Welcome to MSG Kevin Durant

One thing is very clear to me now. Clippers and Knicks are both going to go full-on press to make a Durant and Kawhi pairing happen. Kyrie rumored so strongly to Brooklyn tells me he is the odd man out of the main event free agency pitches.

Knicks vs Clippers? We have one huge advantage. The ability to gut our assets to trade for AD to make it Durant, Kawhi, and AD.

Recent reports say that Clippers have taken SGA off the table in trade talks for AD. Any package they offer now is going to be considerably weaker than ours. We have better draft picks and better remaining players on rookie deals. Plus, we are not in the West.

All that said, if the Clippers get Kawhi and we get Durant, both teams have other options for additional players in free agency.

If we get neither, man, just put the wallet away and build the right way.

Ok, now what are the options for KD, how long such type of injury will take to heal.... if we still take him, will it be another Porzingis cheering from the bench the whole season?

KD is out next year, if reports of a torn Achilles are true. Then, after recovery, going from 31 to 32... what level is he playing at? Only Dominque Wilkins defied odds and returned to form...

So, starting in 2021-2022 season, if all goes perfectly, a 32 year old KD is back and has 2-3 seasons in him?

Is this worth a max?

If you?re KD... don?t you simply opt in... go thru recovery and be a free agent next Summer?

Brutal blow for NYK. Can it really be that the first big free agent signing in a decade is a 30 Yr old With a ruptured Achilles?

Turn attention to KL and AD?

mafra said:

KD is out next year, if reports of a torn Achilles are true. Then, after recovery, going from 31 to 32... what level is he playing at? Only Dominque Wilkins defied odds and returned to form...

So, starting in 2021-2022 season, if all goes perfectly, a 32 year old KD is back and has 2-3 seasons in him?

Is this worth a max?

If you?re KD... don?t you simply opt in... go thru recovery and be a free agent next Summer?

Brutal blow for NYK. Can it really be that the first big free agent signing in a decade is a 30 Yr old With a ruptured Achilles?

Turn attention to KL and AD?

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This could turn out to be a present in disguise. His iso-offense would have amplified the Knicks' worst tendencies and his age would have been the same, increasing the likelihood of severe injuries. Better now than next year.

mafra said:

KD is out next year, if reports of a torn Achilles are true. Then, after recovery, going from 31 to 32... what level is he playing at? Only Dominque Wilkins defied odds and returned to form...

So, starting in 2021-2022 season, if all goes perfectly, a 32 year old KD is back and has 2-3 seasons in him?

Is this worth a max?

If you’re KD... don’t you simply opt in... go thru recovery and be a free agent next Summer?

Brutal blow for NYK. Can it really be that the first big free agent signing in a decade is a 30 Yr old With a ruptured Achilles?

Turn attention to KL and AD?

Click to expand...

pat said:

This could turn out to be a present in disguise. His iso-offense would have amplified the Knicks' worst tendencies and his age would have been the same, increasing the likelihood of severe injuries. Better now than next year.

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If his prognosis is a year for recovery, Knicks would be crazy to chase him. This upends FA massively for the Knicks, I hope Kyrie does not become the focal point now. And without Durant is AD really going to want to be traded and resigned here? You guys wanted to rebuild the right way, Knicks may not have a choice, we better hope RJ is a star.

Chris Carter said NY has a legit shot at KL. I believe if he wins a title in TOR, it may make it easier to come play for the lowly Knicks. Who knows.

No Zion. KD out. Shaping up to be your typical Knicks reality.... it was fun to dream tho

This sure is a plot twist. It makes you wonder if the Knicks really have had a back room, secret channel deal with KD?s camp going back months. If that is the case, are we obligated to follow through even if KD is out all next season?

The fact is, no one in their right mind opts out of a 31.5 million player option to test free agency when they are out for a season. It would be crazy. If KD still opts out at the end of the season, no doubt that means his camp still has some ?secret deal? in place.

Looking ahead to the 2020 offseason, the free agency class looks relatively weak. AD is the headliner and his place of signing will likely have already been determined by trade. Draymond Green seems unlikely to leave GS.

So, Durant coming off an Achilles tear and missed season would likely still be the headliner in free agency in 2020. The question then becomes, we have the cap space, we are unlikely to do better in 2020, if Durant was planning on coming here, does our front office honor the deal?

Obviously, other plans would have to change. You don?t purge your assets this offseason but sit on them to aim for 2020.

That said, I still imagine this all ends with KD exercising his player option.

Knicks can make a pitch to Kawhi, but without Durant, he?ll know winning here would be impossible.

Knicks could trade for AD to pair with Kawhi, but then they?d literally be left with 2 guys who can play.

As pat said, blessing in disguise maybe. Sign that we should just rebuild the right way for once.

Well, Durant is coming to NYC in a sense. KD is flying to NYC for medical evaluation of his Achilles injury.

Just reading a Washington Post story that the Knicks or Clippers would be willing to sign him even if they had to wait a year for him to recover. Man I hope not with Knicks history of high profile injured players that cripple our cap space for years.

tiger0330 said:

Just reading a Washington Post story that the Knicks or Clippers would be willing to sign him even if they had to wait a year for him to recover. Man I hope not with Knicks history of high profile injured players that cripple our cap space for years.

