Getty Kevin Durant congratulates Steph Curry during a Golden State Warriors game.
All-NBA forward Kevin Durant has officially requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets. After dealing with a rollercoaster of a season in 2022, the Nets star has decided it is time for him to move on from the franchise.
Durant, a 12-time All-Star, already has multiple teams putting together trade packages to acquire him. But Nets owner Joe Tsai and general manager Sean Marks have put the word out that he won’t be moved unless it is for a substantial return, setting up for perhaps the biggest blockbuster trade in league history. Among his suitors is his former team, the Golden State Warriors, according to Marc J. Spears of ESPN.
“It’s no surprise to me that Warriors have interest in Kevin Durant, according to sources,” Spears tweeted on July 3.“So does more than half the league. It’s KEVIN DURANT. You better make the call if you’re an NBA GM. It’s KEVIN DURANT.”
However, despite the Warriors’ reported interest in the man who helped them take down future Hall of Famer LeBron James in back-to-back NBA Finals, NBA analyst Nick Wright says that none of the defending champions are interested in a reunion with the Nets star. Including reigning NBA Finals MVP Steph Curry,
“No, I do not want to see Kevin Durant back on the Warriors. No one wants this,” Wright said during the July 4 episode of “First Things First”. “I don’t want this. Steph [Curry] doesn’t want this. I’d be shocked if Kevin Durant wants this. And I know Golden State Warriors fans don’t want this.”
“No, I do not want to see Kevin Durant back on the Warriors. No one wants this. I don’t want this. Steph doesn’t want this. I’d be shocked if Kevin Durant wants this. And I know Golden State Warriors fans don’t want this.” — @getnickwright
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Durant, Warriors Have Discussed Potential Reunion
But despite Wright’s report of Curry and the Warriors not being interested in a reunion with Durant, reporter Marcus Thompson II of “The Athletic” says that KD and his former teammates have begun preliminary discussions about getting the band back together.
“The Warriors superstars have been in conversations with Durant. In addition to catching up, the Hall of Fame-bound peers did entertain the idea of a reunion,” Thompson writes.
“It was mostly about the stunning nature of it even being possible. The idea of them playing together again had to seem impossible when Durant left in free agency in 2019. It isn’t lost on them how life has contrived an opportunity for them to come full circle. They see it, like everyone else, and talked about it, like everyone else.”
The Warriors’ stars have been in conversations with Kevin Durant, @ThompsonScribe writes.
But this isn’t a case where they are pressing the front office to go acquire KD.
More: t.co/xwm6DXlmQ9
Is Trading Durant Worth the Risk for Dubs?
The irony is that of all the teams in the NBA, the Warriors can offer the Nets the best trade package for the All-Star forward by a landslide.
With Andrew Wiggins being the Warriors’ second-best player behind Curry in the NBA Finals, Jordan Poole being a top contender for last year’s most improved player award, and younger players such as Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga showing promise, that would be more than enough for the Nets to at least listen to offers from the Warriors. But is acquiring Durant a second time worth mortgaging their future?
Keep in mind KD will be 34 years old in September. And whether fans want to admit it or not, he has more NBA seasons behind him than he does ahead of him. And of the Warriors’ current young core, Poole is the oldest at 23. The team as currently constructed could be contenders for years to come. And with Durant prepared to force a trade amid a max extension, should the Warriors even take the risk? We could soon have the answer to that question.
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