Getty Kevin Durant #7 of the Brooklyn Nets
The NBA offseason has taken a strange turn after Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant requested a trade.
Instead of teams filling up their roster with players of need, it seems like they are waiting to see where Durant and Kyrie Irving end up being traded to. Durant has named the Phoenix Suns as one of his preferred destinations, and that makes sense for him as they are a ready-made championship contender that might just need him to get over the hump.
There’s no guarantee that’s where he’ll ultimately end up, but it’s an exciting prospect for fans to think of a team-up with Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Durant.
On July 7, Booker fired off a tweet about an “offer,” and with fans having no idea what he meant by that, they immediately leaped to the conclusion about him teaming up with Durant in Phoenix.
Booker Goes Cryptic
In the early hours of Thursday morning, Booker said “I fw the offer,” with no further context than that. Naturally, his replies were filled with all sorts of jersey swaps showing Durant in a Suns jersey, but there’s no telling if he was even talking about that.
@DevinBook ?????
This is around the same that Booker was named as a cover athlete for the upcoming NBA 2K23 and signed his massive extension, so it’s been an eventful few hours for the Suns star.
As for Durant coming to the Suns, there’s a way for it to happen that would allow Booker to stay in Phoenix, but it might not be something the Nets would be too excited about. This would revolve around a sign-and-trade with Deandre Ayton in an effort to match salaries, but there’s no telling if Brooklyn is excited about that in exchange for Durant.
They’d likely want somebody like Booker in return, and that’s unlikely to happen.
Latest Rumblings on Durant
As of right now, it’s tough to say where things stand on a Durant trade, but things don’t look great.
If Durant is set on leaving Brooklyn, he might be waiting for a while because ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reports the Nets aren’t happy with the offers they’ve been getting for their superstar so far.
“From what I understand, I don’t think the Nets are thrilled with the others they have gotten for Durant yet,” said Windhorst, as transcribed by NetsDaily. “I don’t think that that’s a hot take considering that they’re reassessing with where they’re at. I think the reason is this: It’s somewhat known in the NBA that Durant prefers going to the Phoenix Suns and the Suns offer, what they have to offer right now just isn’t that interesting to Brooklyn. Brooklyn is interested in other things. That’s why Woj and others talking about needing a third or fourth team in a deal.”
The Nets do have all summer to get a deal done, but the same thing also applies to Irving unless they want to just bring him back for a year without Durant.
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