Kevin Durant, the top Boston Celtics offseason trade target, could be hitting the trade market again soon with Kyrie Irving’s recent trade demand throwing the Brooklyn Nets’ future plans into a tailspin.
Durant, who requested a trade last June but ultimately backed off the demand after team owner Joe Tsai stood his ground in trade negotiations with other teams and in not letting any player run his franchise, is expected to be the second domino to fall in Brooklyn’s teardown.
Heavy’s Sean Deveney revealed what one anonymous Eastern Conference executive told him about KD’s eventual departure from the Nets — and how it is imminently expected by most of the league now that Irving is dead set on bolting Brooklyn:
"“I think it is mostly just, ‘Hey, call us when the big guy wants out, OK?’ And most of us expect that is where this is all heading.”"
The Boston Celtics are not pursuing Kevin Durant
The KD-to-Boston pipedream was discontinued around these parts long ago once it became clear the Nets front office was playing hardball. Durant’s asking price was not something the Cs were even close to considering, and it didn’t appear that talks matured much between the two teams — if they even happened at all.
Brooklyn GM Sean Marks got too ambitious in trade talks, perhaps at the behest of Tsai, asking for Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum initially. Once Brad Stevens laughed Marks off the phone, the Nets reportedly had eyes on Marcus Smart instead. Nothing but a straight Durant-for-Brown + picks swap would have worked, but with another All-Star season from Brown and the league’s top record for most of the 2022-23 season, that’s seemingly off the table.
As for Durant could land, that depends on his price. Another leg injury for Durant this season could lower it to the point where teams previously thought to lack the assets could get involved.
But wherever KD plays next, it won’t have Lucky the Leprechaun as its mascot.