Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
We finish with Durant, the best player the NBA trade block has seen in quite some time.
All indications at the moment are that this situation between Durant and the Nets might drag out quite a bit, as Brooklyn will look to avoid rushing into a deal. Wojnarowski stated as much recently:
Adrian Wojnarowski on Kevin Durant’s potential trade: “The market is still taking shape, and I think it’s incumbent on some of the other teams to be creative and start bringing to Brooklyn ideas, going out and seeing if they can get players, picks that would put the kind of package it would take to get Kevin Durant. Brooklyn’s got time on its side. They have a lot of time left in the offseason and they have a player in KD who has four years left on his contract. They don’t have to rush into a deal.”
The juiciest recent bit of info we got on the Durant front came from Marc Spears, who wrote that the Golden State Warriors, Durant’s former team(!), are interested in a potential reunion:
Kevin Durant’s quest to find a new home as he waits for a trade from the Brooklyn Nets could take him to a place he knows very well. Appearing on ESPN Radio, Marc J. Spears of Andscape called the Golden State Warriors a team to “keep an eye on” for Durant. Spears later took to Twitter to give more context to his report. Spears noted the Warriors “could” potentially offer the best package for both sides, with a deal involving Jordan Poole, Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga and James Wiseman.
Now that would be the blockbuster of blockbusters, especially considering the inclusion of Andrew Wiggins, who performed so well and admirably on both ends of the floor during Golden State’s latest title run, as well as former No. 2 pick, James Wiseman.
Marcus Thompson reported afterward that a deal between the Nets and Warriors for Durant remains highly unlikely, but still, it’s fun to dream of the possibility.
(The lambasting Durant would get online from fans, talking heads and former players in the media if he rejoins his old team right after they won a title without him would rival the vitriol LeBron James got for joining the Heat back in 2010. It would probably be worse.)
Besides the Warriors, the Toronto Raptors have also been talked about a lot as a potential landing spot for Durant, though the inclusion of reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes appears to be a sticking point, per the New York Post:
League executives who spoke with The Post said Toronto was not only well-positioned, but confident of being able to put together the best package. The Raptors have balked at the notion of putting Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes in any deal, although those same executives opined that could be a negotiating ploy by savvy Masai Ujiri, who has a history of pulling off huge trades.
Although it seems as if Durant is staying put for a while as the Nets sort through huge trade offers, these types of things can materialize out of nowhere, so don’t be surprised if the former league MVP is dealt when you least expect it.
For the latest Kevin Durant rumors, click here.
