The Brooklyn Nets franchise star Kevin Durant asked for a trade on Thursday. The Nets general manager Sean Marks is working with Durant and his business manager on a trade.
Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks is working with Kevin Durant and his business manager Rich Kleiman on finding a trade for the franchise star, Kleiman tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2022
Two of Durant’s top preferred destinations are the Phoenix Suns and the Miami Heat. While the Nets are honoring Durant’s request they are also looking for the team that gives them the best assets in return. Durant signed a four year extension last year any team that gets him will have him until 2026.
It is rare to see a top talent like Durant moved in a deal and that is why half the league called the Nets when the news broke. This is one of the reasons the Nets will only do a deal with a team that can give them a historic return.
The Nets went through one of the most difficult seasons any team has ever faced. Last week Kyrie Irving had a list of teams that he wanted to be traded to since him and the Nets could not get an agreement. The Lakers were the only team interested in him. Monday Irving opted into a $37 million deal after there was no sign and trade for him from the Lakers. The Nets were not interested in any package deal.
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving had no contact with the franchise after Irving opted into his deal on Monday, and a sense of inevitability existed that Durant would eventually ask for a trade, sources tell ESPN. It happened today.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2022
Three years ago around this time Irving and Durant both announced they were coming to Brooklyn making them immediate title favorites. They only played 58 games together. The Nets were 44-38 this past season and were the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. They beat the Cavaliers in the play-in tournament but got swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round. The only team to not win a game in the playoffs this year. Before Durant’s MCL injury he was on pace for an MVP season. He averaged 29.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists.
Irving played a huge role in getting Durant to play for the Nets and now they are breaking up. Nets fans all around are not happy and Stephen A. Smith had this to say about Irving:
I feel that Kyrie Irving ruined the franchise. pic.twitter.com/0aYmwrfBBB
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) June 30, 2022