Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets were believed to be heading towards a parting of ways this offseason, but they are stuck with each other. Durant realized that he would almost certainly have had to hold out and make the situation uglier in order to be traded.
“I think that’s the best way to describe it: as a business relationship,” said Shams Charania of The Athletic while on the Pat McAfee Show. “Both sides looked around… and I wrote a piece yesterday that had all the offers laid out, all the interest. There was no one stepping up to the capacity that the Nets had. The Nets had a crazy asking price. They wanted an All-Star, they wanted multiple high level rotation players, they wanted all of your draft picks. And that asking price just was not met.
“The Boston Celtics put forth an offer. The Grizzlies made an offer. The Atlanta Hawks made an offer. Every team. Phoenix, Golden State… It goes on and on.
“From everything I’ve been told, the outcome of that meeting they all agreed it was everyone’s best interest to move on. No trade was happening.”
Charania also reported that Durant realized his odds of winning a title were likely better remaining with the Nets than it would with a new team that would have had to gut their roster to acquire him.
