The Raptors are a logical trade partner for the Nets in a potential Kevin Durant blockbuster due to their assets and attractive trade pieces. However, Toronto is unwilling to part with forward Scottie Barnes after his stellar rookie campaign and Brooklyn has insisted Barnes be part of the package, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on the “Get Up” morning show (video link).
“Toronto doesn’t want to part with Scottie Barnes. That’s their stance,” he said. “Brooklyn, right now, wouldn’t consider a deal (with the Raptors) without Scottie Barnes.”
Barnes averaged 15.3 PPG, 7.5 RPG and 3.5 APG as a rookie while flashing All-Star potential.
We have more on the Nets’ efforts to trade Durant and Kyrie Irving:
- Durant and Irving know that neither will be dealt any time soon and have accepted that reality, according to Adam Zagoria of NJ.com. Quoting a source, Zagoria writes that the duo “know behind the scenes that it’s difficult, that it’s unlikely to happen” due to the Nets’ high asking price for each player. The source added that the duo “plotted” their exit and “realized very quickly” that a quick resolution wasn’t in the cards.
- Durant requested a trade before his four-year extension kicked in. That’s one of the reasons why the market for his services has been lukewarm at best, Marc Stein writes in a Substack article. Clubs interested in Durant are worried more about keeping him happy over the next few seasons to avert another trade demand than they are about any decline in his skills. Durant turns 34 next month.
- Guard Langston Galloway is one of many free agents still looking for an NBA offer. Galloway told Robin Fambrough of the Baton Rouge Advocate that the Durant-Irving saga has impacted him and other players on the market. “Right now (Durant) and (Irving) are holding things up,” Galloway said. “Once what those guys do is decided, things will fall into place for the rest of us.”
I really like to see a handsome offer from Suns to get Durant
An all star AND a rising star AND first round picks
Suns are likely out in the second round playoffs without Durant
The Weakest playoffs are
2020
2021
The Strongest playoffs in the nba history
2023
Silliman, who do the Suns have that would allow them to pull that off AND remain competitive?
Please also provide all of us access to your crystal ball that has allowed you to determine that next year will be the “strongest playoffs in the nba history.”
Imo
If Mavs trade Powell and Hardaway for Irving, they can defeat current Suns in 5
Paul is older now
… and lose to the Warriors or Nuggets, and maybe the Pelicans too. Why so obsessed with the Suns?
BKN has landed 3 Divas which people are wary to trade for because of the drama they will create at some point…entitlement has its limits as Durant and Irving are discovering. I’m sure KD will put on a good soldier and teammate act to rehab his image not sure if Irving is capable of such a feat.
I don’t see KD putting on a good soldier act because that would mean he’s playing for the Nets and not getting traded anytime soon. You think the act only needs to be put on for a few months for teams to change their thoughts on him? He would probably need to put on an act for this whole year at least. The teams that will trade for him now don’t care about his diva attitude and the ones who won’t would need a lot of convincing. The teams that would trade for him now are just using whatever leverage they can to get the best deal possible.
He wants to be traded. He’s more likely to pout and play bad or claim an injury and sit, to force the Nets hand than to put on an act that will delay his trade request for awhile.
Nope, KD is 33 and doesn’t have any history of “pouting” plus he lives and lives to hoop he’d just play his ass off like he always does and hope for the best.
As much as I dislike KD I agree with this. Even when he was upset the last year on the warriors, he still played his heart out and probably caused his own re-injury by trying to play in the finals
Then why are the Nets entertaining trades at all? They were NEVER gonna get equal value for him. If he requested a trade, they should have just turned around and said “Nah, we rather have you because we’re never gonna get fair value for you so we’re not trading you”… You know why, because that’s not how it works. He wants to be traded, he’ll get traded and the Nets aren’t getting what they want. Y’all are delusional.
Is KD and kyrie really holding up the minimum contract Galloway might get, what an absurd thought
Dude is ridiculous for that comment! He would be very lucky to get a minimum contract offer.
That was hilarious by Langston, way to know your place in the NBA buddy.
In my view, the Nets have an exorbitant asking price on KD, as they should b/c he is under contract for 4 years, and they dont need to trade him, and I still say they shouldnt, but nobody should go above their highest possible offer, and overextend either. So they should just outright say they arent trading him. There are fair offers several teams can make, which I have mentioned q few times, and if that isnt enough for them, that’s fine, and they have every reason to not think it’s enough. I’m just saying that if that’s the case, they should act as though they’re going into the season with KD, and continue onward
They can handle a Kyrie trade b/c of certain pieces they still have, but I also dont see what teams would be interested in a scoring guard that doesn’t defend and is a primary ball handler/ball stopper, and at his salary, what pieces you would have to give up to match it, especially at this point in the offseason. So I would say again that I would prepare to go into the season with him for now, and add a couple of defenders they previously had at certain positions, like at the 4/5. Maybe they bring back James Johnson or Millsap themselves, and they could use a depth big that can defend pick and role, and protect the rim…but their current rotation looks like
Kyrie, Harris, O’neal, KD, Simmons
Warren, Claxton, Curry, Duke
They have depth there too like Cam Thomas for when Kyrie decides not to show up (thought he would get more opportunities last year), and they added Sumner as another playmaking/defensive guard in addition to Duke, who should have played more last year (but they wouldnt even use Bruce Brown, so it wasnt that surprising)
Add those 2 pieces I’m talking about, and that’s a pretty good looking roster, if they stay healthy
People (Nets fans mainly) keep bringing up the 4 year contract like that means anything.
