Getty Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics and Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets.
On August 8, 2022, Shams Charania reported that Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant had met with owner Joe Tsai where he gave him an ultimatum – either honor his trade request or fire the pairing of Head Coach Steve Nash and President of Basketball Operations Sean Marks.
In a meeting with Nets owner Joe Tsai, Kevin Durant reiterated his trade request and informed Tsai that Tsai needs to choose between Durant or the pairing of general manager Sean Marks and coach Steve Nash, sources say.
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Shortly after Charania’s report came out, Tsai himself tweeted out the team’s support both for Nash and Marks, thus indicating whose side he took in the matter.
Our front office and coaching staff have my support. We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.
By publicly supporting Marks and Nash, all indications are that Tsai has by all means chosen to trade Durant. Because the Boston Celtics are the one team most recently tied to trade rumors involving Durant, thanks to reports confirmed by Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski on July 25, Celtics fans believe this means Durant could be a Celtic when this saga is all over.
Some Celtics fans are all for trading for Durant because of how much talent there could be between him and Jayson Tatum sharing the court together.
celts have never paired two mvp-caliber guys. kd and tatum would be a celtic first
Other fans aren’t so keen on it because they believe this trade saga with Brooklyn has more or less exposed why Boston should not go after Durant.
The more we learn about Kevin Durant, the less #Celtics fans should have any interest in acquiring him.
The only way fans will know for sure how the Celtics feel about the situation is whether they pull the trigger on a deal or not. Charania confirmed that the Celtics are among the teams still currently interested in Durant.
Boston Has ‘Viable’ Package
In Charania’s report detailing the meeting between Durant and Tsai, Charaia said that the Celtics were among three teams who were considered the most significant candidates to acquire Durant.
According to Charania, a package centered around Jaylen Brown is seen as “viable.” However, the Nets are remaining steadfast that they want every asset possible in a trade involving Durant.
The Celtics, Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat remain the most significant candidates to acquire Durant, sources said, with Boston’s package centering around All-Star forward Jaylen Brown seen as a viable deal. Tsai and the Nets have made clear privately that they will take every last asset from a team that trades for Durant, sources said.
Charania also made note of Durant’s relationship with Celtics Head Coach Ime Udoka.
Durant has grown close with Boston coach Ime Udoka in recent years after Udoka spent a year with Durant as an assistant in Brooklyn and later with Team USA for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Durant also played with Tatum during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, so he has experience with some of the Celtics personnel. Of course, it remains to be seen how serious the Celtics were when they discussed trading for Durant with the Nets.
Boston May Never Have Made an Offer
A source refuted Charania’s report that the Celtics offered Brown, Derrick White and a first-round pick for Durant to Heavy’s Steve Bulpett. However, a general manager brought up that a team calling about a player’s availability can be re-worked into them supposedly making an offer for him, even if that offer never happened.
“You may ask a team what they think of a certain one of your players, and the next thing you know they’re telling someone you offered him,” the general manager told Bulpett. “You didn’t, but that’s how this thing works sometimes. It sucks — for you and for the player involved — but it’s the way it is.”
Another executive told Bulpett that, since it’s Kevin Durant, plenty of teams call to see if they can make a deal.
“When the Kevin Durants of the world become available, I’m not sure there’s any team that doesn’t call and see if there’s something that can be done. When you have players of that ilk, and there’s certainly not many of them, I think everybody kicks the tires and takes a look to see what would be involved in that.”
Now that Joe Tsai has openly shown his support for Sean Marks and Steve Nash, teams just might do more than kick the tires on exploring a trade for Durant.