In Stephen A. Smith’s highly anticipated return to television, he covered all the latest news stories in the sports world, including the crisis in Brooklyn involving superstar swingman Kevin Durant.
He explained why he wouldn’t trade Durant if he were the Nets and that the current roster is enough to consider them among the favorites in the East.
(via First Take):
“I’m Joe Tsai. I’ve given you every damn thing you wanted. You could give me a championship run legitimately with all of y’all on the court together. Y’all only played about 29 games together. I mean, give me a break. I haven’t gotten a return on my investment. And then you committed last summer to a 4-year, $198 million deal that came on top of the $164 million. That’s what I paid you, and all I’ve got to show for it is one playoff victory because you wanna bounce? Not even one day on the contract and you’re asking to be traded, cause the contract kicks in now. You ain’t going no damn where. You are gonna stay your a** right here and you and Kyrie and Ben Simmons. You know what I got with that? Arguably the favorites to win the East! If I’m Joe Tsai, your ass ain’t going nowhere, you staying right here.”
"[The Nets are] arguably the favorites to win the East! … If I'm Joe Tsai, your ass ain't going nowhere, you staying right here."
—@stephenasmith is not a fan of the Nets potentially trading Kevin Durant pic.twitter.com/efL5Zbrhms
— First Take (@FirstTake) August 15, 2022
The truth is, the Nets do not have to trade Durant. He’s under contract for four more years and has little to no leverage at all in all of this.
While he can stir up as much drama and mayhem as he can, there’s no way he’s going to sit out for the remainder of his contract if the Nets just refuse to trade him.
In a way, Stephen A. Smith has the right mindset about it, and Joe Tsai should really consider just keeping KD around for a while instead of trading him when he doesn’t have to.
