After reasserting his desire to be dealt away from the Nets in a meeting with principle owner Joe Tsai last weekend, All-Star forward Kevin Durant would consider holding out of Brooklyn’s training camp in September if he’s still on the roster, a source tells Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News.
Winfield reports that, among the Nets’ potential trade partners, the Pelicans remain interested in Durant. Winfield suggests that New Orleans could put together a “compelling” package that includes 2020 All-Star forward Brandon Ingram, still just 24, along with intriguing young role players like Herbert Jones and Jose Alvarado, plus significant draft equity.
Here’s the latest Durant chatter:
- After looking like surefire title contenders thanks to their 2021-era core of Durant, All-Star guard James Harden, and Kyrie Irving, the Nets have fallen back to earth. The New York Post’s Ian O’Connor writes that the franchise has devolved back into the kind of laughingstock it often was when still based in New Jersey. The team appears to be in total disarray following Durant’s reiterated trade request.
- John Hollinger of The Athletic opines that the Nets still have a negotiating edge over Durant. Hollinger credits that to the fact that the 33-year-old’s four-year, maximum-salary extension is just beginning, and his advanced NBA age diminishes his trade value to some extent. Hollinger writes that, should Durant opt to not play for the start of the season, the Nets could try to miss the playoffs. The team owes a pick swap to the Rockets in 2023, but the Rockets still project to miss the postseason themselves, meaning Brooklyn could get a quality selection regardless.
- Executives and coaches around the league are incensed at Durant’s request that Tsai either trade him or fire team president Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash, per Heavy.com’s Steve Bulpett. “Livid,” one team president told Bulpett in describing their emotional reaction to the news. “He and Kyrie basically told Sean they were coming [in 2019 free agency], and Sean did pretty much everything they wanted after that. Signing DeAndre Jordan for four years? That’s something Kyrie and KD wanted. Getting James Harden? Then getting a guy who should be a perfect complement to them [Ben Simmons] when Harden wanted out? Sean did all that… And now KD doesn’t like how it’s all worked out? There’s probably some other people he should talk to about that, maybe even a teammate.”
“There’s probably some other people he should talk to about that, maybe even a teammate.”
I suggest Durant talking with a shrink lol
Its good to see that finally some people are realizing what most OKC fans have known since 2016.
Dude is massive soft cupcake. Won rings cause he went to the best team. Can’t believe people still defend him after this latest tantrum.
Let the baby sit out and waste a year of his career.
Nets were a pretty solid team back in the Jersey years. Idk what that writer is talking about. I’m from jersey and we all loved that team. Especially the Kidd and Carter years. If anything it’s the move to New York that has made them worse.
I would take that deal from New Orleans. Get them to throw in a couple of picks and then run for the exit. Durant and Irving are giant children and now their value will drop. Not many front offices will want to give up a ton of assets to deal with this constant drama.
lol idk how they wouldnt take Bostons offer but would accept the Pelicans one. Brown>Ingram.
Nets are clueless. should have taken boston offer if the offer was real
I don’t know man. I actually like Ingram better than Brown…
If I am the GM and I am offered Brown, Ingram or one of either Toronto or Heats young stars and some pics, I am taking it and adding it with Simmons! That’s a strong base to build from! Don’t get to greedy! Durant is only going to be great for a couple more years and then he will be old and way overpriced! While you still have two rising stars to build on! You overpaid for Harden! It is what it is! That doesn’t mean teams are going to do the same for you!
Don’t come to work, don’t get paid. When he comes crawling back, tell him he has to apologize to every teammate before he can rejoin the team. The fans will support a team that stops the inmates from running the asylum.
It’s not “work”. These guys are the best at what they do, in the world. You are not. Stop comparing your factory jobs to these NBA players. You are not the same.
@Theone
Of course it’s work. It’s their profession.
Nice burner account KD…
Yeah it’s not like a mythical US factory job, no. It is more like being a movie star – short limelight, generally short career trajectory, and if you get a reputation as ‘difficult’ it can be hard to get work after a while.
A contract is a contract. He signed it, he needs to honor it or get sued. Honestly I think teams should sue for damages when stars refuse to report, it damages the value of their product and cheats the fans (some of whom do honest work for far less pay than this crybaby, and put out some of their hard earned money for season tickets based on the assumption that the stats are going to play).
At this point why would anyone want Durant on their team? All he does is complain. If I am Nash I would call out both Irving and Durant and say they are not strong enough to be on the team. Time for Nash to get tough.
Well…pretty much like the other 29 teams, I wouldn’t mind having him on my team.
For real. Nash needs to come out swinging.
Don’t come to work, don’t get paid. When he comes crawling back, tell him he has to apologize to every teammate, including office workers, before he can rejoin the team. The fans will support a team that stops the inmates from running the asylum.
Durant has ruined whatever legacy he had. Him and Lebron picking All Star teams has made this league a joke.
