Kevin Durant is one of the top superstars in the game today, and he is generally considered to be a top-5 player. He is highly regarded due to his versatile scoring and his ability to create his own shot against any defender. This past season with the Brooklyn Nets, Kevin Durant averaged 29.9 PPG, 7.4 RPG, and 6.4 APG.
The biggest story of this offseason was Kevin Durant’s trade request. He eventually decided to stay with the Brooklyn Nets. Part of the reason that the Nets didn’t end up moving Kevin Durant was due to their high asking price, which no other team ended up meeting.
Shams Charania has recently shared some interesting information on this situation. Charania revealed that he’s heard “team executives” from around the league suggest that the Nets set a high asking price because they didn’t actually “want to move” Kevin Durant. (16:12)
I have heard around the league team executives say the Nets asking price may have been overly high because they really didn’t want to move him, but I do believe a team like Boston, Toronto – these teams had windows.
If Toronto was willing to give up Scottie Barnes, there was a deal to be had. These teams were just not willing and at the end of the day, both sides (Nets front office and KD) realized that. The realization was your best opportunity to win a championship is in Brooklyn.
Kevin Durant still had multiple years remaining on his deal when he requested a trade, and that is part of the reason that the Nets wanted a huge offer for him. Ultimately, the high trade value set by the team worked in their favor. Kevin Durant will return to the Nets, and they will likely be a championship contender next season.
The Eastern Conference will be tough, but the Brooklyn Nets definitely have the talent to make it to the NBA Finals. Hopefully, we see Kevin Durant lead them there, and we’ll see how they end up doing next year.
