Kevin Durant is somewhat unique among star players asking for a trade, as the four years remaining on his contract opens the door for almost anyone to trade for him. He doesn’t have the power to completely dictate his destination the way many others do because he can’t use free agency as a weapon against unwanted franchises. Right now, fans of all 29 teams besides the Nets are building trade packages to bring Durant to their cities … but before you get too excited, there’s a very important rule we need to cover that will somewhat limit the pool of possible suitors.
It’s called the Designated Rookie Rule, and in this case it doesn’t apply to Durant himself, but to his current teammate Ben Simmons. The designated rookie rule allows teams to sign players coming off rookie contracts to five-year extensions instead of the typical four. A team can designate up to two rookies to such contracts, but there’s a caveat: only one of them can be acquired via trade. Simmons, himself a five-year deal with Philadelphia, already occupies one of those spots. Therefore, if the Nets keep Simmons, they cannot acquire another in a Durant deal.
That takes 12 notable players off the table in a Durant trade for now:
- Luka Doncic, Mavericks
- Trae Young, Hawks
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Clippers
- De’Aaron Fox, Kings
- Donovan Mitchell, jazz
- Bam Adebayo, Heat
- Jayson Tatum, Celtics
- Karl-Anthony Towns, Timberwolves
- Devin Booker, Suns
- Jamal Murray, Nuggets
- Andrew Wiggins, Warriors
- Joel Embiid, 76ers
Some of those players weren’t likely to be traded for Durant anyway. Others could easily be. It’s equally important to note that two players have virtually identical contracts to the other 12, but aren’t technically designated rookies. The first is Brandon Ingram. While he did sign a five-year extension with the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2020 offseason, he did so as a restricted free agent with the Bird Rights. This does not trigger the designated rookie rule, so Ingram can be traded to the Nets. Pascal Siakam has a slightly different max contract governed by the Derrick Rose rule. That allowed him to make more than 25 percent of the salary cap in the first season of his contract, for which he qualified as a current All-NBA player at the time. However, the designated rookie rule only applies to five-year contracts. Siakam’s contract only lasts four. That makes him tradeable to the Nets as well.
If this all sounds familiar, well, it should. This isn’t the first time the designated-rookie rule has stood in the way of a blockbuster trade. In 2019, the Boston Celtics wanted to trade Anthony Davis, but couldn’t because both he and Kyrie Irving were on rookie-designated extensions. Davis eventually went to the Lakers. Irving left Boston for Brooklyn and another one of his teams is dealing with this problem.
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There is a workaround here, but it will make life significantly more difficult for networks. One option would be to simply trade Simmons to another team. There would be plenty of suitors among the teams that tried to get away from Philadelphia but failed because they lacked the winning assets that Philly was looking for. Minnesota comes to mind if the Nets want to go that route.
Or, if they prefer, they could trade a player from that roster to a third team for assets they can legally acquire in addition to Simmons. Most of these players are so good that they could bring significant returns from a third team, and with many still having several years left on their contracts, they can be traded almost anywhere.
After all, Durant is such a valuable trade chip that teams will move Heaven and Earth to get him. If that means finding a third party to facilitate the deal, so be it. But for now, it will make life a little more difficult for Brooklyn as he tries to find a new home for the 2014 MVP.
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