Multiple Teams ‘Upset’ with Nets Handling of Durant Trade Negotiations: Report

Getty Dave Wohl (L), general manager of the Los Angeles Clippers, speaks with Sean Marks, general manager of the Brooklyn Nets during the Leaders Sport Performance Summit

The Brooklyn Nets recently got some good news in the Kevin Durant trade situation. The news isn’t that they found a suitor, but that the former MVP who requested a trade will sit down with Brooklyn’s owner Joe Tsai. Durant made his trade request to Tsai just ahead of the NBA free agency window opening on June 30. An August 2 report from Heavy’s Steve Bulpett quoted a league source noting that Durant will be meeting with the Nets owner by the end of the week. 

“What I’m hearing is that KD is going to meet with the owner this week,” a league source told Heavy Sports. “He’s going to go directly to the owner, Joe Tsai, sometime this week. We’ll see how that works.”

While the purpose of the meeting and what happens next remains up in the air for the Nets, it is finally progress in what has been an over month-long stalemate in the Durant trade discussions. Progress and clarity are good. The league source also mentioned teams possibly being upset at how the Nets negotiations have gone. 

Teams Upset with Nets and Durant Negotiations 

Since Durant’s trade proposal, there has been a flood of reports about possible teams that are interested, and that has been a majority of the league at least seeing what it would take to acquire Durant. A lot of those talks have gotten out or been linked in some way or form. Bulpett also shared a quote from another league source about how some teams have felt in the negotiation process. 

“I think there’s some teams that aren’t very happy that when they talk to Brooklyn it gets in the papers,” he said. “That doesn’t help. I’ve talked with a couple of teams that are not happy with the rumors that creep out of there through all this. It’s not a good way to do business.”

One of the most recent proposals that leaked was the Boston Celtics “emerging” offering Jaylen Brown to the Nets in Durant discussions. The report from Adrian Wojnarowski of the Celtics jumping back into the mix was shocking. However, shortly after the report, other NBA insiders mentioned that those discussions were weeks old, with one insider dating them back to Summer League in Las Vegas. One Eastern Conference executive suggested to our own Sean Deveney that those leaks were done with the intent to gain leverage and get a bigger return for KD. 

Nets Gained Leverage with Celtics Offer Leak

One Eastern Conference Executive told Heavy’s Sean Deveney that the Nets being extremely particular about the right package in Durant offers as they look for a historic haul, and the news that the Celtics offered their All-Star Jaylen Brown that it other teams where Brooklyn wants them in discussions. 

“The Nets have gotten them to the point they were trying to get them to, which is, ‘OK, do we include Bam (Adebayo) in one of these packages?’ The young players, Tyler Herro, the picks they have, that is not going to get Durant. Adebayo will. When the stuff came out about Jaylen Brown, that was aimed at a team like Miami, letting them know they’ve got to add Bam, letting Phoenix know they’ve got to add (Devin) Booker. If the package is Bam and some of their bench pieces and three picks, the Nets might not do better than that,” the Eastern Conference executive said. 

The point that the Nets got to is where teams will no longer be waiting for the Nets to give in and take a lower offer, no. The news of Brown being offered and Brooklyn denying it put other teams in the position of having to offer more to land the Nets 12-time All-Star.