Reports came out that Knicks, Bucks, and Sixers are most likely destinations. Both Sixers and Bucks would have to give OKC long-term contracts to match his deal. I don't see how OKC could deal with either of those teams.

A report also came out that they won't attach draft picks to move him, which makes sense. I wouldn't expect any in return. But there's a couple of options i see here. One is we could trade someone like Dennis Smith for him straight up and absorb his entire contract into cap space. No picks on either sides, and he can fit into our space, but then there's not much flexibility to add more help either this offseason or next. But my guess is thats the type of deal OKC would be open to, a straight salary dump where they can take a flyer on a player like DSJ for cheap.

Another possibility is to convince them to take Randle alongside Smith by attaching some minor draft assets, like a couple of second round picks. Not ideal, but i think adding Chris Paul to help change the culture, and getting rid of Randle a year early can be worth it. Okc still saves almost 20 mil this year and 40 mil next year. And gets some draft assets. That's a lot of motivation and a lot of money. Knicks could still create 20+ mil in cap space this fall to replace Randle with a stretch-4 like Gallinari or Bertans. Knicks would again essentially be punting on summer 2021 free agency, but i don't see a lot of good options anyways. 2022 on the other hand has guys like Jokic, Curry, etc as UFA (unrealistic of course) but then there's another tier of solid free agent options like LaVine, Marcus Smith, and TJ Warren who are all UFA and will all be under 30.

There's a possibility of adding Gallinari or Bertans and overpaying them on a 2 year deal, but even paying them market value on a 4 year deal leaves plenty of options in 2022 once Chris Paul's massive contract is off the books. Not sure what the right answer is here and i'm sure some will be totally against giving up second round picks for Chris Paul but these are options i see. A line-up could look like

C Robinson
PF Bertans/Gallinari
SF Barrett
SG Bullock
PG Paul

Off the bench we would have our 3 2020 draft picks, Knox, Frank, Brazdeikis, Gibson, etc.

My number one goal this offseason is to spread the floor. I’d rather keep cap flexibility and really develop the young players than pick up $42mm of veteran player. Especially if we have to give up any assets to get there.

EwingsGlass wrote:So, it is unquestionable that Chris Paul is better than any other player on the Knicks roster. Even at 35. I don’t see him as the piece that pushes the Knicks to a playoff contender. The $41mm max players use a whole lot of cap space where the cap is decreasing. I don’t have better answers than Paul and we might be lucky to get him. That said, you lose the ability to be opportunistic with cap space to add 5 or 6 wins. The value you state is changing the culture. In fairness, I thoughts that’s why we got Thibs.

My number one goal this offseason is to spread the floor. I’d rather keep cap flexibility and really develop the young players than pick up $42mm of veteran player. Especially if we have to give up any assets to get there.

Between Paul and Thibs (and the player development assistants) you're really changing the culture. I'm just thinking how much better Paul makes Barrett and Mitch right away, playoffs or not. He will have a huge impact on their careers going forward. As for floor spacing, Chris Paul makes about 2 threes per game on a 36-38% clip, which is above average in both makes and percentage. Add to that someone like Gallinari or Bertans using the rest of the cap space and you have added a ton of shooting to the line-up. Plus i want to add shootings in the draft, say Vassell at 8 to start with. Plus pick up Bullock's 4 mil option. So adding Paul, Gallinari or Bertans, and Vassell, you have addressed the floor spacing in a big way, which is my #1 priority as well. If we don't do anything this off-season, i want to at least see the floor opened up for Barrett. But this is an option to do that and much more.

knicks1248 wrote:DSJ, Frank, Portis, and one of the dallas picks would be my proposal

You do realize that CP was traded to the thunder a yr ago for an all star(westbrook) and multiple 1st round picks.

Your proposing that we give them a back up pg with mental and confident issues for their best player just to absorb a contract. That would only happen if the OKC's front office is suddenly run by MILLs and Perry.

Don't think for one minute that your going to trade your sub par players for all stars without sacrificing some significant pieces of your own.

