Neither time, nor money, right for Thunder-Durant trade
As the basketball world watched LeBron James break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time NBA scoring record Tuesday night, some neophytes might have experienced this Thunder rendition for the first time.
Their response likely was something along the lines of, geez, these guys are good.
And indeed, the Thunder has more good young players named Jalen/Jaylin Williams than the Lakers have named anything.
Of course, OKC fans noticed several moons ago and know the future is bright and somewhat limitless. Lots of young talent, starting with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey and Santa Clara Williams (Jalen), then extending to Chet Holmgren and who knows who else to come?
And some Thunderworlders are ready for a shortcut. Expedite the excitement. Pull the ripcord and jump out of the slow rebuild.
They want the Thunder to trade for Kevin Durant.
On the coast opposite Los Angeles, Durant and the Brooklyn Netropolitans discuss his future, after Durant’s kooky sidekick, Kyrie Irving, asked for a trade and was sent to Dallas.
Funny how the NBA world folds together at the same time. LeBron’s big night, trade deadline, All-Star Game approaching. Drama intersecting all around.
Does Durant want out of Brooklyn, too? Who knows?
But let’s stop the intrigue right here. Now is not the time for the Thunder and Durant to make nice and reconcile, 61⁄
2 years after the breakup that shook basketball.
The timeline doesn’t work. The financials don’t work.
Even if Durant was open to returning to the state that placed laurel wreaths upon his brow, even if the Thunder was open to bringing back the hoops deity that broke its heart, this is not the time.
Durant is in the first season of a fouryear contract that will average about $50 million annually going forward.
Just making the money work to satisfy the payroll cap would require the Thunder to send out Luguentz Dort and other building blocks like Giddey or Holmgren or Santa Clara. The Nets aren’t giving away Durant for Ousmane Dieng and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl.
Pairing Durant and Gilgeous-Alexander sounds quite spectacular, but a team still must have quality players around them. We know that from the futile superstar roster-building undertaken by the likes of LeBron, Durant, James Harden — the list is long. That kind of roster construction hasn’t worked much in the recent NBA.
NBA squads aren’t fantasy teams. They aren’t card collections. Franchises still need the right pieces to build a team good enough to win at the highest levels.
The Thunder doesn’t have enough of those pieces — not yet, anyway — and there’s no reason to reduce that inventory to bring in Durant.
Add Durant to a primed team — Memphis, for example, or Phoenix — without losing too much? Sure. An NBA title parade could be in the immediate future.
But the Thunder is not ready to stand toe-to-toe with the NBA’s best teams. The Thunder wouldn’t be ready even if you added Durant to this roster.
And Durant wouldn’t be joining this roster. He would be joining a roster void of perhaps Giddey and Santa Clara, sent along with a bunch of draft picks to Brooklyn.
Heck, the Thunder doesn’t even know what it has, much less what it needs. What does it have in Holmgren, a 7-footer billed as a sharp-shooting rim protector who is sitting out this season with a foot injury? What will Giddey become? Is Santa Clara the next Jalen Suggs or the next Jaylen Brown?
We don’t know, the Thunder doesn’t know, not even the players know.
The thought of bringing back Durant warms Oklahoma hearts. His departure was abrupt. He went from Superman to Lex Luthor before the firecrackers started popping on that fateful July 4.
Bringing back Durant would bring closure to a horror show.
But patching old wounds is not worth submarining the Sam Presti rebuild. The Thunder is getting good and fast, the plan is working to near perfection, so why would anyone want to abandon the plan?
Durant still can play. He’s not Russell Westbrook or even Harden, both still valuable players but nothing like their heydays. Durant appears as good as ever. Almost timeless, like LeBron. You have to look hard to see any slippage.
But the cost of getting Durant would place a ceiling above the Thunder funhouse. The limitless would become limited.
All for the warm and fuzzies of having the Slim Reaper back.
Not worth it. Not now.