Durant vs Westbrook...

Will the huge trades ever stop coming? Let’s hope not! In recent days Trieu has moved four of his top six guys in the midst of a title defense and it’s arguable but they probably got even better. With Chunky Monkey’s Kyle Lowry out for the regular season, and Kevin Love of Team Spade out for a similar amount of time, it’s looking like the Russell Conference is wide open now too. (Watch Against All Odds as they weigh some potential moves to conquer the conference.)

Trade ID#74: 

• Sour Snails receive Kevin Durant
• Another Bad Creation receive Russell Westbrook and TJ McConnell

We can debate Kevin Durant versus Russell Westbrook for days but the final story is that they are NBA MVP contenders and top-five fantasy assets. For the year, Westbrook and Durant are averaging:

• Westbrook: 31.0 PTS, 10.6 REB, 10.3 AST, 2.2 3PT, 1.6 STL, 0.4 BLK, 5.6 TO with 42.1 FG% (23.9 FGA) and 83.1 FT% (10.5 FTA) 
• Durant: 25.8 PTS, 8.4 REB, 4.9 AST, 1.9 3PT, 1.1 STL, 1.7 BLK, 2.3 TO with 53.8 FG% (16.9 FGA) and 87.6 FT% (6.4 FTA)

Both are obviously amazing but for their respective new teams, the swap makes perfect fits. The Snails were trying to get more efficient and boost their defensive stats, and aside from having an infallible line, Durant is averaging a shocking 1.7 BLK this season. With this trade Trieu’s team should get a major boost in FG% and BLK, not to mention a big drop in TOs. The AST he’ll lose from Westbrook will be replaced by the recently acquired Mike Conley and now Durant will play next to Brook Lopez to form an insanely good 3PT big man duo.

Overall, the three trades Trieu made resulted in Russell Westbrook, Hassan Whiteside, Klay Thompson, Darren Collison, and TJ McConnell going out the door for Kevin Durant, Brook Lopez, Mike Conley, and Nerlens Noel. Team those four up with Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler -- along with Avery Bradley, Dion Waiters, Gorgui Dieng -- and we don’t see any weaknesses. We think Snails are back in line as favorites to three-peat...

As for Westbrook’s new team, Another Bad Creation hasn’t participated in a player-on-player trade since 2011 (they’ve done three pre-draft draft pick for keepers trades), when they traded away Russell Westbrook for LaMarcus Aldridge and Rodney Stuckey. And now they’ve got Russell back, a better than ever Russell at that.

Even though we thought we’d never live to see the day Oliver parted ways with 2010 #4 overall Kevin Durant — our reset season — the offer was just too good to pass up. And it makes sense. With ABC vying for a division crown but caught in a 2-7 losing streak, change was finally in order. And bringing in a potentially historic triple-double player covers a lot of ground for a foundational player. Westbrook immediately moves in to lead Another Bad Creation in PTS, REB, AST, STL, and almost 3PT. With Russell unleashed in the backcourt, there’s now more balance for a team that has long suffered for lack of a point guard. Sure his FG% and TOs leave something to be desired but you don't get (a lot) of something for nothing.

Dwyane Wade will serve as Westbrook’s running mate while Aldridge, Dirk Nowitzki, Wesley Matthews, and Greg Monroe — RIP Jahlil Okafor's fantasy career — get an on-court seat to the Westbrook show. But let’s not overlook the cherry on top of this already made perfect sense one-on-one deal: TJ McConnell is back on the team also (just like we suggested) after he was cut earlier in the season and he’s been averaging a useful 9.1 PTS, 6.9 AST, 1.9 STL on 52.3 FG% over his past month of games. Clinging to one game lead over Squirtle Squad, ABC could have just made the mega-deal that will secure them the first back-to-back division title in Transformers history.

So, big congrats to both owners, and congrats to SlamNation for another league shattering trade!