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The Nets have continued to entertain offers for 12-time All-NBA wing Kevin Durant after he formally requested a trade from the team in early July.
Multiple teams have inquired about the Nets star, but a few teams have been viewed as serious contenders. So far, that list includes the Raptors, Heat, Suns and most recently, the Celtics.
But could Durant withdraw his trade request and stick it out with the Nets? That’s a scenario that the Brooklyn front office is still hoping for, according to a report from ESPN’s Zach Lowe.
“Even before the Minnesota Timberwolves warped the trade market by flipping five draft assets for Rudy Gobert, several smart people around the league termed the very act of trading Durant ‘impossible’ in conversations with ESPN. There was no way to approximate fair trade value. A player of Durant’s caliber with so many years locked in had never before become available.
“The Nets are probably waiting for Durant’s camp to realize that, and maybe for Durant to retract his trade request. The Nets have not given up on this scenario, sources say,” Lowe wrote in a recent piece for ESPN.
Interest from the Celtics, which was reported early last week from Adrian Wojnarowski, indicated that Boston was dangling Jaylen Brown as the centerpiece of a trade package for Durant. Brown will be 26 in October, and can hit unrestricted free agency in two years. Durant, meanwhile, is 33 and has four years remaining on his contract with the Nets.
If Boston believes that Brown will leave the franchise in free agency, the team could become more aggressive in trade offers for Durant, especially if there’s confidence internally in how he will age into his mid-to-late 30s.
For now though, the Nets will continue to wait and see how Durant’s market develops as the offseason continues, while holding out hope that he will ultimately want to remain with the franchise.
