The KD trade is what everyone thought the Gobert trade was

[Onlytimewilltel]

Gobert is overpaid, and the current Minnesota success story is more connected with Ant's rise, KAT's maturity, Conley's longevity, and undrafted Reid as 6th player.

Durant's trade was fair. KD won two rings as the world's TOP3 player playing with another TOP3 player at the time and two other all-stars. Now 35y old KD is not TOP5 player anymore and his best teammate is not TOP10 player while 3rd best Suns player was a former all-star who is not TOP30 player anymore, so the Suns underperformed this season on the stacked West but less than people complain.

Gobert trade worked out just fine.

[BoogieTime]

Gobert is overpaid, and the current Minnesota success story is more connected with Ant's rise, KAT's maturity, Conley's longevity, and undrafted Reid as 6th player.

Durant's trade was fair. KD won two rings as the world's TOP3 player playing with another TOP3 player at the time and two other all-stars. Now 35y old KD is not TOP5 player anymore and his best teammate is not TOP10 player while 3rd best Suns player was a former all-star who is not TOP30 player anymore, so the Suns underperformed this season on the stacked West but less than people complain.

nahh its about Gobert transforming that D

[zimpy27]

Nah KD is clearly better than Gobert.


How do you think Conley, Ant, McD, Durant, KAT -- NAW, Kyle, Naz looks? Is that not the best team in the NBA?

[HMFFL]

Bradley Beal IA why I have no confidence in Phoenix.

Sent from my SM-N975U using RealGM Forums mobile app

[FarBeyondDriven]

realgm always always gets trades wrong. That Gobert thread is an embarrassment. As for the KD trade, Bridges and a bunch of late first rounders to guarantee making the playoffs with a chance to reach a Finals isn't as bad as it seems. This is just the price small market teams need to pay to land a superstar. The Suns can easily work around the fringes and keep making playoff runs and with some luck they can even make a Finals. The only way this trade ends up terrible is if they have major injuries one year and the pick ends up top 5 in a loaded draft.

[RunOKC]

Suns roster construction is awful

If instead of Beal they had a Mike Conley, Brogdon, Tre/Tyus Jones, Chris Paul type PG + 1-2 more depth pieces they'd look a whole lot better. Minnesota had the same issue post Gobert trade and the team instantly looked like a contender once Conley was brought in.

[shangrila]

Nah KD is clearly better than Gobert.


How do you think Conley, Ant, McD, Durant, KAT -- NAW, Kyle, Naz looks? Is that not the best team in the NBA?

I did make a point of it in the OP but just to reiterate; this isn't a shot at KD, nor is it comparing the values between him and Gobert.

It's more or less just pointing out how consensus said one trade was leading to doom and the other to contention, while the actual end results was the near complete opposite.

[zimpy27]

Nah KD is clearly better than Gobert.


How do you think Conley, Ant, McD, Durant, KAT -- NAW, Kyle, Naz looks? Is that not the best team in the NBA?

I did make a point of it in the OP but just to reiterate; this isn't a shot at KD, nor is it comparing the values between him and Gobert.

It's more or less just pointing out how consensus said one trade was leading to doom and the other to contention, while the actual end results was the near complete opposite.

I don't think this story is played out yet. Wolves have had 2 offseasons with Gobert. Give the Suns this offseason to restructure around their 3 main guys. Next season will tell more of a story of where both teams are.

At the same time, I think the diss on the Gobert trade was the value given was very high and it looked bad that Kessler was doing 70% of the job of Gobert on the Jazz. I don't think it was a bad trade personally but I also think Minny should trade KAT to better structure their team financially and on the court.

[tmorgan]

Even the Beal trade wasn't bad in a vacuum but when you look at it given the context of his positional fit and the Suns financial restrictions with the new CBA it was the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back". I'd say it was those two trades sequentially that set the Suns franchise back. Can't really pin it on the Durant trade by itself imo.

The Beal trade was bad in a vacuum, in a microwave, in a hatchback, or in an active volcano. It was dumb as all hell and anyone not named Ishiba either should have or did know instantly that it was incredibly, incredibly stupid.

"In a vacuum" in terms of value for value alone. I get the sentiment but I know if the Lakers only traded 37 year old Chris Paul, Landry Shamet and a bunch of 2nd round picks for 29 year old Bradley Beal the General Board, X, etc would be trending with the NBA's rigged posts, reddit threads calling for boycotts and in-depth Youtube videos analyzing how Adam Silver coerced the Washington front office to trade him to their cash cow

I know what you meant, but absolutely nothing happens in a vacuum, in the NBA or anywhere else. The Suns gave up all their remaining cap space (and then some — zero flexibility now, to the point that re-signing Grayson Allen to a fairly reasonable deal is going to cost them an incredible amount of money) to acquire a guy that literally doesn’t do anything they need. Eric Gordon and Grayson Allen can make open shots. Beal isn’t a playmaker for anyone but himself, and he doesn’t do it as well as Booker or Durant. Just absolutely brain dead use of cap space and roster construction.

