When do we get KD?

[Split T]

The Nets will refuse to trade him until during the season, and we get him for expiring contracts/filler plus picks. No Bridges, Johnson, or Ayton included.

Just my random guess at the moment.

That doesn’t seem smart by the nets. I get they want to get the most they can for KD but they need to realize their contention days are over. It’s weird they want to try and compete still.

They don’t have their own picks. It’s doesn’t benefit them to tank.

They have half of them. And it doesn’t hurt them to tank either. I’m also not suggesting they tank in the traditional sense. Just no reason to chase mediocrity. Those picks are gone no matter what, they should just do what’s best for them regardless.

[Cap]

The Nets will refuse to trade him until during the season, and we get him for expiring contracts/filler plus picks. No Bridges, Johnson, or Ayton included.

Just my random guess at the moment.

Hard to include Ayton when he won't be on the team.

Also hard to include him if we matched an offer sheet for him.

Actually, if he waives his no-trade clause, the timing (January 15) might work perfectly for when Brooklyn falls apart.

Actually, if he waives his no-trade clause in order to become the fall guy for a Brooklyn team that is falling apart and in no position to rebuild, monkeys will fly out of my butt.

I know it’s fun to think of all the things that Ayton and Duffy and Marks and Ainge and Pritchard could do to help us, but seriously, ya gotta recognize that they have different priorities.

[JeremyG]

The Nets will refuse to trade him until during the season, and we get him for expiring contracts/filler plus picks. No Bridges, Johnson, or Ayton included.

Just my random guess at the moment.

Hard to include Ayton when he won't be on the team.

Also hard to include him if we matched an offer sheet for him.

Actually, if he waives his no-trade clause, the timing (January 15) might work perfectly for when Brooklyn falls apart.

Actually, if he waives his no-trade clause in order to become the fall guy for a Brooklyn team that is falling apart and in no position to rebuild, monkeys will fly out of my butt.

I know it’s fun to think of all the things that Ayton and Duffy and Marks and Ainge and Pritchard could do to help us, but seriously, ya gotta recognize that they have different priorities.

If he's not happy here, he may demand out by January 15, and may want to be the man in Brooklyn.

[Cap]

Hard to include Ayton when he won't be on the team.

Also hard to include him if we matched an offer sheet for him.

Actually, if he waives his no-trade clause, the timing (January 15) might work perfectly for when Brooklyn falls apart.

Actually, if he waives his no-trade clause in order to become the fall guy for a Brooklyn team that is falling apart and in no position to rebuild, monkeys will fly out of my butt.

I know it’s fun to think of all the things that Ayton and Duffy and Marks and Ainge and Pritchard could do to help us, but seriously, ya gotta recognize that they have different priorities.

If he's not happy here, he may demand out by January 15, and may want to be the man in Brooklyn.

Demand a trade, from a contender, to a team that is (in your words) falling apart, can’t rebuild, and is in the most brutal media market in the country? There is no reason to expect that except your own desire as a Suns fan to see it happen. I challenge you to find one person who isn’t a desperate Suns fan who says, “Yeah, that sounds likely.”

[Indy]

The last thing Ayton would do is sign up for more accountability.

[JeremyG]

Also hard to include him if we matched an offer sheet for him.

Actually, if he waives his no-trade clause, the timing (January 15) might work perfectly for when Brooklyn falls apart.

Actually, if he waives his no-trade clause in order to become the fall guy for a Brooklyn team that is falling apart and in no position to rebuild, monkeys will fly out of my butt.

I know it’s fun to think of all the things that Ayton and Duffy and Marks and Ainge and Pritchard could do to help us, but seriously, ya gotta recognize that they have different priorities.

If he's not happy here, he may demand out by January 15, and may want to be the man in Brooklyn.

Demand a trade, from a contender, to a team that is (in your words) falling apart, can’t rebuild, and is in the most brutal media market in the country? There is no reason to expect that except your own desire as a Suns fan to see it happen. I challenge you to find one person who isn’t a desperate Suns fan who says, “Yeah, that sounds likely.”

I don’t want to see it happen. I don’t want Ayton to leave.

[Mori Chu]

I think our best chance to land KD without losing Mikal is if the Ayton trade is a 3-team or 4-team trade that lands us KD, rather than trading Ayton first as a separate non-KD move. I really like the Utah variations where we send DA to Utah, they send Donovan Mitchell to Brooklyn, and we get KD. I know that conflicts with Ben Simmons's contract, so you have to figure that part out (send Simmons to Utah, or bring in LA and include Westbrook/Kyrie, or whatever).

If we trade Ayton for Turner and a pick or whatever, I just don't see how you then trade for KD without including Mikal. Brooklyn is not going to accept our contract puu-puu platter of Crowder, Craig, Saric, and Payne, plus picks. That is the kind of haul that gets you fired if you're Sean Marks.

[wpmiller42]

I think Brooklyn really doesn't want to be left with Simmons and a bunch of draft picks at the end of the day. I'm beginning to think that finding Simmons a new home is important. Honestly, I wouldn't mind Simmons here, but we can't have him on the team with Booker's contract, right?

The Jazz could do a lot worse than somehow ending up with Ayton and Simmons for Mitchell, that's a pretty talented haul and huge improvement defensively.

[Indy]

I think Brooklyn really doesn't want to be left with Simmons and a bunch of draft picks at the end of the day. I'm beginning to think that finding Simmons a new home is important. Honestly, I wouldn't mind Simmons here, but we can't have him on the team with Booker's contract, right?

The Jazz could do a lot worse than somehow ending up with Ayton and Simmons for Mitchell, that's a pretty talented haul and huge improvement defensively.

