Getty Andre Drummond, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant
When Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant made his trade request to the franchise during the offseason, the front office was especially gratuitous in granting his request and working actively to find a trade partner.
Ultimately, Durant returned to the franchise after trade negotiations for him never advanced past the preliminary stages. Hall of Famer and former Nets star Kevin Garnett says he doesn’t understand why Durant returned to Brooklyn, especially given all the leverage he has around the league.
“KD didn’t get traded. Lowkey controlled his movement. Do you know why they didn’t love it? Because he got the leverage himself,” Garnett said during a recent appearance on “All the Smoke”.
“You understand what I’m saying? I heard him almost going back to Golden State, I heard that. I heard that was a real thing. I couldn’t understand it, I’ve never seen a situation where a guy tells the owner, a b, and c of it, and then it don’t get done, and the guy is [like], ‘okay cool, I’m coming back’.”
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Nets Had Leverage in Durant Trade Demand Negotiations
While it is easy to see why Garnett thinks Durant, arguably the top superstar in the NBA, would have the type of leverage to force a trade, most would respectfully disagree with his assessment. Durant didn’t have all the leverage in the situation. He barely had any at all.
What the Nets were looking for in exchange for Durant, their franchise star, was gargantuan. Even if they had agreed to oblige his request, what any rival team would have given up to acquire the Nets star would have left the roster dismantled. The best option for Durant was to return to Brooklyn, which is what he did.
In addition, In 2021, Durant signed a monster 4-year, $198 million extension with the Nets that locks him in with the franchise until 2026. To put it simply, the Nets could have said no to his trade request, and they would have been well within their right to do so. Not only that, but there wouldn’t have been anything Durant, his agent, or the league could have done about it because he was contractually bound to the organization.
Steve Nash Sounds off on Ben Simmons Expectations
One thing that could have swayed Durant to return to the Nets was the looming debut of former Defensive Player of the Year finalist Ben Simmons.
The Nets have their eyes on being title contenders this season, and if they want to achieve that goal, Simmons will be a big part of it. Nets head coach Steve Nash knows that Simmons will eventually, make an impact on this team. But as it stands right now, he must get reacclimated before those kinds of expectations are placed on him.
“I think for Ben a lot of it is not just the understanding, it’s the reps,” Nash told reporters via ESPN.
“He hasn’t played for a long time. He’s coming off back surgery, so I think there are some periods of indecision and confidence that he has to gain from playing. All of us do. We can’t take that much time off, join a new group and just figure it out Day 1, so he needs time.”
It’s almost showtime for the Nets, with less than one week until the season opener. It will be interesting to see if they get the job done this season.