When Kevin Durant requested a shocking trade from the Brooklyn Nets in the 2022 NBA offseason, everybody went crazy trying to figure out what was next for the 2x NBA champion and where he would go next. In the beginning, teams like the Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat were linked with the former Golden State Warriors superstar.
After that, things got calm, and other teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves and New Orleans Pelicans entered the mix, but they never made any move to try to get Durant out of Brooklyn.
In the latest stages of this saga, two contenders were mentioned as potential landing spots for KD: the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics. The fact that KD was spotted partying with Jayson Tatum and working out with James Harden only fueled these rumors, but in the end, nothing happened.
Jayson Tatum Opens Up All The Rumors About Kevin Durant To Celtics
KD is still a part of the Nets, a struggling team that has only won one game in the young 2022-23 NBA season. Months after this saga started and ended, one of the players involved in these rumors opened up about it, talking about how impactful it would have been to get Kevin Durant, for better or worse.
During a recent interview with Graham Bensinger, Jayson Tatum shared his honest opinion on the potential arrival of Kevin Durant in Boston, which was big during the summer.
“It would be good, and then it’s tough because, regardless of who you get on your team, anytime you lose a teammate, it’s tough. It’s like losing a friend, and you understand it’s the business of basketball. So anytime you have to acquire somebody, somebody has to leave,” Tatum said.
“Two things can be true at the same time. You can get better, but you don’t want to lose teammates. You don’t want to lose friends. Guys that I’ve been going to war with for five years.”
JT praised KD, whom he played with on Team USA in 2021. Many thought that was the time when Durant realized he had to go somewhere else, but nothing changed for him in the end.
“Kevin Durant’s one of the best players ever. (He’s) somebody that I went to his elite camps when I was in high school. Somebody I really looked up to, and now we’re on the same team,” Tatum said.
Even though Durant agreed to move on with the Nets after nobody matched the team’s asking price during the offseason, his desire to leave could reignite again, especially seeing how bad the team has fared so far, how Ben Simmons is performing, and the most recent controversy involving Kyrie Irving.
The Celtics were involved in controversy too, but they are trying to move forward and leave that in the past. The realities of these teams are different right now, and that could play a big role if KD decides he wants to leave again.
