Getty Kevin Durant #7, Brooklyn Nets, Jayson Tatum #0, Boston Celtics
After the Brooklyn Nets have started the season at 5-7, and with the Kyrie Irving controversy going on, the possibility of Kevin Durant asking for a trade is looming again, seeing how Durant requested one over the summer and didn’t rescind it until weeks before training camp started.
If Durant asks for a trade again, would the Boston Celtics be interested in acquiring him? An Eastern Conference executive revealed to Heavy Sports’ Sean Deveney that the Celtics would not be interested in him and why.
“Oh, it would be zero interest from the Celtics. That would be a non-starter,” the East exec told Deveney. “(Jaylen) Brown’s an All-Star, and he’s eight years younger than KD. The team’s playing well. They’re not going to touch that. I am sure it will be talked about again, and maybe the Celtics will struggle, and things can change. But that would be shocking.”
While Durant has the seventh-highest scoring average at 30.8 points a game, the Celtics lead the league in offensive rating, averaging 117.6 points per 100 possessions.
Tatum’s Thoughts on Acquiring Durant
In an interview with Graham Bensinger, Tatum explained how he would feel if the Celtics acquired Durant.
“It would be good, and then it’s tough because, regardless of who you get on your team, anytime you lose a teammate, it’s tough. It’s like losing a friend, and you understand it’s the business of basketball. So anytime you have to acquire somebody, somebody has to leave,” Tatum said.
Tatum then talked about why it would be hard even if it meant the team would get better.
“Two things can be true at the same time. You can get better, but you don’t want to lose teammates. You don’t want to lose friends. Guys that I’ve been going to war with for five years.”
While Tatum did not reference anyone specifically, the only teammates who he has played with for five years, or in other words, his entire NBA career, are Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart. Charania reported back in July that the Nets had asked for those two from the Celtics in exchange for Durant.
Why the Nets Passed on Ime Udoka
After Shams Charania of The Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that the Nets were planning to hire suspended Celtics coach Ime Udoka, it was later reported that the Nets hired Jacque Vaughn instead as their next coach.
The Nets are making Jacque Vaughn head coach.
“I think it became too difficult for the Nets to hire Ime Udoka with the events of the whole Kyrie Irving situation last week. Then certainly not just the potential backlash, but the disruption that would come with Udoka based on his arrival. Probably Irving’s return potentially sometime around the beginning of a potential Udoka tenure,” Wojnarowski said.
Wojnarowski then said why the Nets went with Vaughn instead.
“I think for the Nets, they saw some stability and some traction with Jacque Vaughn in his time as the interim coach. I think a belief that he had started to stabilize this team. I think Kevin Durant and the veteran players have belief in Jacque Vaughn, as does management and ownership.”
.@wojespn with the latest on the Nets’ decision to hire Jacque Vaughn as their head coach: