If OKC demanded we take Enes Kanter back in a trade for Russell Westbrook...

[Fireworks_Boom!]

what would you say?

[kraidstar]

Well, that would certainly complicate matters. But this post is assuming that Kanter has negative trade value, which I'm not sure is the case with the new monster cap. When you have stiffs like austin rivers making $12M then Kanter's $17M doesn't look so bad. OKC might be better off pawning him off on some desperate small market team that will give up a real asset. A contender might need him too, enough to dump a prospect and late pick perhaps.

And by not including Kanter in a Westbrook trade with us means they can focus on getting more assets for a proper rebuild, as Ainge would use Kanter's big contract as leverage to give up less. We're not the right buyer for him.

Kanter and Westbrook's salary combined would total almost $35M - we'd have to dump amir, JJ, bradley/IT/crowder + loose change to make it work.

we'd lose a lot of players, and, assuming we resign westbrook at $30M+, we'd have $77M tied up in horford, westbrook, and Kanter. that wouldn't leave us much space for the rest of the roster, even with the cap jumping to $102M the next year (NOT the original $107M that had been projected earlier by the media).

Doesn't look like a championship core to me, especially if we gut our young prospects/picks in the trade.

I think I'd rather keep the cap space and make a second big trade/FA signing.

[kozlodoev]

Why would Kanter have negative value? He's 23, he gave you 18 and 11 in the starting lineup last season, and he's locked up for 3 seasons at about 60% of the max salary. Not his fault that OKC has Steven Adams to start ahead of him.

If Kanter ended up on the Celtics, he might find himself in the starting lineup by default.

[manl_lui]

Why would Kanter have negative value? He's 23, he gave you 18 and 11 in the starting lineup last season, and he's locked up for 3 seasons at about 60% of the max salary. Not his fault that OKC has Steven Adams to start ahead of him.

If Kanter ended up on the Celtics, he might find himself in the starting lineup by default.

I agree with this as well

Getting Russel Westbrook a top 10 player along with a quality center. I'd do it, and also depends who we give up. Not to mention, It slips Horford onto the PF spot which is a spot where he wants to play.

[kozlodoev]

... also somewhat shockingly to me, Kanter has made 40% of his trees in a nontrivial sample of 70 attempts.

*stare*

[kozlodoev]

Getting Russel Westbrook a top 10 player along with a quality center. I'd do it, and also depends who we give up.

Me too, but the problem is that it's rather hard to make the salaries match without including Bradley + Thomas/Crowder -- which I think makes it a nonstarter.

Perhaps the closest to acceptable would be something like this:
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hxf9b4r
or this:
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=gpbjlad

[pearljammer10]

If Kanter was added to the deal that'd mean we'd have to give up more. Kanter is a 23 year old who is almost a 20/10 guy. He's way more than a salary dump.

[BitterJim]

I would probably work in a third team willing to take in Kanter and send out a matching salary (I feel like the Kings would trade Gay for him) to avoid having to send out too much

[Fireworks_Boom!]

A 3 way trade between Philly/OKC/Boston would work in the following manner:

Boston receives: Russell Westbrook/Enes Kanter

Philly receives: Marcus Smart/James Young

OKC receives: Jahlil Okafor/Avery Bradley/Jonas Jerebko/Amir Johnson/Terry Rozier (would likely require some of our draft assets given the premium OKC would place on Westbrook)

[Fireworks_Boom!]

With the 3rd team we could work a sign and trade of Zeller rather than relinquishing some of the parts from our current roster...

[manl_lui]

Getting Russel Westbrook a top 10 player along with a quality center. I'd do it, and also depends who we give up.

Me too, but the problem is that it's rather hard to make the salaries match without including Bradley + Thomas/Crowder -- which I think makes it a nonstarter.

Perhaps the closest to acceptable would be something like this:
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hxf9b4r
or this:
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=gpbjlad

I like the first trade better, not comfortable trading BOTH IT and Bradley. My only concern is IT/Westbrook combo after the trade as both are very ball dominant players. In my honest opinion, I will trade IT in a deal for Westbrook before I trade Bradley. That at least gives Westbrook and option of drive and dish like he did in OKC with Bradley being that 3 and D guy. Actually now that I thought of it, Bradley might be a better SG alongside Westbrook as Bradley is better suited as a 3 and D vs what he has now in OKC with Waiters

[kozlodoev]

Getting Russel Westbrook a top 10 player along with a quality center. I'd do it, and also depends who we give up.

Me too, but the problem is that it's rather hard to make the salaries match without including Bradley + Thomas/Crowder -- which I think makes it a nonstarter.

Perhaps the closest to acceptable would be something like this:
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hxf9b4r
or this:
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=gpbjlad

I like the first trade better, not comfortable trading BOTH IT and Bradley. My only concern is IT/Westbrook combo after the trade as both are very ball dominant players. In my honest opinion, I will trade IT in a deal for Westbrook before I trade Bradley. That at least gives Westbrook and option of drive and dish like he did in OKC with Bradley being that 3 and D guy. Actually now that I thought of it, Bradley might be a better SG alongside Westbrook as Bradley is better suited as a 3 and D vs what he has now in OKC with Waiters

I find IT and Westbrook redundant, so I'd be fine putting him in a trade. Also, I'm probably comfortable with starting Westbrook and Smart, since Westbrook will have the ball a ton anyhow. We'll have to sign a veteran backup SG, but we can use a spot-up shooter (Eddie House style) either way.

Alternatively, there's something like this:
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=gql4cs8

But this means we're paper thin at C, and will have to put the likes of Bentil, Yabusele and Mickey in uniform.

*shiver*

[DefenseWinsChamps]

I think the Nets have enough cap space to absorb Kanter. I'm not too worried about him helping their win total too much. I think they are looking to add talent and take a flier on a guy like Kanter.

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=jve4mpx

[Eja117]

I guess if we sent back Amir and Jonas that's like 17. So then our big three is Russell, IT, and Horford.

I suppose that's a decent situation. It wouldn't kill me

[max215]

Absolutely, he's a weapon off the bench, a better version of Jahlil Okafor.