At the start of the summer, during the early phases of Kevin Durant’s trade request, the Brooklyn Nets were expecting to receive premium offers from multiple teams in the league.
Instead, the Nets grew dissatisfied with every phone call and ended up outright refusing to trade the 2x Finals MVP.
Still, despite how things ended, it doesn’t mean that the Nets didn’t receive any good offers for KD. In fact, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Brooklyn could have had Jaylen Brown and Derrick White if they accepted Boston’s package — which is apparently the best they got.
“It was really just a realization that and the eye-opening experience that a deal wasn’t gonna happen. The best offer I’m told that the Nets had on the table was from the Celtics: Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and a first-round pick. The price tag that the Nets had put forth on Kevin Durant and you can say that they might have been asking for something they know was never gonna be attainable anyway. But at the end of the day when you have a guy that’s a 12x All-Star, 2x Finals MVP, you have a high asking price. That price was never gonna be met and I think both sides understood that this is the best opportunity to win a championship.”
For the Celtics, it made sense to pursue Durant. As one of the top players in the game, pairing him with Tatum would have made them the prohibitive favorites to come out of the East. So while they were willing to sacrifice Jaylen Brown in a deal, there was only so much Brad Stevens was willing to give up to get a guy he wasn’t even sure wanted to be there.
On the part of Sean Marks and the Nets, it is becoming increasingly clear that they never had any intention of trading Durant. Even with Jaylen brown and Derrick White on the table, Brooklyn continued operating like Durant was staying put — and that is exactly how it’s playing out.
