Getty Kevin Durant #7 of the Brooklyn Nets complains about a call during their game against the Sacramento Kings
After less than two months, the Brooklyn Nets got back to a similar situation that they were in for the offseason. Kyrie Irving had stirred up drama after sharing a link to a documentary littered with antisemitic rhetoric. The latest with Irving reignited trade rumors for not only one Nets superstar but both of them. With Irving in a contract year, analysts are already calling for the Nets to deal their point guard before losing him for nothing this offseason. Kevin Durant has also been linked to trade rumors, and an NBA executive told Heavy Sports that one Eastern Conference rival is already preparing for a potential Durant move.
“There is no doubt the Sixers have asked on Durant, they did in the summer, and will keep asking about him. But the Nets are going to be a little put off by them already because of the Ben Simmons thing, because they feel like they were set up to give away James Harden all along. So the Sixers burned them once, do the Nets want to go back and say, OK, sure, we’ll do a KD deal, too,” an Eastern Conference executive told Heavy Sports.
New York Knicks Preparing for Possible Durant Trade
In a conversation with Heavy Sports’ NBA Insider Sean Deveney, an Eastern Conference NBA executive, revealed that the New York Knicks could be preparing for a Kevin Durant trade by stockpiling picks when discussing a potential Immanuel Quickley trade for the Knicks and who may be interested and how they could get draft picks for him.
“Toronto and Orlando, those have been two teams in the market for a young point guard. The Raptors, obviously, they want some insurance behind Fred VanVleet and they do not have a lot of confidence in what is behind him now. The Magic have young guards but they all have question marks—(Markelle) Fultz can’t stay healthy, Cole Anthony is more of a playmaker, (Jalen) Suggs has really struggled to shoot. A guy like Quickley is young (23) and he is more of a known than what they have. So they’d be a candidate there.
Dallas is a team that would fit the profile, he would be a good fit there, but they’re trying to get deeper all over so it is hard to say where they will focus. Point guard is a need.
The Knicks are still trying to stockpile picks. That is what it is all about for them. They are approaching things like there will be a star who they can get—Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Davis, (Kevin) Durant, Karl-Anthony Towns, someone—a star who comes on the market soon. They want picks. If they can get two first-rounders for Quickley, they would but that is too high a price. Maybe a young guy or a prospect playing in Europe, someone like that, and a first-rounder, a protected first-rounder, that is probably where the market ends up on him,” an Eastern Conference Executive told Heavy Sports.
Durant is Not the Knicks’ Only Target
While KD is one of the names that the Knicks have been reported to be stockpiling picks for potential deals, he’s not the only superstar on their radar. They also have interest in Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Davis, and even Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. But if things change in Brooklyn, Madison Square Garden could be the potential home if he were to be dealt.