Considering the season he just had, he's not going to come cheap

That’s a lot of give but I see your point. But the big thing you’re missing is the landscape is different today than when they traded for Chris Paul. That was before the economy went completely on hold. The Thunder are a team most susceptible to financial concerns and there’s a real threat to nba revenue sharing. The Thunder won’t attach draft picks to Chris Paul as we know, but in this new world they need to get out from under that contract as cleanly as they can. If Covid didn’t exist it would probably be a different scenario.

Knixkik wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:DSJ, Frank, Portis, and one of the dallas picks would be my proposal

You do realize that CP was traded to the thunder a yr ago for an all star(westbrook) and multiple 1st round picks.

Your proposing that we give them a back up pg with mental and confident issues for their best player just to absorb a contract. That would only happen if the OKC's front office is suddenly run by MILLs and Perry.

Don't think for one minute that your going to trade your sub par players for all stars without sacrificing some significant pieces of your own.

Considering the season he just had, he's not going to come cheap

That’s a lot of give but I see your point. But the big thing you’re missing is the landscape is different today than when they traded for Chris Paul. That was before the economy went completely on hold. The Thunder are a team most susceptible to financial concerns and there’s a real threat to nba revenue sharing. The Thunder won’t attach draft picks to Chris Paul as we know, but in this new world they need to get out from under that contract as cleanly as they can. If Covid didn’t exist it would probably be a different scenario.

I would want a few young building blocks if im trading paul,

The Knicks need to get out of the basement and they need a leader and star to jump start that process.

If they want to sit there for another 3 seasons and gamble on more role payer draft picks that may or many not pan out, the losing culture will continue. IMO, Thibs is going to want to deal with more high IQ veteran players, Leon is going to want build this team his way, and WWW is not going to tarnish his image with 50+ loss seasons.

There's no reason to think any player on this roster is a lock to remain, and theirs zero reason to think we are going to be able to upgrade the roster with only given up our trash..

shinmen wrote:Giving assets for C Paul is a capital offense for an FO.
OKC got lucky that he stayed healthy. A 4 month break and no travel in the bubble was a god send for him.
OKC should compensate a team for taking Paul of their hands. If they don't, well keep him and pray all known deities he remains as healthy as he had.
If he doesn't and there is a great chance he suffers an unfortunate injury, you're stuck with a 40 millions for 2 years bench warmer.
No way the FO should make this kind of risky move without a compensation of some sort in case it goes sideways.

HofstraBBall wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

shinmen wrote:Giving assets for C Paul is a capital offense for an FO.
OKC got lucky that he stayed healthy. A 4 month break and no travel in the bubble was a god send for him.
OKC should compensate a team for taking Paul of their hands. If they don't, well keep him and pray all known deities he remains as healthy as he had.
If he doesn't and there is a great chance he suffers an unfortunate injury, you're stuck with a 40 millions for 2 years bench warmer.
No way the FO should make this kind of risky move without a compensation of some sort in case it goes sideways.

Agree. We're the ones doing them the favor. They need salary relief more than we need an aging point guard. Paul is good, but he still doesn't make us a playoff team. They need to give us one of those picks or step off. That Tobias Harris contract should work for them.

+100

How anyone in favor of a proper rebuild fails to see this as just another starphuck is beyond me.
What exactly does CP3 do with our current roster? Or moreover minus last years biggest producer? As suggested by some. We need to continue adding young pieces, assets and solid draft picks. Not cripple our flexibility for a 35 year old PG. And some on here are suggesting we give up draft picks and young assets? If anything, as mentioned, they will have to give up draft
picks for aomeone to take on such a ridiculous contract. This has old Knicks management written all over it. Hopefully our new FO shows it will not repeat those type of mistakes.

Not saying CP3 is not a good player but the idea he fits our current roster's timeline and that at 35 he has any chance of playing up to his contract is short sighted at best. PASS

Dude what roster are you talking about, we have 8 potential FA, and a few suspect young players (2 with one yr left on their contracts)
so who's TIMELINE ARE WE REALLY ON, you need CP as part of your developing process. your only going to end up over paying some BS role player(like we just did) with same money you spent absorbing CP's contract for 2 yrs

IMO if they wanted to continue with a young team and build with their picks they wouldn't have hired the coach they did, they would have probably went with Kidd or Atkison.

