The Spurs received three first-round picks for Dejounte Murray, and the Jazz topped that by essentially returning five for Rudy Gobert — setting the bar for Kevin Durant. The Nets hold Elon Musk-level wealth in exchange for their star, who asked for a trade and they could get it.
No, make them get it. Bringing the King back for a Durant ransom would be general manager Sean Marks’ only chance to salvage what is a disastrous situation, to turn this into a rebuild in motion rather than a long, painful rebuild.
This situation essentially froze much of the league, including the Nets, when it came to deciding what to do with Kyrie Irving. It remains to be seen where the Nets will send Durant and how much they will get for him. The Jazz bear looking for the answer, both as a template for the picks the Nets could get and as a potential three-way trade partner.
The Nets are believed to be looking for a young All-Star as the centerpiece of the deal, as well as multiple picks. ESPN reported that not only did more than half the teams in the league named Marks have offers, but some even circled back to increase their offers before even receiving a counteroffer. This is an unusual circumstance, but the whole situation is an unusual circumstance.
Kevin DurantAP
Players of Durant’s type don’t usually become available. Durant asked to leave Brooklyn not only because of the Irving melodrama, but also because he didn’t see enough infrastructure and leadership in the franchise, Yahoo’s Chris Haynes reported on NBATV. But wanting to go out and going where he wants are two different things.
Durant has four years remaining on his contract and shockingly does not have a player option or no-trade clause. That has already reduced his impact on landing spots, and the volume of offers the Nets are receiving will reduce it even more. They will likely decide on one of those offers before deciding where to trade Irving and his expiring contract.
While the Nets will obviously work with Durant and business partner Rich Kleiman in finding a suitable destination, Marks has proven unsentimental and will ultimately accept the offer that works best for the organization.
The simplest and cleanest moves could be in New Orleans (based around Brandon Ingram and picks) or Toronto (based around Rookie of the Year Scotty Barnes and picks). Raptors boss Masai Ujiri replaced Kawhi Leonard in 2018 and won a title the following season. What would Durant give for four years?
There are clear issues with Durant’s preferred teams, the Suns and Heat, which could force an expansion trade to include one or two other teams. This is no stranger to Marks, who inked an NBA-record mega-deal with five teams.
Shawn Marks Charles Wentzelberg / New York Post
The Nets can’t get the Heat’s best piece, center Bam Adebayo, back. The collective bargaining agreement won’t allow them to trade for a player with a designated rookie extension like Adebayo because they already have Ben Simmons on such a deal. (Remember this quirk in the CBA. It will come up again. And again.)
And Durant reportedly only wants to play for Miami if he’s with Adebayo, Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry, according to The Athletic.
The Nets can’t get Devin Booker back from the Suns and aren’t believed to be enamored of acquiring Phoenix’s restricted free agent center Deandre Ayton in a sign-and-trade. But Arizona Sports 98.7 FM reported that Utah is exploring a trade for Ayton to replace Gobert. Phoenix could then redirect the incoming picks, along with their own and forwards Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson.
But the Jazz could be relevant in another way because of superstar guard Donovan Mitchell.
After Utah released Mitchell’s lifelong friend Eric Pascal, the Nets traded his friend Royce O’Neal and the Jazz traded Gobert, signaling that they were rebuilding. That could lead to Mitchell asking for a trade. If that happens, it could tempt the Nets to move away from Simmons to make any three-way deal possible for Mitchell.
At best, there is a tepid market for Irving. And since any Durant deal is likely to be more complicated and certainly more important, the Nets intend to address that first before sending Irving to the Lakers or anywhere else.
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