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I?m on the fence. I?m way more scared of trading away MRob, RJ, and 1st round picks, plus more young players. If we sign an injured Durant to a 2 or 3 year deal, it might be worth the risk. We have the most cap space in the league. That said, let the Clippers do it and let?s just rebuild the right way at this point.

And, the good part of it is, we allow the young kids to grow and get experience and MOST LIKELY end up back in the lottery, to add another prospect to the growing corps of young kids.

Then, for example, simply sign AD as a free agent next summer.

KD is tall and can shoot, so I imagine he?ll recover and age well. 3 seasons, age 32-35, should still see KD as a top player.

I think if you?re the Knicks and did have a behind the scenes deal in place with Durant, you still go through with it, but ask for different terms on the contract to mitigate long term risk and say that you are not going to aggressively move assets to build the team to compete until 2020.

What if the Knicks actually dodged a bullet?

The one nagging thing about all the momentum that seemed to build this year surrounding Durant-to-the-Knicks was this: by the time next season begins, he will be 31 years old.

The last time the Knicks built the entirety of their blueprint around a pending free agent was 2010, and the target was LeBron James, and that wound up tossed in the crowded trash pail of failed Knicks plans. But James was 25 years old that summer. Kawhi Leonard is the other white whale available in this season?s free-agent haul. He doesn?t turn 28 until the end of this month. Even Carmelo Anthony was only 26 when the Knicks acquired him.

Imagine if Durant had sat the rest of the Finals, signed a fat deal with someone ? for argument?s sake, since we?re pluming worst-case scenarios, let?s say it?s the Knicks ? and THEN the Achilles goes? That would make Antonio McDyess blowing out his knee on the eve of the 2002 season seem like an obscure footnote.

So perhaps it?s time to re-calibrate.

Perhaps it?s time to think about the Knicks? young core as a foundation, and not merely a placeholder. Assuming they keep the No. 3 pick ? and they absolutely should keep that pick ? they will be getting a terrific player, likely R.J. Barrett. Dennis Smith Jr. showed you enough last year to believe he could have a D?Angelo Russell-like breakthrough with the right guidance. Mitchell Robinson is one of the two or three most intriguing young players in the league, with a ceiling nowhere close to being determined.

Kevin Knox had a tough rookie year; you know who else had rookie struggles? James Harden. And Dirk Nowitzki. And Jimmy Butler. And ? yes ? Kobe Bryant, who also struggled at a painfully young age to adjust to life in the NBA. Knox may not blossom as the others did, but to write him off now, when he?s still two months shy of 20, is lunacy.

Does that team contend? Of course not. Maybe you make a what-the-hell run at Leonard, see if you can interest him in being Mr. Chips to the kids, but assuming that doesn?t happen you take a deep breath, move forward with seven first-round picks between now and 2023, and save the cap space for a rainy day (and not ? not, not, not ? on a mid-level guy like Butler, Tobias Harris or Khris Middleton, just to say they did ?something.?)

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost...-injury-may-have-saved-the-knicks-future/amp/

Bobby Marks saying he spoke to multiple teams and they all indicated they would not hesitate signing Durant even if they had to wait a year before he recovered. What’s the likelihood one of those teams he spoke to wasn’t the Knicks. KD to NY may still be a reality.

Different player but they wouldn’t touch Cuz with a 10 ft pole after his Achilles maybe it’s just a smoke screen with teams saying they’re willing to sign him.

I?m hesitant on KD now the Achilles year tear. Probably because of being a tortured Knicks fans who remembers Laphonso Ellis and STAT. Better start working on plan B if we have one.

Funny to hear Chicago sports radio today do a complete 180 on how hard they were on D-Rose while he was here. ?Maybe D-Rose wasn?t ready to play? after they saw what happened to Durant. Derrick refused to play until he felt right and was torched around here for it. Years later: Vindicated!

jimkcchief88 said:

I’m hesitant on KD now the Achilles year tear. Probably because of being a tortured Knicks fans who remembers Laphonso Ellis and STAT. Better start working on plan B if we have one.

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I agree, if he was 26 maybe but he’ll be 31 when he makes it back. Just don’t think the risk/reward is there for a guy that you have to pay $165M to coming off an Achilles and is also on the wrong side of 30. Lakers and Houston are going to regret their LBJ and CP3 signings.

We think mainly about winning and losing. Front offices also think more about the business side of things. A team with an injured Durant who can then spend an entire season getting attention regarding his recovery process is worth something. Durant comes back late in the season, maybe only needs 9 months to recover, and you are a front page team from that point forward.

htr10 said:

We think mainly about winning and losing. Front offices also think more about the business side of things. A team with an injured Durant who can then spend an entire season getting attention regarding his recovery process is worth something. Durant comes back late in the season, maybe only needs 9 months to recover, and you are a front page team from that point forward.

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The average recovery time coming back from an Achilles is about 9 months but would it make any sense for him to play one month of a season rather than holding him out until the 2021 season. His injury also didn’t look that bad so maybe the Knicks sign him if it’s diagnosed as a partial Achilles tear.