With the futures of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant unclear, the Nets have a number of important decisions to make in the coming weeks and months. Durant requested a trade from the organization just over a month ago, while Irving reportedly hasn’t asked to be dealt since exercising his player option, but neither player is a lock to open the season in Brooklyn.
Durant and Irving — alongside DeAndre Jordan — first joined the Nets during the summer of 2019. The team has had a championship-caliber roster more than once since then, but injuries, availability and chemistry issues have hampered its chances of winning a title.
According to ESPN’s Zach Lowe (Insider-only), many figures around the league believe it’s virtually impossible to trade Durant. The 33-year-old has four years left on his contract and is a consensus top-five player in the world, making it difficult for rival teams to match Brooklyn’s high asking price. The Nets, according to Lowe, are hopeful Durant realizes this and eventually retracts his trade demand.
If the Nets find a way to trade Durant, the team would likely acquire high-level talent and a significant amount of draft capital. They would still have Irving, Seth Curry, Joe Harris, T.J. Warren, Ben Simmons, Nicolas Claxton and others, unless any of the players are included in the deal, of course.
We want to know what you think. If you were the Nets, what would you do? Would you shop around Durant and Irving with hopes of rebuilding, or would you only look to trade one player? Should Brooklyn consider moving any other players? If Durant retracts his request, are the Nets good enough to win a championship? Take to the comments section below and voice your opinions!
Fire EVERYONE,trade EVERYONE and let’s get back to winning 11 Games!
The tumors need to be removed from this Franchise!
Trade dumbrant ANYWHERE before he actually plays and experiences an injury that ruins his career and we can’t trade him!
Oh how the mighty have fallen
Nash didnt sign up for any of this s***!
He may not have, but nobody in that organization expected Nash to be such a horrible coach.
Boring answer but just full steam ahead till the next trade deadline as is constructed currently for the Nets –
Worst case- Durants not losing any value in the market and the price is so low on Irving currently they might be able to even exceed the capital next trade deadline if he plays well but the team overall is a mess .
More likely- They entrench themselves a top 6 seed if healthy and nobody moves at all next year. If Ki bonces (can still get S&T value) you trade Durants 3 years at a more meetable /still Huge package next offseason and give 2023 a run for your fans
I don’t see Durant playing multiple more years in Brk but good chance he finishes 2023 there. If Jaylen Brown just had another year or two under contract I would seriously be contemplating Bos for KD but I just don’t see the blossoming market Marks would want today
Winning NBA teams are all about “Chemistry”… these two guys are superstars with gigantic Egos, who don’t want to be Nets anymore, so give them their freedom and make the best possible trade ASAP.
Run it back and go for the title run. Bring in a big C like Howard and someone to defend the 4 off the bench. The championship team is in place
According to Vegas Lakers are top 6 title contender
Nets are far better than Lakers
I don’t buy those Lakers new free agents
Fix Westbrook?
Consensus
Durant is the top 3 player in the world
Celtics have handsome offer. Now it’s Heat and Suns turn
Third team is absolutely needed
I’d trade anything that isn’t nailed down, including KD. Top three player or not, KD doesn’t have the make up to be *the* guy on a championship team. He’s shown it. He’ll also be 34 when the season starts. And for all the venom Irving gets, Kyrie has actually only played in 5 fewer games than Durant has over the past 5 seasons.
I just don’t see a path this works.
That’s such a skewed figure on the games played. They signed him while he was recovering from his Achilles injury and knew he wasn’t going to play the entire year. Kylee didn’t get vaccinated and screwed over his team. Became emotionally distraught over issues. He took a week off for his sisters birthday. So please don’t compare their availability
It’s not that skewed. Throw 2019 out if you want, KD has only played in 15 more games in that scenario. The point is KD misses a lot of games, and yeah I understand it was the Achilles in 2019. Show me a player who has missed less time as the wear and tear piles up, though.
I’m not saying he doesn’t miss time. You were comparing KD to Kylee not KD to every NBA player over 32
Kylee has played fewer than 70 games in 8 of his 11 seasons. KD 7 and that includes his year sitting out. So yes players don’t agree well you’re correct. Kylee deserves all the venom he receives though
Would be awesome to see the Nets and Cleveland land a deal that sends Durant and Irving to Ohio and Lebron hangs out in LA.
On a serious note, I’d package them together to teams like Cleveland, Minnesota, Atlanta, Orlando, and even OKC. Target one or two players back in return of value (ex: Min. – KAT, Cleveland – Mobley, Orlando – PB) and draft picks along with a bad contract or two and then group all of those picks for Mitchell.
KAT, Simmons, Mitchell is a sweet example, with KAT and Mitchell both from the area and probably would be interested in staying. Gets rid of the current bad situation, once again competitive, and much younger in the process. Personally I’d be hard pressed not to see Minny make such a deal considering they have Gobert at C along with Russell and Edwards.
Wow! Imagine that? Imagine if Durant and Irving went to Cleveland and won a title there without LeBron? LeBron would be SO jealous!
