The potential cost of acquiring Kevin Durant isn’t what should matter most to the Raptors, according to The National Post’s Scott Stinson, who says determining whether Durant will actually be motivated and invested in playing for Toronto should be the most important factor for the team’s leading decision makers.
As Stinson writes, Durant’s motivation for asking for a deal from Brooklyn remains somewhat unclear, especially since he just signed a four-year contract extension last August. That should worry vice president and president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri, as a deal for a superstar who may not be committed or on the same page as the club could be disastrous, according to Stinson.
Drawing parallels between the Ujiri trade for Kawhi Leonard in the 2018 offseason and the Durant sweepstakes now doesn’t make sense, according to Stinson, because the situations aren’t similar.
Leonard was recovering from an injury that forced him to miss most of the 2017-18 season, was on an expiring contract, and Raptors teams led by Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan were given plenty of time to break through in the East, but they couldn’t surpass LeBron James . The Raptors finished second in the East the two years after Leonard left Toronto, so apparently the team stayed competitive and didn’t gamble away its future to acquire him, Stinson wrote.
Durant, on the other hand, has four years left on his contract, so it’ll obviously cost significantly more to land him, plus the Raptors’ current lineup is on the rise, with Rookie of the Year Scotty Barnes, Gary Trent Jr. and Precious Achiua among the new signings who made significant contributions for a team that improved its win total from 27 to 48. Moving away from an emerging core only for Durant to balk at the idea of staying could put Toronto in a hole that would hard to get out of, Stinson says.
Here’s more from The Atlantic:
- Could a smaller role with the Celtics benefit Malcolm Brogdon health-wise? “The downside to him coming out of college is he had terrible knees,” a rival general manager told Heavy.com’s Steve Bulpett. “I mean, some of the reviews were really questionable as to how long his lower body was going to take the pounding of the NBA. That’s why he ended up going to the second round because he was almost red-spotted. So the fact is, he’s probably better off coming off the bench with limited minutes, trying to be impactful at 18, rather than trying to play 30 and always be injured. The question is how he will take it. Boston reportedly views Brogdon as a sixth man, and he said shortly after the deal was announced that he was motivated to win a championship and was willing to sacrifice his individual stats for the betterment of the team.
- De’Anthony Melton believes he’s a “great fit” for the Sixers, writes Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscriber link). “After I saw the team, I was like, ‘OK, this is a great place,'” Melton told The Inquirer by phone last week. “That’s great for me. … I understand what this team needs. I understand what this team is trying to do. I am ready for the task at hand. I’m ready for whatever lies ahead.” Melton was acquired by the Grizzlies in exchange for the No. 23 pick (David Roddy) and Danny Green in a draft day trade.
- The signing of free agent guard Jaylen Brunson was a solid move for the Knicks, but they still look like a playable team on paper, according to Ian O’Connor of The New York Post. According to O’Connor, while Brunson is a good player and the best point guard the Knicks will hire in years, neither he nor RJ Barrett or Julius Randle are capable of being the best — or second best — players championship caliber team and unless something drastic changes, New York will start 2022/23 as “just another barely relevant club”.
Add Comment