The Kevin Durant Signing

The Golden State Warriors sign F Kevin Durant for 2/$54.3M

I’m going to break this down into two sections since it has almost caused the literal collapse of the NBA: the grade and my opinion.

The Grade

A+

Anytime a team manages to snag a superstar from another team, it’s an automatic A+. Guys like LeBron, Steph, Durant, CP3, and Russ are worth much more than the max to their teams. Durant could get paid $60M/year and still be a bargain. He’s that good.

Anybody who gives this signing anything less than an A+ is basing that on personal prejudice and not basketball reasons. The Warriors took Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut and turned it into one of the top 3 players in the league. Every single team in the NBA would do that if they had the chance. It was a fantastic signing. The team that just set the record for wins in a season and was less than a minute away from winning their second straight championship just added, who I consider to be, the second best player in the league.

My Opinion

People have been VERY outspoken about how much they hate Durant and this decision. How could the leader of a top NBA team sign with the team that just eliminated him from the conference finals? Sure, that’s not the most competitive decision, but it was a smart decision. I think that the Ibaka trade basically ensured that this current iteration of the Thunder would never beat the Warriors. Ibaka was a key reason why the Warriors struggled to score on and defend the Thunder during the conference Finals, but they traded him for good value but unproven talent.

It’s not as if Durant had to take a pay cut to go to the Warriors. They’re paying him the most that they possibly can, and I’m sure they’re going to try and set themselves up to give him the 5 year max next offseason, when he declines his player option. I think I might feel a little different about the situation if Durant had taken a pay cut, but the Warriors have drafted so well over the last few years that they have the luxury of affording another max contract player. Durant had three interesting offers, Thunder, Celtics, and Warriors, and he chose the most attractive offer. I really don’t see much problem with that. He gave the Thunder almost a decade of Hall of Fame level play. He knew leaving would be an unpopular decision, but it was definitely the right one.

Two things about this whole situation rub me the wrong way. The first is the criteria we use to judge players. How can we blame Durant for improving his position to win a ring when we use the amount of rings a player has won as a representation of their greatness? When you watch ESPN or listen to sports talk radio, you’ll constantly hear discussions about how LeBron can’t be the greatest of all time, because Jordan has more rings. In the age old Kobe vs. LeBron debate, the “5 rings” argument is always brought up as definitive proof of Kobe’s superiority without any consideration for context. Nobody is going to bring up how LeBron took Matthew Dellevadova, JR Smith, and Iman Shumpert to the 14-15 Finals as an argument for his greatness, despite it being almost objectively more impressive than beating Allen Iverson’s 76ers in the 00-01 Finals. Winning the Finals is a team achievement, yet we blindly give credit to one player and call it a day. Durant could have stayed with the Thunder and MAYBE won a ring, or he could sign with the Warriors and win AT LEAST one ring, probably more. Durant knows that 20 years after he retires nobody is going to remember how “brave” he was to stay with the Thunder or how “cowardly” he was to go to the Warriors; they’re just going to remember the amount of rings he won.

The second thing that bothers me is the hypocrisy of the owners and the NBA execs. There was an excellent summary of the situation on reddit’s r/nba a few days ago. The gist of it is that when big acquisitions like this one occur, the owners and execs clamor about parity and how this most recent acquisition is going to ruin parity, yet the owners push for these percentage based max contracts in the CBA negotiations, which are one of the key reasons parity won’t exist. Max contracts restrict the free market. Damian Lillard and LeBron James are going to make roughly the same amount of money every year, yet LeBron had a 7.6 VORP, and Lillard had a 3.8 VORP. This means LeBron’s production and contribution to his team is almost exactly double Lillard’s. In the open market, the players’ salaries would reflect this. If Lillard was making $25M/year then LeBron would make at least $50M/year. With percentage based max salaries, a team of LeBron, Steph, and Durant could have the same salaries as a team of Mike Conley, Harrison Barnes, and Al Horford. All the Warriors did was recognize this and make it a reality. The owners’ insistence on max contracts directly causes most of the problems they complain about so often.

All things considered, I don’t blame Durant at all for his decision. It was the absolute smartest decision for him to make based on the NBA the owners and fans have created. Durant doesn’t have to be the guardian of league parity. If a team presents Durant with the opportunity to make the same amount of money and win multiple championships, he’d be dumb to choose anything else. I respect Durant just the same. I think it’s better to be smart than to fear being cowardly.

Recapping the Draft Day Trades

The Indiana Pacers acquire F Thaddeus Young from the Brooklyn Nets for the 20th overall pick (Caris LeVert) and a future 2nd round pick.

This was a great trade for both sides. Brooklyn is able to swap one of its best assets for a 1st round draft pick, and Indiana brings in yet another versatile offensive player to help out Paul George. Sean Marks has been making all the right moves since being hired as Nets’ GM.

Some people pointed out that George Hill is an inferior player and was traded for the 12th pick, but I’d say that Hill plays a more coveted role (3 and D PG), and he was almost literally the perfect fit for the Jazz. Pacers don’t NEED Thad Young, but he is certainly great value for the 20th pick. They wouldn’t have gotten anyone better with the pick. The Pacers continue their strong offseason.

Nets – B

Pacers – A-

 

The Charlotte Hornets acquire G Marco Belinelli from the Sacramento Kings for the 22nd overall pick (Malachi Richardson).

The Kings actually made a pretty good deal. Belinelli is coming off his worst NBA season, and his value was incredibly low, yet they managed to get a 1st round draft pick for him. I do think playing for the Kings is probably why a formerly productive player fell off the map, but this trade was good.

This trade doesn’t make much sense for the Hornets. There were probably better 2 guards on the market for the 22nd overall pick, but they went with Belinelli, who was terrible last season. I can’t give this an F, because, like I said before, I think playing for the Kings is probably a key reason why Belinelli was so bad, so there is a solid chance he rebounds. However, it’s still a risk, and they probably would have been better off keeping the pick.

Kings – B+

Hornets – D

 

The Orlando Magic acquire F/C Serge Ibaka from the Oklahoma City Thunder for G Victor Oladipo, F Ersan Ilyasova, and the rights to Damontas Sabonis.

Wow. Wow. Wow. This trade really doesn’t make much sense for the Thunder. They were one game away from beating the Warriors and going to the NBA Finals, and Serge Ibaka was a key cog in that. Sure his offensive impact is limited, but he is one of the biggest reasons why the Thunder had a suitable answer to the Warriors’ “death line up.” Ibaka has the rarest combination of skills in the NBA: elite rim protection and elite floor spacing. The Thunder didn’t need Ibaka to bang down low and score post buckets. They needed him to go to the corner and draw a shot blocker away from the rim, so that Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook could have an open lane to the basket.

On paper the trade isn’t bad for them. They received way more assets than they gave up, but it makes them a worse team, which is extremely stupid to me since they were clearly cemented in the top 3 teams (Cavs, Warriors, Thunder), and any of those teams could beat the other on any given day. Losing Ibaka drops them down to the second tier of teams and makes them less capable of competing with the Warriors.

This trade also doesn’t make any sense for the Magic. They are a young team and are probably two or three years away from being a playoff team in the East, yet they go out and get one of the hottest veteran role players. Sure, Ibaka is a nice complimentary piece to Nikola Vucevic, but he is most likely going to be a one year rental during a year that the team is unlikely to compete. It appears to me that they just flushed assets down the drain.

Reading the big media outlets’ reactions to this trade is ridiculous to me. There are A’s and B’s flying around everywhere. It seems like none of them actually understand WHY Thunder were so good in the playoffs, and they are only looking at the trade in a vacuum, with no regard for context. The Thunders’ immediate goal is to win the championship. They got further from that goal. The Magic overpaid for a veteran player, who will most likely be offered the max and walk to another team in free agency next year. Even if the Thunder pony up the cash to pay Ibaka the max on a long term deal, they lose this deal, because they would then be PAYING IBAKA THE MAX. I don’t get how someone with basic basketball and front office understanding can say this was a good deal for either team.

Thunder – C-

Magic – D-