[Lalouie]

Full disclosure, I saw this on reddit so not my idea but thought it was an interesting topic.

The general consensus surrounding the Gobert trade was that Minnesota had mortgaged their future to become a middling playoff team (at best). I can't recall exactly what the discourse was for the KD trade so feel free to correct me but IIRC it was generally seen as a slight overpay but ultimately worth it since it made them title contenders.

For reference, here is what each player was traded for:

Gobert - Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro, Walker Kessler (#22 pick from that recent draft), '23 1st, '25 1st, '26 1st (swap), '27 1st, '29 1st (top 5 (?) protected)

Durant (and TJ Warren) - Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder (flipped to Milwaukee for 2nds), '23 1st, '25 1st, '27 1st, '28 1st (swap), '29 1st

And interestingly, both teams made significant follow up trades shortly afterwards:

Minnesota - D'Angelo Russell for Mike Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, '24 2nd (Lakers), '25 2nd (Jazz), '26 2nd (Jazz)
Suns - Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, 1st swaps ('24, '26, '28, '30), 2nd round picks ('24, '25, '26, '27, '28, '30) for Bradley Beal


Now I want to be clear, this isn't intended as a shot at Durant. He's an incredible player. Nor is it meant to crown the Wolves as a future dynasty. I just thought it was interesting how drastically wrong opinions were on both these deals in completely opposite ways.

Thoughts?

I I don't recall the KD trade being thought of as an overpay. Every team will bend over backwards to have kd on their roster

[NZB2323]

When are GMs ever gonna learn to stop trading 5 years of picks for guys that are or soon to be over the hill? They don't even get 1 championship out of it to make it worth their while

It worked out for the 2020 Lakers and 2008 Celtics.

[therealbig3]

I think Durant gets consistently overrated in terms of how good he actually is as a basketball player, with regards to his ability to help a team win games. He’s a great scorer but not much else, and really depends on players around him to play defense and run an offense, but do it in a way where he’s allowed to ISO and look for his own shot a lot. It’s not that easy to set up.

[baller16]

KD is so **** overrated. Got swept by the Celtics and now the Timberwolves. This guy is nothing but a scorer with minimal impact. He can no longer be a No. 1 option anymore

[Dominator83]

When are GMs ever gonna learn to stop trading 5 years of picks for guys that are or soon to be over the hill? They don't even get 1 championship out of it to make it worth their while

It worked out for the 2020 Lakers and 2008 Celtics.

AD was at or over the hill in 2019? He still isn't which is why those picks N.O. got haven't amounted to jack Squat and the bill is almost paid.

Celtics didn't trade 5 years worth of 1sts. They traded Al Jefferson, I think 2 picks(only 1 of which was their own) and some junk. Even though they only got 1 prime year left of KG it was well worth it.

[FrodoFraggins]

I don't understand why people think the Gobert trade is already worth it. It most definitely is not and will only be worth it if they get a title. They overpaid relative to the market, and by a lot.

[sp6r=underrated]

Gobert is overpaid, and the current Minnesota success story is more connected with Ant's rise, KAT's maturity, Conley's longevity, and undrafted Reid as 6th player.

Gobert has the best plus/minus on the team in the RS and PS. He's clearly doing something to help the Wolves. You make it sound like Reid is better.

[sp6r=underrated]

This is just the price small market teams need to pay to land a superstar.

Phoenix is the 10th biggest metro in the US between Miami and Boston. It isn't a big market but it isn't a small market either.

[kenwood3333]

The Gobert trade still looks bad with the assets they gave up. The Wolve are winning mostly because of the growth of Ant, not because of Gobert, lets make that clear.

[ChiefILL53]

The gobert trade value wise is still pretty bad and really only looks good now because of how the team ascended under Antman. That kid went nuclear this year. The KD trade was a bit much, but not too bad had they traded Ayton for an engaged defensive/rebounding C. The real mistake was the suns trading the rest of their depth for oft-injured Beal who hasnt been good (or healthy) in what, 3 years?

[brutalitops]

If next year the suns finally click and Booker becomes some fantastic playmaker, while the wolves have multiple injuries and miss the play-offs, the narrative switches

We overpaid for Rudy. People were too quick to judge because of injury to Rudy, D'lo being internally and externally pissed at the trade and letting it effect the team, and KAT tearing his Calf. Meaning we couldn't get going at all.

Durant trade was fine. He was a top 5/7 player. It was a trade after where they got rid of an amazing PG and a backup PG for another SG which was crazy