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Back in the summer of 2016, the Boston Celtics tried to lure NBA superstar Kevin Durant to join the team via free agency. The Celtics made quite the pitch to Durant, including having Tom Brady present at the meeting, but Durant chose the Golden State Warriors. On June 30, 2022, Durant formally requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets. According to Heavy’s Steve Bulpett, the Celtics are among the teams interested in acquiring Durant, although the odds of them acquiring him aren’t good.
“The Celtics are certainly a longshot in the Kevin Durant sweepstakes, though they’ll make their trade pitch to Brooklyn.”
Bulpett added that, with Durant reportedly preferring to be traded to either the Phoenix Suns or the Miami Heat, the Celtics are not “atop Durant’s wish list at the moment.” Bulpett later added that, even though the Celtics are in championship contention without him, they will try again to bring him in like they did back in 2016.
“The Celtics, though now in the championship mix, are still trying to get Durant.”
Durant Might Not Be Going Anywhere
Although Durant has requested a trade from Brooklyn, that does not automatically mean they will grant it for him. Shams Charania of The Athletic says that the Nets are operating with the belief that they will keep Durant and Kyrie Irving for the 2022-23 season on The Pat McAfee Show.
“They’re making moves and doing things this offseason with the preparation and operation as if they’re bringing these two guys back next season and playing with these two guys.”
Charania added that at the same time, the Nets are open to moving Durant if the price is right, but the price to get Durant is very steep.
“They’re open in dialogue, and they’re open to teams like Toronto, Phoenix, Miami, making offers. But, until they get that price threshold met, which I’m told is all-star type players, a boatload of draft picks, this is what they’re telling teams: ‘We’re not doing to Kevin Durant until the price is met.’ So we’ll see how this summer goes.”
Charania added that because previous superstar trades in the summer usually took a long time to be completed, a Kevin Durant trade would probably.
“You think about when Kyrie Irving got traded to the Celtics in (2017)… You think about when Kawhi Leonard gets traded to Toronto. You think about Anthony Davis getting traded to the Lakers. All three of those trades took two, three months to get done. Even the Rudy Gobert trade, when he got moved after the season ended to now, took two and a half to three months. So this process with Kevin Durant could take a while.”
Kyrie Irving to the Lakers Trade ‘Has No Traction’
Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported on July 2 that the Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers were actively engaged in trade discussions centering around former Celtics guard Kyrie Irving and Russell Westbrook.
On July 5, Charania revealed on The Pat McAfee show that not only has there been no traction to a deal like that, but he’s not even sure if a deal would take place.
So even if Durant gets traded from the Nets, there’s no guarantee that Kyrie does too.
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