We can. You can't have two acquired via trade. Or maybe you can't have more than 2 total. Either way, we only have Book and KD isn't on one. So maybe Ben is our center going forward. lol

[Split T]

We can have Simmons, you just can’t acquire two designated rookie max players via trade. Since we signed Booker we can still acquire one via trade. Nets acquired Simmons via trade so they can’t acquire another one.

Edit: what Indy said. I do think you are capped at 2 as well. That’s why we didn’t want to sign Ayton to the designated max contract.

[Cap]

I don’t think there’s any way we can trade enough salary to bring in both Durant and Simmons. That’s $80M.

[Split T]

I don’t think there’s any way we can trade enough salary to bring in both Durant and Simmons. That’s $80M.

Just have to be within 125% so would only need to send out 63ish million. Ayton, Mikal, Jae, Saric, Shamet would do it.

[AmareIsGod]

Ben Simmons? Hell no. Only Kyrie is a more definitive no.

[JeremyG]

I think Brooklyn really doesn't want to be left with Simmons and a bunch of draft picks at the end of the day. I'm beginning to think that finding Simmons a new home is important. Honestly, I wouldn't mind Simmons here, but we can't have him on the team with Booker's contract, right?

The Jazz could do a lot worse than somehow ending up with Ayton and Simmons for Mitchell, that's a pretty talented haul and huge improvement defensively.

We can. You can't have two acquired via trade. Or maybe you can't have more than 2 total. Either way, we only have Book and KD isn't on one. So maybe Ben is our center going forward. lol

I thought you said the Suns would never pay the max for a 4th option?

[Indy]

I think Brooklyn really doesn't want to be left with Simmons and a bunch of draft picks at the end of the day. I'm beginning to think that finding Simmons a new home is important. Honestly, I wouldn't mind Simmons here, but we can't have him on the team with Booker's contract, right?

The Jazz could do a lot worse than somehow ending up with Ayton and Simmons for Mitchell, that's a pretty talented haul and huge improvement defensively.

We can. You can't have two acquired via trade. Or maybe you can't have more than 2 total. Either way, we only have Book and KD isn't on one. So maybe Ben is our center going forward. lol

I thought you said the Suns would never pay the max for a 4th option?

Did you see the "lol" in my message? Maybe it didn't show up for you.

And Simmons would be like the 9th option.

[JeremyG]

I think Brooklyn really doesn't want to be left with Simmons and a bunch of draft picks at the end of the day. I'm beginning to think that finding Simmons a new home is important. Honestly, I wouldn't mind Simmons here, but we can't have him on the team with Booker's contract, right?

The Jazz could do a lot worse than somehow ending up with Ayton and Simmons for Mitchell, that's a pretty talented haul and huge improvement defensively.

We can. You can't have two acquired via trade. Or maybe you can't have more than 2 total. Either way, we only have Book and KD isn't on one. So maybe Ben is our center going forward. lol

I thought you said the Suns would never pay the max for a 4th option?

Did you see the "lol" in my message? Maybe it didn't show up for you.

And Simmons would be like the 9th option.

Actually, based on his career average, he would have been our 2nd leading scorer last season, if you take away DA. Add Durant, and he's our 3rd leading scorer.

[Mori Chu]

I just looked it up:

https://hoopshype.com/lists/nba-designated-rookie-rule/

Teams are only allowed to have two designated rookies at a time. For example, the Denver Nuggets signed both Murray and Porter Jr. to five-year maximum extensions, so they couldn’t extend another player to such a contract while keeping both Murray and Porter Jr.

Teams are also only allowed to trade for one designated rookie. This aspect of the rule is why the Kevin Durant trade rumors have brought so much attention to it recently. Because the Nets already traded for a designated rookie in Ben Simmons, they couldn’t trade Durant for players like Murray or Porter Jr. while rostering them with Simmons. Conversely, the Nuggets could trade one of their designated rookies and acquire another one like Simmons.

So how you acquire the player matters. We didn't trade for Booker, but hypothetically if we traded for Simmons we could have both of them on rookie designated max deals. But then we could not trade for any other player on such a deal. The reason BKN can't take on another designated max guy like Donovan Mitchell is because they already traded for Simmons, and you can't have two such guys both of whom were acquired by trade. If BKN drafted a rookie or signed an FA and then later wanted to sign that player to a designated rookie max contract, that would be legal.

[TOO]

I think Brooklyn really doesn't want to be left with Simmons and a bunch of draft picks at the end of the day. I'm beginning to think that finding Simmons a new home is important. Honestly, I wouldn't mind Simmons here, but we can't have him on the team with Booker's contract, right?

The Jazz could do a lot worse than somehow ending up with Ayton and Simmons for Mitchell, that's a pretty talented haul and huge improvement defensively.

We can. You can't have two acquired via trade. Or maybe you can't have more than 2 total. Either way, we only have Book and KD isn't on one. So maybe Ben is our center going forward. lol

I thought you said the Suns would never pay the max for a 4th option?

Did you see the "lol" in my message? Maybe it didn't show up for you.

And Simmons would be like the 9th option.

Actually, based on his career average, he would have been our 2nd leading scorer last season, if you take away DA. Add Durant, and he's our 3rd leading scorer.

Ugh. You're an "actually" guy?

[specialsauce]

We can. You can't have two acquired via trade. Or maybe you can't have more than 2 total. Either way, we only have Book and KD isn't on one. So maybe Ben is our center going forward. lol

I thought you said the Suns would never pay the max for a 4th option?

Did you see the "lol" in my message? Maybe it didn't show up for you.

And Simmons would be like the 9th option.

Actually, based on his career average, he would have been our 2nd leading scorer last season, if you take away DA. Add Durant, and he's our 3rd leading scorer.

Ugh. You're an "actually" guy?

Ugh.