The NBA offseason is in full swing right now and we’re hearing a lot of rumors every day, but not many moves taking place around the association recently. After Kevin Durant requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets, things completely changed for a lot of people around the league.
A lot of experts predicted that Durant would demand the highest return in NBA history to get traded, which could be true, as he’s still with the Brooklyn Nets one month after his trade request.
In the meantime, players like Rudy Gobert and Dejounte Murray were traded while getting their old teams a huge package in return. This only added fuel to the Durant rumors claiming that the 2x NBA champion would demand a huge package for the Nets.
According to Fred Katz of The Athletic (via NBC Sports Edge), this situation has stopped all the potential moves in the league and could collapse the market given the huge asking price some teams have determined for their stars.
Katz described the current state of the NBA trade market as “Mozgovification,” a cheeky reference to the four-year, $64 million deal that backup center Timofey Mozgov received from the Lakers in the 2016 offseason. Mozgov’s ridiculous deal set the market for other marginal big men to get paid, creating a baseline. Dejounte Murray’s trade to the Hawks sent two unprotected first-rounders to San Antonio, and Rudy Gobert’s trade to Minnesota sent three such picks to the Jazz. The trade equity commanded by those players means that any asking price for Donovan Mitchell or Kevin Durant will be exorbitant to the point that teams will not even consider it. For now, it seems unlikely either Mitchell or Durant are moved unless the Jazz and Nets lower their demands, which have been comical at best, based on recent reports.
Things quickly got out of control once free agency started. At least some franchises made the right moves before this happened and now are set to compete for a spot in the Finals next season. Meanwhile, Durant and the Nets keep trying to find a solution to this issue, while the Jazz are actively trying to move Mitchell away.
This offseason is setting some bad precedents in the league, and until things don’t go back to normal, we could see every potential big move, like a Russell Westbrook or Kyrie Irving trade, delayed.
