The Brooklyn Nets say they are ready to go to training camp with Kevin Durant. But they don’t want that. It will be a mess. It will be James Harden in Houston and then Brooklyn, all over again. Ben Simmons in Philly. Paul George in Indiana. Anthony Davis in New Orleans. Kawhi Leonard in San Antonio. Kyrie Irving in Cleveland. When a player asks for a date in today’s era, they have an almost 100 percent success rate in getting theirs, and usually pretty quickly.
The reason, of course, the Nets say they’re willing to drag this out as long as it takes is because they’re trying to generate at least some leverage as they guide the league toward what should be a historic return for Durant, who, given his still-prime talent and contract status (which trading for Durant would theoretically keep him at guard for the next four seasons) is perhaps the most attractive trade bait to ever hit the NBA waters.
Really, no one is getting Durant for anything less than a huge package. But there are degrees of massiveness, and it seems that networks, as they should at this early point in the process, are asking about the world. Consider this bit of insight from Yahoo’s Vincent Goodwill, who recently appeared on Chris Haynes’ “Posted Up” podcast, regarding an offer made by Brooklyn to the Minnesota Timberwolves:
“I heard Brooklyn came to Minnesota and said we want Karl-Anthony Towns, we want Ant-Man (Anthony Edwards) and we want four draft picks.”
From John Krawczynski of The Athletic:
The Wolves also made several calls to Brooklyn about Kevin Durant, sources said, but the Nets wanted established All-Stars and a mountain of picks. Minnesota was unwilling to part with either Edwards or Towns in a deal aimed at KD, so there was no traction.
The Wolves apparently inquired about Durant before deciding to send four future first-round picks (three unprotected) and another potential trade pick, along with the No. 22 overall pick in 2022. Kessler, plus Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Leandro Bolmaro and Jared Vanderbilt, to the Utah Jazz for Rudy Gober. Many argue that this is a ridiculous package to give up for Gobert. I’ll tell you this: the package the Nets wanted for Durant would have been a hundred times more ridiculous.
Yes, Durant is Durant. But the guy is entering his 16th season. You never know when the downturn will start, but rest assured that it will. The Wolves would have absolutely zero future after Durant. Edwards, gone. The cities are gone. All first round draft picks are gone for the foreseeable future. And even for the years Minnesota would have Durant, what chance would Durant have of competing, in an absolutely loaded Western Conference to boot, with D’Angelo Russell as his best teammate? Zero.
So yes, the Nets will be shooting for the stars with this Durant deal. And they will most likely land on the moon. But if this rumor out of Minnesota is any indication of their expectations at this point, they’ll have to let go of that pipe dream.
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