I’ve seen a lot of fans who are confident that we’ll get a “haul” for KD and be in the (necessary, given our pick situation) position of competing for a playoff spot next year, but is there any precedent for a team trading a star and pulling that off?

Paul George. Kawhi Leonard. James Harden (twice). Anthony Davis. Jimmy Butler.

I can’t think of a situation in recent memory when a team managed to trade a star for win-now pieces that allowed them to stay even somewhat competitive shortly after, let alone immediately after. Yes, I understand KD is likely the best player in the NBA, so you can argue that this fact alone means the result will be different. But I’m not confident it will be.

Separately, if we manage to swing this extended trade with Toronto and Utah that there have been rumbles of, my nightmare scenario is that Donovan Mitchell asks out to play for NYK. I don’t think I’d ever recover from that as a Nets fan.