Dolon is hell bent on bringing a star here (WE ALL KNOW THAT) which is why he gets a TOP sports agent to run his team.

His contract can be traded in the final yr to any contender,its not that bad

This is just the top of the list. Not sure its a wise move, we need to rebuild not fast fwd.

technomaster wrote:Something I've wondered about is the mentoring effect of an elite PG. After CP3 has left his teams, have any of his mentored PG successors or teammates ever continued to play great? I'm pretty sure the answer is no.

The CP3/elite PG effect generally only lasts while that said PG is playing for the team.

New Orleans tanked after he left. Clippers got worse, so did Houston.
Phoenix did not fare well after Nash left.
Kidd's teams had a hard time after he left (see Knicks, Dallas, Nets).

I don't think their PG play rubs off on their backups. The only possible exception has been Darren Collison - but look at him, his stats never really changed much over the course of his career, but he probably earned some bonus starting jobs based on touting himself as a mini-CP3, though it never really played out on his team's win-loss record.

Does it have an affect on teammates at other positions? Maybe. I think DeAndre Jordan credited his experience with the Clippers as helping him to see the floor better. Whether that's the effect of CP3 or Doc Rivers' teachings as coach, it's tough to determine.

So my take:
CP3 will make the Knicks a better team. Will he make Ntilikina/DSJ or any other PG better at running the Knicks?

It's too much looking at the trades and teams in a vacuum. Too many moving parts. And CP3 generally was the best player in those trades, so it would easy to say that the team he is leaving is going to be worse.

knicks1248 wrote:DSJ, Frank, Portis, and one of the dallas picks would be my proposal

You do realize that CP was traded to the thunder a yr ago for an all star(westbrook) and multiple 1st round picks.

Your proposing that we give them a back up pg with mental and confident issues for their best player just to absorb a contract. That would only happen if the OKC's front office is suddenly run by MILLs and Perry.

Don't think for one minute that your going to trade your sub par players for all stars without sacrificing some significant pieces of your own.

Considering the season he just had, he's not going to come cheap

Randle is s bad dude?
OKC did a Paul George and Westbrook trade and got a treasure trove of goodies. They don't need Frank or DSjr. They need Paul off the books. Clay Bennett is not a super wealthy owner. They have many partners who are losing there asses due to fracking and low energy costs.

I have not read that they have figured out or finalized an extenstion of the original 15 year lease which was due to expire in two years.

https://law.marquette.edu/assets/sports-law/pdf/lease-summary-oklahoma-city-thunder.pdf
Is there a path back to Seattle? Las Vegas? Louisville?
Hold them for ransom to get a killer deal on renovations?
This is just me saying this. I looked at the lease and don't see via internet were they extended the lease beyone summer of 2019 when it was being negotiated or reported.

This is from July:

The Oklahoma City Thunder's ownership, led by Clay Bennett, is largely supported by the energy business, which has taken a financial beating in recent months. After Bennett, the largest stakeholders are the estate of Aubrey McClendon, whose shares have been for sale for more than a year, and George Kaiser, a banking and energy magnate who has lost more than $2 billion in net worth since last year. One of its primary sponsors, Chesapeake Energy, filed for bankruptcy in June.
The Thunder have the third-highest payroll in the league with key player Danilo Gallinari headed to free agency. All-Star point guard Chris Paul is scheduled to make $41 million next season, set to be the second-highest salary in the NBA.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29544380/nba-owners-current-financial-turmoil-portends-future-payroll-problems

Yesterday Billy Donovan "mutually" parted ways with Thunder and he was co-coach of the year!!!! Was it a salary demand? Not desire to go thru long rebuild? Does Billy see something down the road he does not want to be part of? Is Bennett who uprooted Seattle ready to sell the thunder and let another owner move them? We can speculate all we want. They had an exceptional season with low expectations. There is a story here but its not being told yet.