As one of the best players in basketball, Kevin Durant is sure to command an extremely high return for the Brooklyn Nets this summer. After a year of turmoil and strife, Durant made an official trade request last week, and it has been complete chaos and mayhem ever since.
For the Nets front office, their primary goal is to find the best possible deal for Durant and set themselves up for prosperity in the years to come. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Brooklyn is still actively gauging the market for KD as they get a sense on what kind of haul they can secure in a deal.
(via Real GM):
The Brooklyn Nets are taking their time in letting the trade market for Kevin Durant to materialize and appear to be operating without a timetable to get a deal done as they want other teams to approach them with the type of trade they’re looking for.
“I think the Nets are trying to create an outline for the rest of the league about the kind of package they would want back in a Kevin Durant trade,” said Adrian Wojnarowski.
“I think the Rudy Gobert trade to Minnesota started to frame that,” added Wojnarowski.
Durant still has several years left on his deal, which gives the Nets all the leverage in this scenario. If they are patient and wait for the perfect opportunity, they could come out as winners in this whole ordeal. Either way, there is no pressure for them to rush a decision one way or another.
“The market is still taking shape,” said Wojnarowski. “I think it’s incumbent on some of the other teams to be creative and start bringing to Brooklyn ideas, going out to see if they can players, picks that would put the kind of package together to get Kevin Durant. Brooklyn has time on its side. There’s a lot of time left in the offseason. They don’t have to rush into a deal.”
There is nothing stopping the Nets from keeping its core and letting things play out for another season. While Irving only has one year left on his deal, Durant and Ben Simmons are locked in for a while.
Nevertheless, the franchise will explore every option this summer as they consider what kind of impact blowing up the roster will have on the future of the team.
