Congratulations to the Oklahoma City Thunder as the 2025 NBA Champions. Last night’s Game-7 victory was decisive; the Thunder are worthy champions having proved their abilities on the court. Both the Thunder and the Pacers are young teams; given the way these playoffs unfolded, it would not be shocking to see these two teams developing a rivalry over the next several seasons and that would be a good thing for the NBA which needs to have some focus on younger talent since the league emphasizes the marketing of its star players.
And speaking of focusing attention on star players, Kevin Durant was traded from the Suns to the Rockets over the weekend. In exchange for Durant, the suns receive:
- Jalen Green
- Dillon Brooks
- This year’s #10 pick in the NBA Draft
- Five second round picks.
That exchange tells me that the Rockets intend to go for a championship next year because Durant – – age 36 during the next NBA regular season – – will be an unrestricted free agent after the next NBA season. The Rockets could sign him up for a two-year extension whose value is specified by the CBA and that two years would cost them just north of $122M.
If that sounds as if I think the Rockets made a bad deal, that is not really the case. Jalen Green is a good player; he led the Rockets in scoring last season; he is only 23 years old; he could develop into a franchise foundation piece somewhere sometime. However, if that does not pan out, the only other possible “franchise player” the Suns might get is the guy they take at #10 in this year’s draft. Brooks is a decent player, but that’s it; the five second round picks are pure gambles; it is as if the Suns got five free keno cards at a Vegas casino. Maybe one will hit it big – – but probably not.
Another thing I do not understand about the deal from the Suns’ perspective is how they plan to fit Green – – a scoring guard – – in with the two scoring guards they already have in Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. You cannot score without the ball and there is only one ball in play at any given moment of the game; so, this seems like a problem to me.
- The Suns said they are not planning on “flipping” Green elsewhere.
- Beal has a no trade clause and has vetoed trades in the past
- Booker is the best of the three guards and the Suns should not trade him.
- And therefore …
From Kevin Durant’s singular perspective, he just got a raise without changing even a semicolon in his contract. Arizona has a flat state tax of 2.5%; Texas has no state income tax. In fact, a state income tax is specifically forbidden in the Texas State Constitution.
Durant will make $52.282,608 next season. By moving to a place without a state income tax he will “save” $1,332,065.20. That should cover moving expenses …
Moving on … Last week, I commented on an article that listed the 5 best freshman basketball players at Duke. I thought three more should be on the list and ended my comment by saying, “Now, who have I left off the discussion board…?” In almost no time flat, I got an e-mail from “the reader in Houston”; here are the pertinent parts:
“Jayson Tatum was a one-and-done. He may not have had the stats of some of the other freshmen, as he did miss a number of games early in the season with tendonitis, against some stiffs like Marist, Grand Canyon, Bill and Mary, and App State, which would probably have boosted his stats. He did average an impressive 33 mpg, which tells you how much Coach K relied on him as a frosh. People often overlook MPG as a stat, instead keying in on ppg, rpg, apg, etc. “
The “reader in Houston” is correct; Tatum belongs on the list. I tend to think of Tatum as a pro player far more than as a college player and completely overlooked him.
“And another of my Duke favorites was one-and-done, Luol Deng, who was no stiff either as a frosh.”
And there is another player whose performance as a pro and whose successful ventures in his post-basketball career have taken my focus off his play at the college level.
Finally, I’ll close today with a question posed by Satchel Paige:
“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was?”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………