re: Espn talking Durant to the Pels right now.

i don't see how adding Durant, while losing Bi, Herb, and possibly a few other pieces and/or picks makes the Pels better...

if Durant wasn't 34, maybe, but at this age he's not what we need, to build for the future... i like the squad we are building, and am excited to see what this team will be able to accomplish with Zion back at full strength, in addition to what we've seen at the end of the season and in the playoffs this year

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maybe not depending on what the other offers look like. Phoenix probably comes with a Mikal/Ayton package at some point, and frankly, Zion by himself blows that away. It’s just all the salary matching that would be an issue/impossibility

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That's kinda where I am right now. KD did this at the time of the cycle where he made it impossible for many teams to make an offer.

Whenever you see a Shams or Woj post that Team XYZ is nearing a deal with Player A, it happens 99.9% of the time that, 15 minutes later, there's another post saying that the deal is done.

Shams posted early yesterday morning that the deal was nearing completion. And it's been 24 hours and the deal still hasn't gotten done.

So, why? This is my personal opinion on what is likely happening.

Media reports were that, right after KD asked the Nets to trade him, over half the league talked with the Nets about what it would take to get Durant. I think it's obvious that the Pelicans were one of those teams.

I think that Sean Marks told David Griffin that he wanted something like Zion, Trey, and 3 first-round picks. I think that Griffin told him to call him back if he sobered up. David Griffin then returned to negotiating the Zion extension.

In the meantime, Sean Marks figured out that the Suns and Heat simply cannot make him a good deal for KD. Those potential deals are not going to happen. I think that Marks communicated this to KD and asked him to consider the Pelicans and Raptors, who would seem to be the only teams who can make a deal for KD and still possibly contend for a title.

When the Shams post happened, Marks immediately called Griffin back, as he realized that the elimination of a possible Pelicans deal would seriously hurt what he might be able to get for Durant. He might get stuck with an unhappy Durant and a nonstop media whirlwind around the Nets' disaster.

This time, the Nets' asking price was much more reasonable---something like Zion, matching salary, and one 1st. And so, Griff hit the pause button on finishing the Zion deal to actually negotiate with the Nets.

If any of this speculation of mine were true, then yesterday was spent with things like KD talking with Willie Green about how he would operate in our offense, KD talking with BI and CJ about the team dynamics and the locker room, etc.

That doesn't mean that a KD deal will get done, of course. It might not, and we might just end up signing Zion to the extension, but this scenario is really the only thing that makes sense to me right now that explains why the Zion extension didn't get finalized yesterday. The timing is too convenient.

Again, I don't know anything. This is rank speculation that's worth exactly what this website charges you to read it. I am not an insider of any sort. These are just my crazy guesses.

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If Griff had actually offered Zion, Marks would have found a place to dump Simmons (designated player contract issue) and the trade would have happened already.

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Are you sure that the designated rookie issue comes in to play here? I thought that the rule was that you couldn't trade for two of those guys? As long as Zion hasn't yet signed his extension, he doesn't have one of those contracts. Where am I wrong?

To that same point, if the Pels offered BI and Laker picks this is probably over by now

So people worrying we might be secretly shipping out either, probably not.

Cause either of those players as the centerpiece would best anything but maybe Scottie Barnes depending on how you view his upside.

I think a lot of people are dismissing how good KD actually is. I just think there are too many factors, including injury history, stacked against KD to the Pels working out and he's at a stage in his career where he doesn't want to waste his time in situations he doesn't believe in.

There's a reason his initial list had established contending teams lead by star players more in his age range rather than up and coming teams, he trusts them. Why do we think BI will be better 3 years from now than today? Will the difference really be that he's added a few new tools to his belt, or will it be that he's learned the maniacal commitment to winning it takes to win in the NBA?

I just keep thinking about how Durant and Willie Green have a strong relationship from their days at Golden State. I think about how CJ just took up for Durant with the whole "bus driver" thing. I think about Durant leading the US team to Olympic Gold, and all of these things have gotten me to the point where I see a Zion for KD swap as possible. I still think that I prefer to keep Zion, but I've talked myself into ambiguity.

If Kd really did want to 180 his legacy, coming to New Orleans as the clear best player, winning one or multiple championships, as the best player on the team, would easily push him into all time top ten IMO.

Frankly, same with Toronto.

Honestly, him going to Phoenix or Miami, to me, would be perceived much closer to the GS situation, where he basically just went to a ready made contender and won by an overload of talent, same as he tried in BKN.

I was right.

Could we get seth curry back?

No, I was absolutely right that we were negotiating with the Nets on a deal for KD.

Does anyone in here still think that it's a coincidence that the Zion deal, which Shams said was practically done, didn't get done?

I'm sorry, ATL, but I don't think much of your earlier idea that the Zion deal was just something that we were holding off on announcing until the dust settled from the KD situation. If there were a deal, Zion and his agents would be trumpeting it. Zion would be posting about how excited he was, blah, blah, blah.

It's obvious now that the Zion extension got put on hold while we tried to trade for Durant.