After reasserting his desire to be dealt away from the Nets in a meeting with principle owner Joe Tsai last weekend, All-Star forward Kevin Durant would consider holding out of the team’s training camp in September if still with Brooklyn, a source tells Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News (subscriber-only story).
Winfield reports that, among the teams tendering trade offers to Brooklyn, the Pelicans remain committed to their Durant sweepstakes. Winfield writes that New Orleans could deal 2020 All-Star forward Brandon Ingram, still just 24, along with intriguing young role players like Herbert Jones and Jose Alvarado, plus significant draft equity.
Here’s the latest Kevin Durant chatter:
- After looking like surefire title contenders thanks to their 2021-era core of Durant, All-Star guard James Harden, and Kyrie Irving, the Nets have fallen back to earth. The New York Post’s Ian O’Connor writes that Brooklyn has devolved back into the kind of laughingstock it often was when still based in New Jersey. The team appears to be in total disarray following Durant’s reiterated trade request.
- Despite Durant’s standing as one of the league’s best players, John Hollinger of The Athletic opines that, despite his protestations, the Nets still have a negotiating edge over the 33-year-old. Hollinger credits that to the fact that Durant’s four-year, maximum-salaried extension is just beginning, and that the 2014 MVP’s advanced NBA age diminishes his trade value to some extent. Hollinger writes that, should Durant opt to not play for the start of the season, the Nets could try to miss the playoffs. The team owes a pick swap to the Rockets in 2023, but the Rockets still project to miss the postseason themselves, meaning Brooklyn could get a quality selection regardless.
- Executives and coaches around the league are incensed at Durant’s request that Tsai fire team president Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash or trade their best player, per Heavy.com’s Steve Bulpett. “Livid,” one team president told Bulpett in describing their emotional reaction to the news. “He and Kyrie [Irving] basically told Sean they were coming [in 2019 free agency], and Sean did pretty much everything they wanted after that. Signing DeAndre Jordan for four years? That’s something Kyrie and KD wanted. Getting James Harden? Then getting a guy who should be a perfect complement to them [Ben Simmons] when Harden wanted out? Sean did all that… And now KD doesn’t like how it’s all worked out? There’s probably some other people he should talk to about that, maybe even a teammate.”