players like Hayward while they have none like Kyrie.

In today's NBA, I'll take all the versatile, long wings who can shoot, dribble, pass, and defend at a high level that I can get. Hayward has playmaking skills that Brown and Tatum don't yet possess and should develop a nice 2-man game with Horford. I truly don't understand the duplication of skills thing when everyone's trying to go small anyway. They can easily all share the same court: he makes their already best-in-the-league defense even more swarming, and Hayward is a chameleon on offense. His ego is perfectly fine alternating between 3-and-D guy, PnR ball-handler, running around screens as a shooter, facilitator, whatever the team needs. There's a lot of value there.

Most people thought of Hayward as the better all-around player at the beginning of the year; I need to see a little more from Kyrie than 60 games on a good team (that clearly still would have been good without him) to elevate him to franchise building block. His scoring is truly special, but it hasn't been shown to lead to great team offense yet.

That said, if he can stay healthy all the way into May and June, he's one of the handful of guys in the league that you feel perfectly comfortable giving the ball to in the biggest of moments. I can see the argument to hold on tightly to those few players, and give them whatever they want.

Edited by aggie08
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Also..... now, I'm fairly skeptical this dude has legit contacts in the NBA, but he seems adamant.
 


He’s as connected as any beat writer in the association. Doesn’t mean he’s not fed false information though.
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16 hours ago, aggie08 said:

In today's NBA, I'll take all the versatile, long wings who can shoot, dribble, pass, and defend at a high level that I can get. Hayward has playmaking skills that Brown and Tatum don't yet possess and should develop a nice 2-man game with Horford. I truly don't understand the duplication of skills thing when everyone's trying to go small anyway. They can easily all share the same court: he makes their already best-in-the-league defense even more swarming, and Hayward is a chameleon on offense. His ego is perfectly fine alternating between 3-and-D guy, PnR ball-handler, running around screens as a shooter, facilitator, whatever the team needs. There's a lot of value there.

Most people thought of Hayward as the better all-around player at the beginning of the year; I need to see a little more from Kyrie than 60 games on a good team (that clearly still would have been good without him) to elevate him to franchise building block. His scoring is truly special, but it hasn't been shown to lead to great team offense yet.

That said, if he can stay healthy all the way into May and June, he's one of the handful of guys in the league that you feel perfectly comfortable giving the ball to in the biggest of moments. I can see the argument to hold on tightly to those few players, and give them whatever they want.

As stated BOS needed a guy to get them buckets down the stretch to win games.   Hayward is not that guy.  Kyrie is.   Hence Kyrie is better for them IMO.

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On 5/28/2018 at 10:37 AM, Message Board User said:

No way Boston is going to pay $14 million to someone who would only be about their 6th or 7th best player.

They wont have to, there are not enough teams with capspace anymore than the MLE.

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11 minutes ago, Orca of Peace said:

is KD staying with GS a lock? He has a player option for $26m next year.   I think he's the reason the GS dynasty collapses suddenly. 

While I do think there is a little friction there I don't think he leaves.   The discount that he is reportedly willing to take would make it feasible for another team to come and pay him the same though.

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Why wouldn't he?  GS is already talking extensions for Klay and him. Klay reportedly open to taking 25m a year without a NTC. KD could ask for the supermax this offseason, but I doubt he will hamstring his organization with that. Curry will be getting max money next year, and Draymond is still on a team-friendly contract for 2 more years.  The warriors are willing to pay the tax, but the next few years will be very expensive. If KD is content to earn a lot less, like currently $200 million less than he would have signing the supermax with OKC (and on track for $100m less at 25 a year), then they can keep the guys together for another 2 years. 

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6 minutes ago, Dutchrudder said:

Why wouldn't he?  GS is already talking extensions for Klay and him. Klay reportedly open to taking 25m a year without a NTC. KD could ask for the supermax this offseason, but I doubt he will hamstring his organization with that. Curry will be getting max money next year, and Draymond is still on a team-friendly contract for 2 more years.  The warriors are willing to pay the tax, but the next few years will be very expensive. If KD is content to earn a lot less, like currently $200 million less than he would have signing the supermax with OKC (and on track for $100m less at 25 a year), then they can keep the guys together for another 2 years. 

need to parse out those KD numbers. What is the actual dollar value of each scenario for KD?

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Well so far he's made about 55 million in 2 years with the warriors, doing the 1+1 deals. With OKC, he would have had to do the 1 year thing, then a 5 year supermax for 244m over 6 years. When you figure in California state tax vs Oklahoma, it gets waaaaaaay worse. 13.3% vs 5%!  This article lays it out well:

kd_free_agency_v6.0.jpg

 

SCENARIO 1: 4 years, $113.6 million

SCENARIO 2: 5 years, $153 million

SCENARIO 3: 5 years, $162.9 million

SCENARIO 4: 5 years, $188 million

SCENARIO 5: 6 years, $244.1 million

 

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2016/6/28/12050498/kevin-durant-contract-salary-money-nba-free-agent-rumors

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23 minutes ago, Dutchrudder said:

Why wouldn't he?  GS is already talking extensions for Klay and him. Klay reportedly open to taking 25m a year without a NTC. KD could ask for the supermax this offseason, but I doubt he will hamstring his organization with that. Curry will be getting max money next year, and Draymond is still on a team-friendly contract for 2 more years.  The warriors are willing to pay the tax, but the next few years will be very expensive. If KD is content to earn a lot less, like currently $200 million less than he would have signing the supermax with OKC (and on track for $100m less at 25 a year), then they can keep the guys together for another 2 years. 

Don't assume that's he'll stay at 25 a year for 6 straight years. He could very well max out in 1-2 years. If he doesn't, I'm sure the endorsement + investment opportunities would just about make up for it. 

He could also get cut in on a few investment deals by his hedge fund buddies and make more then he would in salary. 

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dutch's quote:

"If KD is content to earn a lot less, like currently $200 million less than he would have signing the supermax with OKC (and on track for $100m less at 25 a year), then they can keep the guys together for another 2 years"

but it's $244m vs. $113m (4 yrs).

Anyway, the graph explains much, thanks for that. 

So, he doesnt' really need OKC in his life and still get supermax money? Hey, there's not state tax in Texas! 

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