@Spike
Dude stop that nonsense. I guarantee you that every team he’s been on appreciated him assisting with the player acquisitions. He’s not the owner nor the GM. That means that whatever player he suggested or assisted with was done with the ok of the powers that be. Just because Westbrook was a flop doesn’t negate the fact that he brought a chip, under the bubble or not, to the Lakers largely because of AD. I guarantee you, no one in Miami nor Cleveland resent him for the chips he brought them. As for Durant, he left OKC when his contract was up. The GSW leaders (Curry, Klay, Dray and Iggy) came to HIM to recruit him to join the team. Yes, it was a weak move but then it was also a weak move for a 73 team win team to get smacked in the Finals and then beg another MVP to join them because they knew they needed more to beat a healthy Cavs. If I’m wrong then why’d they need him? Why send a contingency to recruit Durant? And the Nets didn’t have a single allstar player even he and Kyrie decided to sign there. They had solid players but no allstars up to that point. Durant is no leader and I hate the way he’s behaving but I disagree with the narrative some of you put out there or readily accept.
LeBron has never quit on a team and has always honored his contract. They are not the same.
As much as I dislike LeBron because he’s such a b, I have to admit that he definitely hasn’t quit on his teams, unlike Durant and a couple of his current/former teammates…
Lebron has generally been a good citizen and helped his community greatly – its one of the reasons he wanted to go to LA, to get mentorship from Magic. Please do not put Lebron (who certainly has his faults) in the same category as KD, Irving, and Simmons. They are all BAD TEAM MATES; no one would ever accuse Lebron of that. Last time he pouted like that was the end of his first Finals – then he grew up.
Athletes think they are larger than life. Sign a one year contract every year if they are so confident. You’ll still get the money and have the flexibility to go where you want when you want!
Tsai should have cupcakes delivered to KD everyday from now until he eventually gets shipped out. You know that would legitimately get under his skin.
Let Kyrie player coach and be mic’d up. It would be a ratings hit at the least
Pelicans, don’t do it! Build with your current roster. Don’t obliterate your long term future for a high maitenance, moody, and aging primadonna. The constant turnover has always negatively plagued the Pels.
As I said in previous threads … opposing GMs, even more than winning, enjoy earning their own paycheck.
Durant may have gone scorched earth in Brooklyn by making the ultimatum but I’m not sure that makes his exit any easier
I dont get why people would have a problem with trying to get Nash fired when he was only hired b/c of the owner and Kyrie, and has been God awful the entire time.
I still think his problem is with Nash, and not Mark’s, despite the Jarrett Allen trade
New Orleans does have a strong deal they can offer, as I said at the beginning, but they would need a 3rd team b/c of Ingram/Simmons
I dont believe the idea he wont show up for a single second. That goes entirely against what Kevin Durant has presented himself as his entire career, especially over the last year or so, where its evident he just wants to play basketball
It was Durant that pushed for Nash, not Kyrie
Kyrie is his godson or something, isnt he? I remember it being Kyrie that wanted Nash, and KD only being on board with it b/c he was a consultant in GS. It was also the owner that specifically wanted him, and I remember that being reported multiple times, and possibly even him saying it himself
I think Durant keeps getting lumped into Kyrie stuff b/c he made the poor decision to attach himself to him, and is trying to stick by his friend in public, even though personally it seems as though he is struggling with that situation, and just wants to be away from all the bs and just play basketball
I read an article where Kyrie said he really only knew Nash thru passing whereas KD said he knew him since the Olympics, as a consultant with the GSW and that they had a good repore.
From Bleecher Report:
“My personal sense is that Nets owner Joe Tsai is far too impulsive and unpredictable to read in terms of how he’ll react to a lopsided first-round ouster. Nash landed the Nets’ job with no prior coaching experience largely because he had the backing of Kevin Durant as well as the gravitas to manage a team built around the mercurial Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Sporting News:
The NBA world was rocked Thursday when the Nets announced they hired the Hall of Famer as their new head coach, inking him to a four-year deal that keeps him in Brooklyn, coincidentally, through the end of Durant’s Nets deal.
It seems like a big risk to hire an unknown coaching commodity to head up a roster with championship aspirations, but that risk might be mitigated given Nash’s relationship with Durant. The Nash-Durant relationship goes back years, with both stars sharing mutual respect for one another, dating to before Durant’s time with the Warriors.
There are very, very few questions surrounding Nash’s basketball IQ and acumen, but how that all translates to coaching is completely unknown. But one thing that is known is the solid connection between KD and Captain Canada.
If he just wants to play basketball, he should offer to tear up his contract, return the year’s pay he got while injured, and then go play for some team on the vet min, since that is all that is available under the cap at this point in the year.
When will owners and GM’s learn that signing cancers kills franchises
@tuck
I don’t think anyone viewed KD as a cancer before this recent stuff. He might have been thin skinned but not cancerous.
Wait, Ben Simmons still plays basketball?
#FreeKD
Free KD?? From his contract he willingly signed??
In real business, he’d be in litigation in court for breach of contract already
He sucks now, Tatum and C’s shut his ass down and swept him and his jokers with an old splintery broom.
KD is on the same trajectory as Russ now
He’s done
I agree about the business angle, hope Tsai has some good attorneys. And I hate that KD is such a jerk that he B is making me side with owners.
Trade Ben to some franchise that won’t be able to attract any legit FAs. Orlando, Detroit, Charlotte, Indy, Sacramento, etc.. then focus on the Kyrie and KD trades.