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I'm just going to be blunt and say anyone advocating a Westbrook trade at this point just doesn't know anything about basketball. I get that people are unhappy with Vucevic--I guarantee you'll be even more unhappy when Westbrook is on our team and needs to be paid 46 million dollars at age 35.

He for sure would ask for assets, but I find it hard to believe Westbrook has positive value around the league. AG was our best playoff performer and people are willing to trade him for a declining player with one of the worst contracts in the NBA.

Is this coming season the year AG becomes elite? Given that AG just finished the season as a 23 years old, I submit the following stat lines of players when they were 23 years old. Most would be considered stars, and one of these stat lines belongs to AG. What line belongs to what player? Player One - 16.5 pts, 7.2 trb, 2.5 ast, 47 fg% and 34 3p% Player Two - 16 pts, 4.8 trb, 3.9 ast , 43 fg% and 34 3p% Player Three - 16 pts, 7.4 trb, 3.7 ast, 44 fg% and 34 3p% Player Four - 14.7 pts, 6.7 trb, 2.2 ast, 46 fg% and 33 3p% Player Five - 21.7 pts, 6.8 trb, 3.5 ast, 42 fg% and 36 3p%

I'm not going to stop until you understand. There's a reason why Zach Lowe calls Westbrook the second worst contract in the NBA behind John Wall. He'll probably be ok this year but he's going to continue to get worse and whoever gets him is going to be stuck with a bad player for 3 years.

Ok so you don’t think Dwight is an option. I don’t either. But if that’s how you feel, you’re saying that there is a type of player who, despite prior accolades, is not currently productive or good enough to justify financially crippling the team for years. Westbrook fits in that category just like Dwight does, just not to as extreme of a degree.

Oh, I agree with this 100%, and believe that Westbrook and John Wall etc. are better fantasy basketball players than they are real life players, but I'd still rather have Westbrook than Fournier + Vuc Westbrook would bring an intensity that would fit with Aaron Gordon and other guys like Khem Birch

I'm glad they structured it that way. As much as I still don't like the deal (nothing personal against Vuc I just want to change our playing style to something more modern), if he plays how he did last season over the next few he'd be tradeable I think with the cap going up.

I feel like the average NBA fan and also a lot of media outlets are blinded by stats. Specifically PPG (doesn't matter what fg%) and triple doubles.

Jordan never played on the heat.

We did the last 7 years and look what it got us... You win championships in the NBA through trades and free agency. It's the complete opposite of the NFL. Building like Golden State is like catching lightning 3 times in a row in the same bottle. It's so rare and even they brought in the biggest FA prize 3 years ago to win their last 2 titles.

Sucks for Birch if he is stuck here as Bamba insurance.

Nope. We’re content with DJ, MCW, and isn’t ready for 5v5 Fultz.

He’s the best executive in history of the nba hands down

It's official...no Fran again this year

Aside from not being injured ourselves I feel like we got a good draw with some opponent's load management timing. Felt like we ran into a good amount of teams resting main guys down the stretch.

Count me in as one who strongly agrees with this and has been insulted and ridiculed on this forum for it. This was a pretty toxic place for anyone who disagreed with Hennigans blueprint for the team a few years ago. I’m not on the Westbrook train myself but strongly agree that the “make yourself terrible” approach to winning by getting high draft picks is extremely risky at best. If you don’t strike gold, it sets the stage for long term futility.

You have to be strategic with the luxury tax due to repeater penalties. It doesn't make sense to go into the luxury tax for this team.

I think the teammate stuff is overblown. He's probably fine. Guys with games built exclusively on athleticism don't age well and their game falls off precipitously. Westbrook isn't a good passer. He facilitates by drawing extra defenders on the way to the rim. Westbrook isn't a good defender. He's shot above league average from three once in his career a few years ago but it's getting worse. When his athleticism starts to fail him what is he going to provide?

Yes. Birch is totally the difference between this team being a contender or not.

There’s chatter of Mozgov to OKC for Westbrook. Bill Simmons is saying this. Can someone explain how this is possible and why the heck OKC would even do it?

I'd trade Vuc+Fournier for him At least it would be interesting to watch him run with our young guys

Yes, and I've been a huge Westbrook critic, but I'd rather have him than the buddy ball Euros

Yeah i think giving up one of our best young players for one of the biggest contracts in the NBA could be bad. Advanced metrics on Westbrook look terrible, the guy can't shoot. However, in this scenario, it does 2 things for the Magic. First it puts us back to the forefront. We get a former MVP, a player who moves the needle a little bit. The second reason it would be good for us, we would still have a young core while making the playoffs. Ross,Westbrook and Vucevic easily get us to the playoffs in the east. Isaac,Bamba,Futlz,Ferguson and Okeke are the future and i think one of them has a higher ceiling then Gordon. That being said, there is no way Presti trades with us without asking for one our young core, plus Gordon. Gordon has to be included because of the salary and i think Presti would want a younger piece since it would be a full rebuild. It's not going to happen but if i were gm i would do it, as long as we got Ferguson with Westbrook. Had to edit because i have already listened to two radio shows this morning suggesting a trade with the Magic. I would love the trade and have no fear giving up Gordon, i would be afraid of what else they would trade.

Nah. Actually by waiving and stretching Mozgov’s contract we can absorb more salary coming back via trade. AG and Fournier for Westbrook works for example.

If they threw in Ferguson i would do that in a heartbeat. Mostly because it would be fun to be relevant again. Problem is Presti would fight and claw to keep Ferguson and insist on our draft picks coming back to Houston. He would sell it as a privilege to get Westbrook, instead of a salary dump, which it is. Again i would do that in a heartbeat as long as we got Ferguson. Had to edit: Of course to save face i think any team they trade him to will have to throw in a pick, i just wouldn't want it to be too much. In our scenario Presti can easily play Gordon and Fournier or flip them for more assets. Still i think he would ask for a first rounder.