Durant and Antetokounmpo: Who will the two biggest fish in the offseason fall into?

This year's NBA offseason is destined to bring about the most intense "trading storm" in recent years. The reasons are as follows:

①The Thunder and Pacers, which do not have to pay luxury taxes this season, meet in the finals, which will inevitably cause the management of each team to re-examine their team building strategies and whether spending a lot of money is equated with winning the championship.

②Doncic's big deal also reminds all teams how to deal with stars who are eligible for a super top salary of 35%. As long as the two teams exchange, most of them can only receive 25% of the average maximum salary.

③Celtics, Timberwolves, Cavaliers, Suns, and Bucks, have entered the stage of high investment in recent years, and have reached the stage of breaking down the team and re-planning the team.

But all the storm probably starts with two buttons -

Kevin Durant and "Antetokounmpo" Antetokounmpo. Although both of them are over thirty years old, they still maintain a very high competitive level.

37-year-old Kevin Durant can still score 26.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists this season, with a real shooting percentage of 64.2%, which is consistent with his three-year level with the Warriors.

Angelo, who is just 30 years old, is even more exaggerated. This season, he averaged 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.2 blocks per game. It was the seventh consecutive year of the league. What few people noticed is that he still had 33.0 points, 15.4 rebounds and 6.8 assists in the series against the Pacers this year.

Although he has average results due to injuries and team building problems in recent years, he can still contribute 30+10+5 super performances in playoff-level games.

He is also a super big C at the "Five Greatness" level in this league.

But the two are almost the same:

Because of the league's "champion trap", their teams have become rigid in the team building year after year, and it is difficult to get back.

Antesco won the 2021 championship, but in order to maintain competitiveness, the team kept the main players such as Middleton and Lopez year after year. Even if they were old and declining, they would not dare to let their hands down for fear that Antesco would feel that the team lacked "ambitions".

And the operation of abandoning Holiday in the offseason in 2023 is even more comparable to the Lakers' introduction of Westbrook.

Not only did he not get any granules for two years, but what's worse is that Li, who is already 34, also broke his Achilles tendon this year's playoffs, and his contract is 112 million in 2 years.

Next season, Antetokounmpo, Coach Li and Kuzma alone will have a salary of 130 million, and it is impossible for the team to return to the first-ranked East.

Durant's situation is well known, and the Suns have completely become "vegetative" after crazy investment.

Last season, he had the first place in the league but couldn't even make the playoffs. It has proved that relying on accumulating three super scorers to compete for the championship seems too primitive and rough.

Originally, the Suns only needed to deal with one Bill, but before the trading deadline, suddenly put Durant into the trading market and almost sent him to the Warriors. It also completely cut off the idea of ​​living in the Suns. "I'm working hard to support the team for you, but you actually sold me secretly? Then you can't let me go." The two people represent the top players in the current trading market: Antetokounmpo is a team-building core, and after introduction, they can quickly build a championship-level strong team around him.

And Durant is a "universal puzzle" that can help the team improve their level. If you already have a good team foundation, introducing him is likely to break the last window paper.

Now it seems that the two of them have overlaps in their next family, but there are differences.

Suitable for Antetokounmpo: Warriors, Celtics, Raptors

Suitable for Durant: Grizzlies, Heat

Intentional to both: Thunder, Spurs, Rockets, Knicks

Warriors and Celtics are all part of the last team building cycle, and a new team building core is urgently needed.

The Warriors, Curry, Zhu Meng and Butler will be 110 years old next year. It is no different to dream of winning the championship with this core team. They urgently need to add new superstars to act as Curry's "thigh" and may even give up Butler, whom they just got this season.

And Tatum, who was reimbursed for one and a half years, gave them a sufficient reason to rebuild. The players in the current lineup are not safe, even Jaylen Brown.

If the Celtics are willing to trade Jaylen Brown this offseason to trade Antetokounmpo, it will undoubtedly be a happy result.

The Celtics have gained a more stable core, the Bucks have high-quality substitutes, and Antetokounmpo can also go to big cities.

Raptors are new candidates. When the old player Siakam won the Eastern Conference FMVP, they are unwilling to continue to rebuild and wait for the opportunity. At present, the team has collected powerful players such as Ingram, Barrett, Quickley, etc., and the first round picks are all in his own hands.

Although it is not as strong as in 2019, it is still possible to attract Antetokounmpo.

More importantly, the current Raptors general manager Ujri solved the household registration problem of Antetokounmpo's family in Greece at that time and was the great benefactor of their family.

The Rockets have a long interest in Durant. The last 3-4 defeat against the Warriors in the playoffs this year is actually because of the execution of the key ball.

This Rockets is very similar to the Warriors for 2016, and the team's foundation has been solid enough. Although the core team is not as strong as the runner-up of the 73 wins, the key is that there are more bargaining chips that can be traded without moving the core framework.

Plus they hold the Suns' future draft pick, it can be said that as long as the Rockets want, they are in the pole position of Durant's battle..

and even, if they are willing, they can quote Antetokounmpo. At present, Shin Kyung and Amen Thompson are already widely favored young stars.

For a team like the Bucks, which is destined to rebuild, the temptation to quickly gain a team-building core is huge.

At the same time, those teams that have good teams and want to further improve may also have ideas about Adu.

The Heat sent Butler away, and his combat power declined severely. Wiggins, Li Kaile, Rocheer and others in their hands were not in their future plans.

Pat Riley has always had a special interest in superstars. Maybe in his eyes, the 37-year-old Durant still has the value of chasing.

And the two teams like the Thunder and the Spurs not only have a stable enough core (Alexander & Vinban Yama), but also have enough chips in their hands. From a trading perspective, both the Bucks and the Suns are willing to become the trading targets.

The biggest problem is actually whether Antetokounmpo and Durant are willing to be second-in-command there.

After all, Zhu Meng Green's sentence "We are the champion before you come" is too lethal.

The Knicks, who were just eliminated, are also likely to chase these two. The team has now revealed that the coaches and players are dissatisfied with Towns' defensive performance in the playoffs. We will wait and see whether they will use New York's influence to continue to upgrade "Mr. Tang".

Only when these two big brothers are determined, other NBA teams can try their best to chase other targets this year. After all, these two will be the "number one choice" of many teams.

For teams like the Lakers, Clippers, and Mavericks, while there is no hope of competing, it is very likely that they will have to chase the remaining "scrap materials" after their trade.

For example, Wiggins and Li Kyle of the Heat, Wassel and Kelton Johnson of the Spurs, etc., copy the plot of the Celtics getting Holiday back then.