shangrila wrote: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