Kevin Durant trade sweepstakes heats up the summer

By Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Columnist

Happy Fourth of July to everyone, and especially to you – Kevin Durant – for you might have saved summer from turning into a snoozer.

Let’s face it, there are few days more enjoyable than the fun-filled Fourth, with all its sunburn and fireworks and probably more hot dogs than you’ll eat for the rest of the year combined.

However, in some years, the Independence Day celebrations elicit a small groan from sports lovers, given that it often marks the arrival of the sleepiest period on the calendar, depending on where your athletic loyalties lie.

Sometimes, July is the dullest time because three of the four major North American leagues are out of season, while baseball’s divisional races are yet to crank into their most competitive gear.

It is a time when the start of the new football season, oddly, actually feels further away than it did in April or May, probably because most of the key transactions are done already and news is thin as teams focus on the grind of training camp.

It is when the biggest problem isn’t so much in not having enough to watch, but a fate far more serious for those of us who live and breathe sports: That we don’t have enough to talk about.

This year, that’s not going to be a problem.

Kevin Durant request trade from Nets, sending shockwaves throughout the NBA | UNDISPUTED

Kevin Durant could be on the move after requesting a trade from the Brooklyn Nets.

Durant’s decision to request a trade from the Brooklyn Nets guarantees we’re going to be served a summer sizzler of the highest order, a plot that has all the elements required to keep the sports world chattering and postulating for the next several weeks.

It is going to be a mystery tale that will provide the juiciest of interludes, a spellbinder that can rumble on for as long as it likes for all I care. Take your time, Kevin (and Brooklyn), you have our attention.

The magical components of the KD drama are all in place. Firstly, it is a decision that almost certainly will have significant influence on the destiny of next season’s championship.

The oddsmakers are the only ones who might not like this. No summer break for those guys, who are duty-bound to react to every rumor and each twist in the narrative by adjusting their line for the 2022-23 campaign.

Players such as Durant don’t often become available in this way, and the fact his preferred destinations of Phoenix and Miami now sit atop the odds charts is no…