Kevin Durant Trade: Nets Not Rushing Deal

There is no rush for a team to deal its superstar when they request a trade, nor should there be. Logically, the longer a bidding war over such a talent persists, the greater the return package should ultimately become. The Brooklyn Nets have shown no intent to dive into trading Kevin Durant, however to date, their strategy has only served to backfire.

KD has Gone Dark, and Brooklyn doesn’t mind waiting

From all indications, Kevin Durant has lost interest in listening to pitches from other NBA stars after the news of the trade broke. According to Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes, many people have tried to reach out to Durant to recruit his interest to their franchise, but he has refused to talk to anyone outside of his inner circle.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski also stated: “Brooklyn does not need to sign off on any deal if they don’t want to… But, as the situation wears out, could Kevin Durant look at it differently over time? There is a possibility.” So, punters who are interested in where Durant could start next season can opt to bet if they so choose to. Currently, the Nets are the favourite, but you can visit this website for more information.

Potential Suitors

The three teams that Vegas has pegged to still be in the hunt for KD are the Phoenix Suns, the Miami Heat, and the Toronto Raptors.

Phoenix Suns

Phoenix was pegged as the heavy favourite to acquire Durant’s services for a while, however after Deandre Ayton signed an offer sheet with the Indiana Pacers and the Suns decided to match, their situation became increasingly complicated. After re-signing Ayton, the Suns are unable to include him in a package until January 15th, 2023, however should Ayton state that he does not want to be traded, he will have the choice to veto any trade before July of 2023.

This becomes further convoluted by the fact that the Nets are not interested in a package centered around Ayton, and so a third team would have to be included in any such framework, where Ayton would be re-routed, and assets would be sent to Brooklyn. One of the only remaining teams interested in Ayton’s services are the Pacers, however because they are the team who signed him to the offer sheet, he cannot subsequently be traded there upon Phoenix’s matching offer.

Miami Heat

Sam Amick of The Athletic reported that Durant only wanted to play for the Heat so that he could team up with Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler, and Bam Adebayo, however outside of these three stars, Miami does not have adequate assets to pry away Durant. It was more recently reported that a trade package centered on Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, and a slew of picks was not getting Brooklyn overly excited.

Toronto Raptors

The Raptors remain in the mix for Durant, however it was reported yesterday that Brooklyn was only interested in listening to Toronto’s offer if it included Scottie Barnes. Conflicting reports stated numerous times that Barnes will be off the table in any Durant trade, so based on these pieces of information, the two sides seem to be at a standstill. Judging whether one side is leaking information to the media for leverage is all hearsay.