I do not think KAT would be happy about such a trade.
Well, he’d be back home.
link to hoopsrumors.com
If I’m the Nets ownership I’m not trading either unless the package is worthwhile. The Nets are bad if KD or Kyrie don’t play but I’d be damned if I let either out of this situation without something to show for it. If Kd and/or Ktrie really don’t want to play, fine have them waste their last productive years in stubbornness.
Do the Boston trade
KD for Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Grant Williams and 2 first round picks
Then after that look at trading Kyrie Irving.
Have to build around Jaylen and Ben now and Kyrie has to go.
I’d try Kyrie for KP with Washington, apparently they’ve showed a good amount of interest in Donovan Mitchell. Kyrie makes more sense next to Bradley Beal and I wouldn’t even bother to include picks just straight swap.
Then lastly you’ll need to waive players or ship players out to get back under the 15 player max.
Plus having gone younger, it’s nice to try add another pick or two.
So I’d go Derrick White and Royce ONeale for Duncan Robinson, Nikola Jovic, a first and 2 seconds.
Heat desperately need to add a PF and Robinson deal is terrible this would be a blessing for them. White is perfect as a he can play either guard spot, ONeale is near enough a like for like replacement for Tucker and you get rid of Robinsons deal.
Thus leaving yourself with a team something like this
1. Seth Curry. Patty Mills. Sumner
2. Jaylen Brown. Joe Harris. Thomas
3. Ben Simmons. TJ Warren. Robinson
4. Grant Williams. Jovic
5. KP. Nic Claxton. Sharpe
Should be a 6th seed roughly, still a strong side and young so will improve. 3 incoming firsts and 2 seconds from the trades. Good amount of shooting for Ben to play his game however still got some good defenders. Would put themselves in a similar situation to Boston 3/4 years ago where they had Brown and Tatum and then young players and picks around them to build with.
Lol, no chance of that happening.
Only way Kyrie works for Washington is if they feel they can win a championship this year, like Masai did with the Raptors. Kyrie would most likely leave in free agency after the year is done. And besides, Brooklyn would never trade him for just Porzingis and no picks.
I would build a better front office that knows better than to repeat stupid decisions like the ones that led here.
Certainly the Nets have the roster to win the NBA this upcoming season! The challenge is to get them to play as a team.
New OG coach ??
The roster is extremely flawed. Too many no defense players, and who knows if Simmons and Harris are going to play?
just run it back.. there’s no other way kd and kyrie have to do than to prove they can bring championship to brooklyn.
I personally would try to trade KD and Kyrie and build from the start. I’m not a fan of the whole “superteam” thing, and while I wouldn’t trade them away for nothing, I would certainly trade them. Clearly this strategy isn’t working, just throwing random vets around superstars. You need to set up your roster so that it’s not a huge deal if one of your superstars goes down. The Bucks nearly beat the Celtics without Middleton. The Grizzlies had an amazing stretch without Morant. The Bucks also beat Atlanta without Giannis. NO made the playoffs without Zion. All three of those teams built up from the ground, and added pieces that not only fit around the current roster, but play to their strengths. I think the solution is just to go really young and let everyone grow together. Face the fact that no one’s gonna give up what you want for Durant. Move him for a solid package, but one that doesn’t need to be astronomical. Trade Kyrie to LA, pick up a first.
BUT.
They’ve already done things that signal they’re not going to move away from this. They traded a first for Royce O’Neale. They signed T.J. Warren. They’re waiting it out with Durant and Kyrie.
Here’s what I think eventually happens: The Nets disappoint again, they trade KD at the deadline, and Kyrie leaves in free agency in 2023. If they wait too long for the humongous package they want, it’ll be their doom.
As a Nets fan, was completely baffled when the Brown-White-draft capital offer from the Celtics for KD was rejected. Not sure they’re going to see a better offer from anywhere else. Without KD or Kyrie playing, whether they’ve been traded or they’re simply sitting out, it’s probably going to be a rough season in Brooklyn, but I am holding out hope that Ben Simmons and co stick around and keep things interesting in the east.
I don’t see a KD trade prior to the season. BKN has no reason to make a deal unless they feel the offer in front of them is significantly better than any they’re likely to receive over the next year or so. There’s no “let’s take the best offer right now, so we can move on” factor here. BKN can’t move on (they’re deep in the luxury tax, and don’t control their own draft picks for awhile). They can only help KD move on, while they alone pay the tab he and his buddies left behind. That being the case, they can at least do it on their time.
I think KD’s value is peaking right now. His age and injury history makes his contract future trouble. Take the best offer then continue to tweak the team while keeping Kyrie and Simmons. I want to trade both of them by the trade deadline hoping they’ve improved their value. I think they’re both a cancer to the team while choking when it counts.
Watch a game instead of spilling some trash you heard from someone else, to say that kyrie is a choker shows you know nothing at all ‘bout hoops!
The Nets are becoming the New York Knicks of Brooklyn…looking inept.