The Brooklyn Nets have already made a splash days before Thursday’s NBA trade deadline. Trading away a disgruntled Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday was the beginning of more expected moves from the front office to reshape the team’s future.
The future of Nets All-Star forward Kevin Durant continues to be a hot topic since his trade demand last offseason. General manager Sean Marks and his staff were able to put a band-aid on the situation for this season but no guarantees following the end of his contract. The plan to keep Durant in Brooklyn will rely on financial flexibility and assets, all things other teams can provide in deals that, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, are discouraged.
Windhorst’s latest episode of his The Hoop Collective podcast reveals that teams are trying to avoid helping the Nets keep Durant.
“The Nets, I’m not sure teams really want to do business with them right now. Because there’s at least some teams that are interested in seeing if they can get Durant. And why would I help the Nets do something to build around Durant when I’m just going to hold my assets for Durant?
…. There may be other teams that are not even interested in doing business with the Nets right now that might also hold assets at this deadline, with the mind towards Durant, not that Durant would be available by Thursday, but the Durant will be available again in the summer.”
Durant was selected for this year’s all-star game but has been out of action for a month due to a knee injury. Durant has three years remaining on his contract, but there are more rumors swirling that he could potentially be on the move, according to Windhorst.
“Now that Kyrie has been traded, maybe the Nets’ position on not trading Durant as it really was kind of last summer may change,” Windhorst said. “That is an interesting development that has happened over the last 48 hours since the Kyrie trade from people that I’ve talked to.”
The Nets return to action on Thursday night against the Chicago Bulls following the 3 p.m. ET trade deadline.
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