Getty Andrew Bogut looks on during a Golden State Warriors game.
Andrew Bogut has a suggestion for how to break the stalemate in the Kevin Durant trade drama.
The former Golden State Warriors big man took to Twitter to troll the Brooklyn Nets and Durant over the ongoing saga, which has dragged on for weeks since Durant’s first request for a trade. The situation appears to be stalled as Durant reiterated his request to Nets owner Joe Tsai with no resolution, but Bogut offered a tongue-in-cheek suggestion for him to break free from Brooklyn.
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Bogut Takes Aim at Tsai
On Twitter, Bogut suggested that Durant could make reference to Tsai’s business and personal ties to China to help break the stalemate in his trade situation.
“An easy way for KD to get out of Joe Tsai‘s Brooklyn Nets that no NBA analyst is discussing. A simple tweet: ‘Free Hong Kong, Free Taiwan’. Gone the next day…..,” Bogut tweeted.
Tsai is a Taiwanese-born Canadian businessman, the co-founder of the Chinese corporate giant Alibaba Group. As ESPN’s Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru noted, Tsai has become entangled in some international NBA drama before. In 2019, when then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey took to Twitter to show his support for Hong Kong, Tsai reportedly tried to have Morey ousted.
“Within two months of taking control of the Nets, Tsai inserted himself into the controversy,” the ESPN report noted. “Morey’s supporters believed Tsai was pushing the NBA to fire Morey and offer a full-throated apology, part of a behind-the-scenes drama that reached the White House and has not been previously disclosed. Tsai also published an open letter that accused Morey, inaccurately, of ‘supporting a separatist movement.’ ”
No Movement for Durant, Nets
There does not appear to be any resolution to Durant’s trade drama on the immediate horizon. The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that Durant met personally with Tsai earlier this month and said he would only return if Tsai fired coach Steve Nash and general manager Sean Marks. Tsai then took to Twitter to show his support for the coach and general manager.
The dynamic around Kevin Durant and the Nets “hasn’t changed at all,” and there’s no urgency in trade talks, per @WindhorstESPN
NBA insider Marc Stein reported on August 15 that Durant is so serious about his desire to leave Brooklyn that he could decide to retire if the team won’t honor his trade request.
“If Durant hasn’t been traded by [training camp], there is a growing expectation in league circles that he will continue trying to cause as much of a ruckus behind the scenes to try to prod the Nets into lowering their asking price at last to facilitate a deal,” Stein reported. “If it wasn’t apparent by now, he really wants that trade to Phoenix or Miami or maybe even Boston or Philadelphia, no matter what it does to his reputation when he hasn’t played a single game yet under the four-year, $194 million contract extension signed in August 2021.”
Durant had initially been linked to several teams, including reports that the Warriors had internal discussions about a trade for ghim. An NBA executive told Heavy.com’s Sean Deveney that the Warriors are more concerned about the possibility of Durant landing with one of their top rivals, including the Phoenix Suns.
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