Lee’s tradeability has nothing to do with picks. It’s the last year of his contract that holds this up. A team has to decide if they would rather have Lee now or $12mm in cap space this summer. It’s currently difficult to find a team that wouldn’t rather have the space this summer.

I was talking about how his value changed.

At one point the discussion was that the Knicks wanted a 1st round pick for him. Now the conversation is that they would have to give up a 2nd round pick. The change has nothing to do with Lee. It has to do with the change in the value of a pick.

Space is always an issue. If anything it’s less of an issue now because his contract is shorter.

Also, those that think space is very valuable next year should rethink their position. There’s already a ton of free space out there. That means there’s going to be a ton of competition for the best players. A few teams will land someone good, but the rest are probably going to being overpaying for trash.

Atlanta, Brooklyn, Chicago, Dallas, Indiana, both LA teams, New York, Philadelphia, Sacramento, Utah

Tell me why we shouldn’t be the first team on that list, given his goals?

Staying in Golden State makes the most sense. But if he does, it’s going to send Klay or Draymond packing. Coming here makes the second most sense out of his options.

The part I don’t really understand is why we’d be anywhere near the top of his list.

Zach and others have explained it in greater detail, but the key points:

1)Durant is very sensitive to the perception that he’s a frontrunner. Going to a perennial joke franchise and turning them around would be the fastest way to shut that up.

2)The one thing Durant hasn’t gotten to do on any team is to be the primary ballhandler and playmaker. With this roster, he could play point forward while Frank spots up and hounds opposing point guards on D. Assuming the rookies show some promise, we have a bunch of players who’d complement his game well.

3)He loves Porzingis’s game (he’s the one who first called him a unicorn) and views him as someone who can help shoulder the scoring load as he ages. And KP, like Frank, would help him rest on D as needed.

4)A key member of his management team has ties to both New York and this Knicks administration, and Durant is an East Coast kid who sees the advantages of being a star in a media capital that’s not the one LeBron is in.

I will not believe or let myself even start to believe that he’s coming here until he’s actually said he’s doing that. It’s not healthy to root for something miraculous to happen to a team that has made decades of its own bad fortune. But there’s also a rational case to be made for him doing it.

Just to be clear – I would be overjoyed if Kevin Durant signed with the Knicks next summer, I just don’t see why in hell he would leave the championship winning Warriors to join the always floundering Knicks.

I kind of get why he might want to leave the Warriors. Obviously there is no better situation if all he cares about is winning, but he knows he’ll never get full credit for those wins, and he’ll certainly never be as beloved by the fans as the guys who were already there. I actually don’t think they’d be invulernable if he leaves either (Iggy is getting old, and I’m not sure Draymond is going to have a long peak either). They’re a bit thin already and they’d basically have only the mid-level to replace him. So he may feel he’s getting shorted the credit he’s due.

The part I don’t really understand is why we’d be anywhere near the top of his list.

Like a lot of us here, I’m completely in the tank for Clyde, but coming off the 1970 championship after that Game 7, the guy was one of the best players in the world. Still not *quite* at Durant quality for my money, but prime-to-prime, the gap isn’t *that* big.

Fair. Like I said, I’m not super versed in that era, and I wasn’t thinking too much about age for guys like Hayes and Jerry West, who were past their peaks when Clyde was at his best. Still, the talent pool back then was thinner due to both age for the Hall of Famers and the existence of the ABA. Even if there was a year or two where Clyde was a top 2 or 3 player, it doesn’t compare to Durant being LeBron’s runner-up for so long in this era.

And, like everyone else, I adore Clyde and think he’s the coolest.

Knick schedule:
Wed, Oct 17 at home versus Atlanta
Fri, Oct 19 at Brooklyn
Sat, Oct 20 at home versus Boston
Mon, Oct 22 at Milwaukee

there are 12 other nationally televised games on between: espn, nbatv, and, tnt…

plus the 4 local games from the clips and lakers – woo hoo – looks like i’ll get to see at least 20 or so games this year…

normally, i believe there will be at least one or two more nba league pass free previews during the year…

The wild card is Dr. J, who’d just finished his sophomore season at UMass averaging 26/20. He might have gone before Clyde. Maybe. Kareem would have, without question.

Clyde’s 1970 NBA peer group was:

First team all-NBA (Clyde, Cunningham, Hawkins, Willis, West)
Second team (Kareem, Havlicek, Lou Hudson, Gus Johnson, Oscar)

Oscar was 31 and hadn’t won anything; I’m pretty sure Clyde would have gone over him. Elvin Hayes was floating around out, too, but Clyde was better.

Like a lot of us here, I’m completely in the tank for Clyde, but coming off the 1970 championship after that Game 7, the guy was one of the best players in the world. Still not *quite* at Durant quality for my money, but prime-to-prime, the gap isn’t *that* big.

Just to be clear – I would be overjoyed if Kevin Durant signed with the Knicks next summer, I just don’t see why in hell he would leave the championship winning Warriors to join the always floundering Knicks.