Getty Kevin Durant reacts to a foul call during the Nets loss to the
Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant requested a trade from the franchise during the offseason after the team got swept out of the first round by the Boston Celtics. Initially, the Nets agreed that they would honor Durant’s trade request. However, they refused to move him unless they got a substantial enough trade package for a player of his caliber.
Durant and the Nets went back and forth all summer as the two sides tried to navigate his trade request, but with the two-time Finals MVP winner nearing the wrong side of his thirties, with a long injury history, teams did not want to give up too many assets in a potential deal. Eventually, Durant and the Nets agreed to move forward with their partnership.
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Nets Could Revisit Kevin Durant Trade
The reason the Nets did not move in haste to trade Durant was because he signed a 4-year, $198 million contract extension last summer, so they did not have to move him. But the season has started slowly in Brooklyn, as the team is off to just a 2-6 start.
One NBA executive told Heavy’s Sean Deveney that the Nets revisiting their franchise player’s trade demand isn’t fully off the table.
“I’m not sure he ever really pulled back on the trade demand. They’re not really shopping him, but I’d say they left it open-ended with him, like, let us see if we can pull things together, and if not, we’ll revisit the whole thing with more time to do it,” the executive said to Heavy Sports.
“That might mean in the spring, before the draft. That might mean at the deadline, though I doubt they’re going to want to force something through like that. But the sense is he will be available sooner or later. Phoenix is still probably the team to watch. Don’t forget, they can trade (Deandre) Ayton after January 15, and that might be the trigger for this whole thing to come back on the table.”
Exec Sounds off on Nic Claxton’s Improvement
One of the undermining storylines for the Brooklyn Nets this season was their inconsistency at the center position, as they have struggled to fill the role during the Durant and Kyrie Irving era. After re-signing restricted free agent Nic Claxton over the summer, they were hoping he could be the answer to that issue.
So far, Claxton has shown vast improvement this year, as he is already averaging more points, rebounds, and assists than he did last season. But the executive says to solidify his position as the Nets franchise center, he will have to improve his low free throw percentage.
“He has improved in a lot of ways, and it is a shame about his free-throw shooting (40.7%). That is the one area he has to clean up,” the executive added.
“He is doing a really good job fighting for position down low, getting offensive rebounds, getting put-back points. If he continues to do that, they will be happy with him. When they re-signed him this year, there were a lot of concerns about whether he was their guy going forward at that spot, but he has answered a lot of those questions. They just need him to make his free throws now.”
It is very early in the season, and the Nets have a lot of time to improve. But they’ll need to have a quick turnaround, or things could get out of hand.