After an offseason filled with drama and rumors, the Brooklyn Nets will finally open NBA training camp at the end of the month. For those who may have missed it, Nets star Kevin Durant requested a trade from the franchise on June 30. However, after two months of unsuccessful trade negotiations, Durant and the Nets decided to move on from his trade demand and continue their partnership
But it remains to be seen if the two parties have healed from all the wounds accumulated this summer. Durant was willing to back out of a four-year extension that he signed last summer and, in the process, expressed his disdain with Nets head coach Steve Nash and general manager Sean Marks. If Durant were to go back on the trading block, one NBA exec says they could send him back to the Warriors in exchange for their star guard Jordan Poole.
“It depends on how they handle this contract, but if [Jordan Poole] gets the sense they do not want him, yeah, he is the one I could imagine looking elsewhere, like [Harrison] Barnes did,” one Western Conference executive told Heavy’s, Sean Deveney.
“Of course, they replaced Barnes with Durant. Maybe they’ll do the same with Poole.”
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Curry Was ‘Never Hesitant’ About Durant Reunion
When Durant was on the trading block this summer, one surprise team was interested in acquiring the star forward. That was none other than his former squad, the Warriors. But their interest in the Nets star was a head-scratcher for some.
Golden State was fresh off a championship, had a heap of young talent ready to be developed, and Steph Curry had just captured the first Finals MVP award of his career, something he never did with Durant as his teammate. But Curry says despite all the Warriors had going for them, he was never hesitant about reuniting with his former teammate.
“I was never hesitant. The idea of playing with KD and knowing who he is as a person, from our history in those three years, I think KD’s a really good dude. I think he is misunderstood,” Curry said to Matt Sullivan of Rolling Stone.
“I think he has had certain things happen in his life that hurt his ability to trust people around him, in a sense of making him feel safe at all times. So, all of those things, I understand, having played with him and gotten to know him. I love that dude.”
Pressure Is on for Durant To Deliver in 2023
Durant enters his fourth season with the Nets facing perhaps the most pressure he has since his first season in Golden State. Not only because Steph and the Warriors just proved that they didn’t need him to win a championship, but also because of all the uproar he caused this summer with his trade request.
KD is widely-regarded as one of the best players in the NBA, not only in today’s game but of all-time. And with two All-Stars in Ben Simmons and Kyrie Irving, running with his squad, Durant is running out of excuses as to why he has yet to deliver Brooklyn its first title.
KD and the Nets come into this season with a clean slate, eyeing a trip to the NBA Finals, looking to capture the title. As the saying goes, winning cures everything. Now Brooklyn can finally put the past behind them and just play ball.
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Nets Could Replace Kevin Durant With Warriors Star, Says Rival Exec