[Poll] Would you hypothetically trade Blake Griffin for Kevin Durant?

This trade option isn’t on the table.

And unless Kevin Durant makes it plain-as-day known to the Oklahoma City Thunder front office that he’s bolting as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2016, the option will never be on the table.

That won’t stop us from playing the “what-if” game.

During the offseason, idle time allows the brain to roam, meaning trade concoctions are aplenty among the NBA fan community when the draft and isn’t holding discussions hostage. And more than once this offseason, by the likes of Arash Markazi, Ramona Shelburne, and Zach Lowe, all of ESPN, the hypothetical of swapping Oklahoma-native and Clippers forward Blake Griffin for Thunder superstar Durant has been referred to, with the most recent talk coming from Markazi who participated in a discussion of blockbuster trade ideas involving one of the Clippers’ Big 3 (Griffin, Paul, Jordan).

Live Feed

Blue Man Hoop

“This is perhaps the NBA’s most talked-about hypothetical trade,” said Markazi and writer Alamar in “Blockbuster trade ideas for Clippers”.

By swapping Durant with Griffin, both teams would be partaking in a calculated risk, especially the Clippers.

There’s an argument Durant is basketball’s best talent, toppling LeBron James the same year he awarded the league MVP. Unfortunately, Durant’s follow-up season to averaging 32 points on 50-39-85 shooting splits, 6.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists was plagued by foot injury.

It’s evident what a player like Durant would bring to the Clippers. While a huge hole at power forward would emerge, the one at small forward would evaporate as the league’s best scorer would step into its place. Remember how fans would complain about Westbrook’s lack of deferring to the league MVP? Playing alongside Chris Paul, one of the best passers in league history, that won’t be an issue, meaning scoring opportunities would be aplenty for KD.

Live Feed

Valley of the Suns

The bigger risk — aside from Durant potentially being affected by lower-body injuries for the bulk of his career — would the MVP bolting in free agency, doing what the Thunder front office feared he’d do. If the reports over the years are correct, Durant has his eyes set on heading home to join John Wall and Bradley Beal in Washington. Given the decline in quality between the West and East conferences and Wall-Beal being a better supporting cast than Paul-DeAndre Jordan (assuming he re-signs) over the duration of Durant’s next deal (presumably a max for the full four/five years), the Wizards would be a better option for his career ambitions.

In Oklahoma City, Griffin would be celebrated in his homecoming, pairing up with All-NBA point guard Russell Westbrook. The combination of Westbrook-Griffin could create one of the best guard-big tandems in the NBA, allowing Westbrook to continue his high usage on the perimeter while Griffin steps into a secondary scoring role as well as funneling shooters through his noted playmaking abilities. Griffin’s presence would create a mini-dilemma as he and Serge Ibaka play the same position, but this could be solved by pushing Ibaka down a spot in the depth chart making him center or trading one of the league’s best defensive fours for a small forward to replace Durant’s presence.

And unlike Durant, the Thunder’s front office wouldn’t have to worry themselves about Griffin’s free agency as his deal expires in 2017-18 (player option).

I took to Twitter to ask the question about the hypothetical swap, moreso wondering which team would benefit most from the trade, and here are some of the responses:

Now to the readers: would you make the hypothetical trade of superstars if the decision was your own? Let us know in the poll and comment section below!