Getty Brooklyn Nets General Manager Sean Marks answers questions during a press conference
In the weeks following the news of Kevin Durant rescinding his trade demand, the reports have continued to roll in, and some of the major news that has followed is with how much the Brooklyn Nets were looking to trade their superstar following his trade request. Ethan Strauss reported on how the Nets conducted themselves with their calls for Durant trades.
“According to NBA insiders, Brooklyn’s effort to deal KD was largely fake,” writes Strauss. “Sure there were a few legitimate calls at the very beginning, when Durant made his ask. After that point, though, the trade discussions were mostly a façade, conducted simply to suggest the effort.
“As one GM put it to me, ‘There’s a difference between making a call and trying to build a trade. Brooklyn wasn’t trying to build a trade.'”
The Nets are believed to have gone through the motions of considering a trade merely “to to temporarily placate an audience of one, in hopes of getting him to accept that which he finds unacceptable.”
James Jones on Discussions with Brooklyn
Early on, the team most in discussion with the Nets in trade packages for Durant was the Phoenix Suns, and Suns GM James Jones, on Friday, told Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic that there was nothing really to the Suns negotiations with the Nets.
“We had discussions with Brooklyn about their desires and what they were trying to do, but ultimately, I would say like most teams, there was nothing to it,” Jones said.
Jones seems to confirm the reports from Strauss that the effort the Nets were making to trade Durant had more pageantry than substance. Jones also hints that he has heard similar sentiments from other team officials in their experience with the Nets in Durant negotiations.
Brooklyn’s stance, while annoying to some general managers that weren’t able to arrange a trade for the 12-time All-Star, it has been somewhat heralded by other team owners in how it may change negotiations with disgruntled star players that are under contract in the future.
Nets Set Blueprint for Handling Disgruntled Stars
The Nets maintained their stance that if they were going to trade Kevin Durant, the Nets needed to get a historic haul in return for their superstar. Their historic asking price prevented them from getting a deal done and therefore led to a meeting that resulted in Durant rescinding his trade request. Their handling of the situation is one that one NBA executive told Heavy will set the standard for negotiations moving forward.
“Brooklyn just said, ‘Enough of this s***.’ And good for them,” a league exec told Heavy Sports. “This should be a blueprint for every team that goes through something like this, but I’m sure it won’t. Guys who run major businesses and are tough as hell all of a sudden change when it comes to their teams … and their stars.
“It’s important to maintain good relationships and loyalty and all that with your players, but if the player is doing something that’s hurting the team — hurting the business — then you have to stand your ground and remember how you got the money to buy the team in the first place,” the executive said.