Kevin Durant asks Brooklyn Nets to trade him

Just when you thought the 2022 cost-free company interval was likely to be an Ambien capsule, the Brooklyn Nets soap opera returned to inject an adrenaline needle to the vein.

Just a few times just after Kyrie Irving defused his personal ticking time bomb by opting to keep on being a Web, Kevin Durant chose to clean his very own exit path. The latest Nets soap opera episode commenced Thursday with a mundane throwaway storyline in which the Nets acquired Utah Jazz defensive stopper Royce O’Neal. Having said that, in accordance to The Athletic’s Shams Charania and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Nets are in the course of action of acquiescing a trade demand from customers Durant designed to proprietor Joseph Tsai.

The news shook the earth just times soon after Kyrie Irving decided to choose-in and dedicate to the Nets for just one more time. In retrospect, the vow to fulfill his 4-12 months commitment to the Nets could have been a passive-aggressive elbow in Durant’s course.

When Durant selected to url up with Irving in Brooklyn, Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck revealed a column that defined Durant’s conclusion.

Via B/R:

“Durant had developed weary of the perpetual drama in Golden Condition, even while top the Warriors to two straight championships. What some identified refreshing about the Warriors — their big personalities, their outspokenness on both on- and off-courtroom troubles — Durant located distracting. He required a team that put basketball above all else.”

The optimistic outlook back then was that Irving and Durant’s genuine friendship would mood their damaging tendencies. Any realist recognized this was normally how it was going to conclude for these two. The moment they have been on the courtroom with each other, sparks flew. In 2021, they carried out one particular of the most productive offenses in NBA record.

But off the courtroom, they continuously arrived dangerously close to detonating. Irving’s concentration on basketball was constantly tenuous. Just one moment, his target was solely on basketball and the future, he was burned out, having two-week sabbaticals, having a rigid stance towards the COVID vaccine even if it intended leaving his teammates on the hook. The shocker is that Durant was the a person who pulled the pin on the Nets grenade.

When Durant is traded, it will be his fourth workforce in 6 years. So where will Durant’s travels consider him future? The landscape currently being so fertile for Durant helps make that challenging to pin down, whilst Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes has described that Durant’s chosen destination would be the Phoenix Suns.

Durant’s fascination will make limited absolutely free agent Deandre Ayton a key signal-and-trade applicant. Phoenix required a lifeline this offseason. Their reluctance to indicator Ayton to a five-12 months $177 million extension or match the 4-12 months $131 million deal that other teams can indicator him to put them in a difficult posture. Presented their restricted championship window, Phoenix would do whichever it usually takes to slot Durant in between Devin Booker, perimeter defensive pincer Mikal Bridges and Chris Paul as shortly as probable. The Nets could need Bridges as a sacrifice, but it is 1 the Suns would make in a scorching next.

The Portland Trail Blazers have been lobbying hard for Durant. Don’t be shocked if Mayor Ted Wheeler hosts a stay press convention to woo KD to their title-starved hoops-obsessed town. Portland has the ideal formulation of picks and young expertise to sacrifice to the Altar of Durant whilst protecting a roster deep sufficient to contend. They could throw many firsts, Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe in Brooklyn’s direction and both groups could be articles. The Blazers may fight to continue to keep Simons, but if it gets a dealbreaker, his luggage will be packed for him.

The Lakers tends to make perception on paper. Durant signing up for LeBron would be the top mashup. For decades, they duked it out as the top rated-2 gamers in the league. They’ve both stumbled from their peaks, but their apex is so superior, that they are however continuously major-five gamers when they are at their worst. From the Brooklyn Nets’ angle, Anthony Davis, 29, might have sufficient juice remaining in his tank to be an All-NBA huge for a further five yrs. His porcelain bones will generally be a problem but when he’s healthy, he’s an elite, two-way velociraptor.

Miami got the chilly shoulder from Jalen Brunson these days immediately after he signed a four-12 months $110M deal with the Knicks, but re-inserted themselves into the Durant discussions.

However, the Warmth really don’t own a initially-spherical decide on until eventually 2024 and cannot give up consecutive firsts due to the fact of The Stepien Rule, which prevents teams from being with out initial-spherical picks in consecutive drafts. For Brooklyn to surrender a participant of Durant’s caliber they’d likely inquire for Bam Adebayo. The Nets would be precluded from swapping Durant for Adebayo due to the fact of an obscure rule that prevents groups from obtaining two players who have been acquired by way of trades while they are on Selected Rookie Extension contracts. Soon after buying and selling for Ben Simmons at the trade deadline, the only way Adebayo could wind up on the Nets is if Simmons ended up traded. That is not outside the realm of possibilities, but not likely due to the fact his trade stock is in the basement.

Still, where there is a will there is a way. NBA execs have created the ebook on twisting by means of corporate loopholes, but just for the reason that they can doesn’t suggest they need to.

Two point-facilities as the focal issue of the Nets lineup for the subsequent few many years is as problematic as Embiid and Simmons plodding by way of the rush hour traffic in the paint. However, a a few-group trade in which Durant is whisked off to Miami, Bam transported to another team, who traded their superstar to Brooklyn would be amenable to Miami and Brooklyn. Finding that third crew is a lot easier stated than d1.

The Nets will have a pile of options to critique. In the long run, anywhere Durant ends up will upend the league.