The Nets’ roster additions this offseason suggest they are still trying to compete for a championship. The dark cloud hovering over the franchise in light of Kevin Durant’s trade request, on the other hand, would suggest otherwise.
The truth, as incumbent head coach Steve Nash likes to say, is somewhere in the middle: Durant’s trade request has created a bit of an awkward situation in Brooklyn, but the Nets appear – at least on the surface – willing to take this stalemate further into the offseason, and quite possibly into training camp, if they aren’t blown away by a deal far superseding the haul the Utah Jazz got in the Rudy Gobert megadeal with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The reality is Durant has four years remaining on his contract and is one of the best basketball players ever to set foot on an NBA court. The Nets aren’t going to be rushed into selling low. And if Phoenix’s best offer — without Devin Booker, that is — is Deandre Ayton, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and six or seven years worth of combined picks and pick swaps and isn’t enough, it’s unclear what within reason another team can offer that would make the Nets’ front office comfortable agreeing to a trade.
