Many feel the Boston Celtics were better off sticking with their current core and not compromising it to acquire Kevin Durant in a trade, but there are also some who feel KD is better off sticking with the Nets than he would have been had the Cs budged on Brooklyn’s trade demands.
One very notable NBA name that holds the latter opinion is Durant’s former co-star with the Golden State Warriors, Steph Curry. Together, Curry and KD won two NBA titles and three Western Conference championships.
Needless to say, the 8x NBA All-Star, 2x NBA regular season MVP, 4x All-NBA First Teamer, and 2022 Finals MVP likely knows what is best for the player that elevated the Warriors far beyond LeBron James’ Cavaliers and the James Harden-Chris Paul-led Houston Rockets during their time as teammates.
Curry, in an exclusive interview with Matt Sullivan of Rolling Stone, implied that the Nets as currently constructed are better-suited to win than the Boston Celtics would have been had the Cs gutted their roster to land the soon-to-be-34-year-old:
"“They have a little bit of everything but they would have to deal with the organizational transition to get rid of Jaylen. He’s such a pivotal piece…If they would have done that…”"
The Boston Celtics could have built a better core than what Brooklyn has now post-KD trade
Since Kevin Durant was never traded, we have no idea what the price would have been to acquire the 12x All-Star, but we have a somewhat clear picture of what Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens would have given up.
Jaylen Brown, of course, would have been the primary return piece for Brooklyn and it appears as though Derrick White and draft picks–and possibly Payton Pritchard and/or Grant Williams–would have completed the trade offer.
That meant KD’s teammates would have included Marcus Smart, Malcolm Brogdon, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, Robert Williams, possibly Payton Pritchard and/or Grant Williams, and Sam Hauser at the very least.
Given that the C’s starting five last season was far and away the best, replacing Brown with Durant doesn’t feel like something that would cause a drop-off. Durant’s availability has been spotty since his Achilles injury, but even still, Brogdon is a fine starting five fill-in on occasion.
While the second unit would have likely been a bigger problem, it’s possible veterans would have jumped at the chance to sign up for the Finals runner-up after acquiring perhaps the sport’s most lethal one-on-one scorers. They certainly did in 2016 when KD was last part of that exact scenario.
As for the Nets, while their roster is deep, their second and third best players (Kyrie Irving, Ben Simmons) have been proven headaches the past several years. As deep as Brooklyn is, their key pieces are chaotic. Boston’s organizational stability makes them preferable even without Jaylen Brown.