When has any contract stopped a player from getting his trade request fulfilled?
If the player wants to get traded, they will do what’s necessary to get traded and the Nets aren’t waiting him out 4 years. KD requested to be traded, he didn’t request it because he’s okay playing for the Nets if they can’t work a trade. He doesn’t want to play for the Nets again. He will be traded.
The Nets aren’t getting what they are currently asking for. Probably not even close to it.
I also dont think they’re getting what they’re currently asking for b/c what they’re currently asking for is over the top extra. Just b/c someone asks for a trade, it doesnt mean they need to be moved. Kevin Durant doesnt seem like the kind of person that would sit out in a situation like this. I could be wrong, but I think he ultimately just wants to play basketball, and he is also trying to continue to build himself, even though regardless of anything, he is already an all time great
I’m not saying they’re going to keep him for 4 years, but I just wouldnt trade him right now. There are offers I think are fair, but they apparently arent amenable to those options, so that leaves the 1 option of just not trading him
Like, I’ve outlined multiple potential offers from several teams already, and for example, if Siakam, Trent jr, Achiuwa, 3 1sts and swaps for KD and Curry isnt enough for them, and they want Barnes too, if I’m toronto, brooklyn can go (_@% themselves, and im content with what im building
If I’m the Heat, and Lowry, Herro, Strus, Jovic, 3 1sts and swaps isnt enough, well I literally cant possibly add to that, and in no universe am I trading Bam, which would also have to involve another team to facilitate a deal which is also unlikely, so I’m just going to focus on adding pieces at the 4 and go into the season
If I’m New Orleans, I have a strong offer, but it involves a 3rd team b/c of Ingram, and if that offer isnt good enough either, then what can I even do?
Etc…
So again I say, it’s either 1 of the several offers I’ve mentioned, or its we’re keeping him. I dont see how it ends up with any other outcome
Well stated, as always. While I’d love to see him in Miami, I can’t imagine the cost. Still, the vision of he, Bam and Jimmy on the same team is tantalizing
@ SportsBum:
When has any player ever asked to be traded entering his 1st year of a 4 year contract?
Never.
So the Nets are merely asking for market value.
Teams have figured out that KD is never happy, and he will be 34 before the season starts. So far, the risks associated with trading all your assets for a guy that’s played 90 games in 3 years isn’t worth it.
Ben Simmons… Next.
He sat til he was traded and now he’s trying to fight to recoup the money he lost.
Players have requested to be traded with 2 years left, possibly even 3. Them players ALWAYS get traded. No team…NO TEAM has ever sat on a players contract for years after requesting a trade. He will be traded. It will be before the year is out and it won’t be for fair value. Y’all need to stop acting like the Nets have any leverage. They don’t.
The best they can hope for is what the 76ers did which is sit on Ben till another team (ironically the Nets) had a star that requested to be traded. It’s possible. It’s unlikely. The 76ers were extremely lucky, and maybe even colluded a little with Harden. It’s like they knew they’d eventually get him. Even then, I don’t think anyone can truly say the 76ers got fair value for what they gave up.
It’s a different scenario. Simmons refused to show up/play. Kevin Durant isnt doing that
Lol!!!! Galloway thinks Durant and Irving are holding him up from a contract offer! Lol!!! He hasn’t been in the league in 2 season. The delusion is strong with this one!
Just trade ’em both already. What a soap opera. They be better off without those two.
The risk to BKN of being patient is as soon as KD is injured in anyway, league interest and his value drop considerably.
Stein may or may not be a charlatan, but he’s more or less on the money here. There are two related issues:
A) Teams don’t want to give up an Anthony Davis+ haul for a player already requesting out of his deal before it begins. Durant’s contract means almost nothing here.
B) …Especially if the package they give up leaves their roster around KD in a position that doesn’t make them championship front-runners.
And given the talent that was on that Brooklyn roster and their lack of even a conference finals appearance teams might be rightfully questioning how much is needed around Durant to win at this stage.
In an odd way player empowerment is a function of the players’ on court performance. Teams would put up with this type of nonsense for Peak LeBron because they were in the Finals every year.
In Durant’s case, his theatre has been in many ways even more absurd than LeBron’s, just with less fulfilling results, which will make the drama awfully interesting as we get closer to Autumn.
They really should write a soap opera for these two
I thought LAL tried the Grumpy Old Men team philosophy last year. Trading for Durant and giving up AD is the Grumpier Old Men philosophy…smh.
Do you think Kyrie and Kevin Durant were “more than friends”’and just had a nasty romantic breakup leading to all this drama?