The Boston Celtics are reportedly in the mix to trade for Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant, according to multiple reports from widely trusted sources. As fans of the team awake to the news that dropped late on a Sunday night, the bombshell report is quite a lot for fans to take in, and for good reason.
Dealing for KD would entail — in fact DOES entail — trading large parts of a team’s core that came within two games of winning the 2022 NBA title. That includes an offer that has been reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charania to include forward Jaylen Brown, a beloved player to fans. It will likely also include much if not all of the team’s moveable draft assets for a player who may be past their prime, and one who has not had the best injury luck in recent seasons.
But Durant may still be the most potent offensive weapon in the league despite the dings and encroachments of Father Time. What should we think about this news so violently disrupting the so-called doldrums of summer?
The devil is in the details
What is most important to such an offer to the Nets may well be what we do NOT know about the situation.
While speculation from local sports radio that Brown may want his own team and to be free from the shadow of his friend and teammate Jayson Tatum may be just that, it doesn’t mean it’s not accurate, either.
If the team had a reasonable assumption that the Georgia native was a flight risk at the end of his current contract the season after this upcoming one, there is no better moment to move him than now.
Brown’s value will only decrease with the leverage Boston has at present, which is to say rapidly as the clock ticks on him becoming a rental.
At least for now, if Brown did want out (and to be clear, he may not), the Nets can’t hold the Celtics over a barrel with plenty of time to extract value with a trade elsewhere.
And while some may assume reasonably that the deal would be a massive one, on the off chance Durant’s value has dipped enough that it would not take the bulk of Boston’s draft assets on top of the players being offered given the caliber of player Brown is, that could bring us to our next point.
If the price is right for Boston, the temptation is not small
If the deal for Durant were primarily focused on Derrick White and Brown with draft assets perhaps something closer to two first-round picks and a…
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