KEVIN DURANT TRADED TO SUNS

[TOO]

Gotta think KD is gonna come in with what's left of his hair on fire trying to show the world he's still him. Not sure how you stop the quadrant if Ayton is engaged.

Who's Ringo? Who's our 5th?

Mat Ishbia

[Split T]

You all are forgetting something. KD is *currently* injured. So in the short term we are terribly short handed again. Especially with Book out Thursday night. Yikes. Lol.

Just get to the all star break..I think KD will be back shortly

[SunsRIt]

The hate we are receiving from rival fans on Twitter is refreshing

What are they saying?

[Superbone]

It's going to be an interesting starting lineup against the Hawks tonight without Book, Mikal, Cam and now KD!

Right, they just announced yesterday that KD is out until after the all-star break.

[TOO]

You all are forgetting something. KD is *currently* injured. So in the short term we are terribly short handed again. Especially with Book out Thursday night. Yikes. Lol.

Oh it's probably gonna be a shitshow tomorrow and that's okay. Your guy is gonna be the focal point of the offense because there are literally no other options lol.

[INFORMER]

Need to speak og for Landry and Dario into existence

That package might land the Suns Will Barton and a throw-in like Vernon Carey or Taj Gibson.

[TOO]

Taj Gibson still plays? Huh.

[Singh]

https://twitter.com/search?q=%22KD%20an ... M_18w&s=09

[Split T]

It really is Ayton’s moment though. If he gives us what he’s been doing the last few games and KD/Book are healthy? I just don’t really see how we lose to anyone in the west.

[Superbone]

Do we have any idea how long KD is out for though?

Until after the all-star break.

[JeremyG]

Just please please give us 1 fully healthy KD/Book playoff run.

I’m not gonna lie. Book is starting to scare me. I don’t know if his hamstring is ever gonna hold up anymore.

[JeremyG]

You all are forgetting something. KD is *currently* injured. So in the short term we are terribly short handed again. Especially with Book out Thursday night. Yikes. Lol.

Oh it's probably gonna be a shitshow tomorrow and that's okay. Your guy is gonna be the focal point of the offense because there are literally no other options lol.

Nah Shamet will come back and Monty will run the offense through him.

[INFORMER]

https://twitter.com/search?q=%22KD%20an ... M_18w&s=09

Anyone putting CP3 in a Big 3 obviously hasn't been following the Suns this year.

[SunsRIt]

I don’t have Twitter so I can see any of the comments.

[Flagrant Fowl]

[SunsSince92]

Okay, my quick thoughts.

I actually think it's good that Mikal is going out rather than Ayton. There, I said it. I know Ayton is frustrating as hell. But having another dominant scorer like Durant will allow us to rely less on Ayton as a go-to scorer, which doesn't come as naturally to him. He'll still get points off P&R and rebounds and put-backs and the occasional inside play etc., but we won't run offense through him. And he can focus more on defense and rebounding, which he actually can do quite well when he chooses to do so. A trade focused around Ayton for KD might seem to make more sense on paper, but I was worried that we'd lose the ability to guard the league's best centers. Ayton for all his faults actually does some of his best work against Jokic, Embiid, and other prominent centers.

And, while I loved (LOVED) Mikal, you just can't compare him to a guy like KD. Mikal was having an amazing month of basketball, but I was worried that he'd regress to the mean. His shot and overall offense have always been iffy. Loved the strides he made this season, but I wasn't sure it would be something sustainable that we could count on. Maybe he'll prove me wrong, but there's just no comparison between Mikal and one of the best scorers in NBA history.

And, okay, I'll go there: I wondered whether Mikal's defense had become a bit overrated. Game to game he was a great defender, but then in the playoffs we'd put the other team's best scorer on him and that scorer would still go out and get 30-40 points. Specifically last year in the Mavs series, Mikal just absolutely could not stop Luka. Luka is one of the best scorers in the league, I get it, but the famed "Mikal jail" couldn't contain him at all. I think what Durant gives us is more valuable than the incrementally better defense Mikal brought.

The four 1sts are tough to swallow. All completely unprotected. We'll be feeling that for a while. I hope the team doesn't just give up on the draft given how top-heavy we're going to be for a few years. I'm not very sad about losing Crowder (obviously), nor Cam Johnson, because I think we probably would have lost Cam over money this summer anyway. So to me the only real long-term assets we give up are Mikal and the picks. And at least a couple of those picks should be about #28 if the trade works out for us.

We've become an older team. Both KD and CP3 have already seen their best days. I do worry a little bit that we may struggle with injuries. But let's hope we get a few healthy seasons out of this core to make runs at the title. And we do have our younger core guys in Book, Ayton, Landale to carry us to the next generation.

Bottom line is, before this trade I don't think we had any realistic chance at a title. Now, if healthy, I think the Suns are now the best team in the West.

WOW.

Great take. I do still worry a bit about the defensive downgrade but wonder whether Mikal taking a step up offensively would naturally lead to a regression in his defensive capabilities over time anyway. I also agree with your point about his offensive consistency, with Book coming back in I think his natural inclination would have been to defer to the 'alpha' so we'd have probably seen him cool off anyway.

[Split T]

IT looking for a 10-day?

[TOO]

You all are forgetting something. KD is *currently* injured. So in the short term we are terribly short handed again. Especially with Book out Thursday night. Yikes. Lol.

Oh it's probably gonna be a shitshow tomorrow and that's okay. Your guy is gonna be the focal point of the offense because there are literally no other options lol.

Nah Shamet will come back and Monty will run the offense through him.

[JeremyG]

The hate we are receiving from rival fans on Twitter is refreshing

Yeah I think most non-Suns fans rank Ayton way above Mikal (more than I would even). So in their minds we gave up nothing for KD.

[Superbone]

The thing that is the most shocking is that it happened so suddenly. With zero leaks.

James Jones is the quiet assassin.