It's never too early for offseason trade rumors! The latest one has been revolving around Kevin Durant, and the Boston Celtics have been mentioned among his supposedly many suitors. Durant's time with the Houston Rockets has not been much better than his time with the Phoenix Suns. The bottom line from that is that the Celtics could have faced a situation like this, but luckily passed.
Shortly after the Celtics made the 2022 NBA Finals, ESPN's Shams Charania revealed that Boston had supposedly offered Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and a first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for Durant, but the Nets turned them down.
With everything that's happened since, thank goodness that deal never happened. That's not a shot at Durant. It's more about how horribly things have gone since this supposed trade proposal went down
Durant's last three teams have been disastrous, given how high the expectations were. The Nets self-destructed the following season (thanks in part to old friend Kyrie Irving's rather odd antics), then the Phoenix Suns suffered from being too top-heavy for two years, and now the Rockets are one game away from first-round elimination.
The commonality among all of these problems is that, while Durant did his thing, his teams simply lacked the depth to compete with teams that had the same aspirations he did. That's because trading for him required multiple depth pieces to be paid decent money, who had to be sent back just to get their hands on him.
If the Celtics had traded both Brown and White, Durant would have maybe raised their ceiling, but their floor would have been drastically lowered. That's the risk of acquiring someone who is paid as much as he is. Sure, Durant may have been better than both Brown and White circa 2022, but the amount of ground they cover being lost may not have made a Durant trade worth it.
If the Celtics can pay substantially less, Durant would be worth it
Durant may or may not hit the market again this summer, depending on how the Rockets feel about how this season went. If Boston can get him without trading their three best players - Brown, White, and Jayson Tatum - then it would be worth it for self-explanatory reasons.
It could work, but the process would be quite complicated, as it would require utilizing the Anfernee Simons TPE along with other contracts on the roster (which they would have to wait two months for the contracts they acquire with said TPE to aggregate together) and that's counting on the Rockets not getting better upfront offers.
But Durant is paid as much as he is for a reason. With how disastrous things have gone for his teams since pretty much the moment he left Golden State, his value might not be any lower.
Acquiring a fantastic player with his value at his lowest? Sounds like Brad Stevens' MO...
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