Getty Utah Jazz's Rudy Gobert #27 celebrates with Royce O'Neale #23
The Brooklyn Nets had some very untimely news come out for them on June 30 as Kevin Durant requested a trade on the same day they brought in Royce O’Neale.
A team that is dealing with a trade request for their best player doesn’t trade for somebody like O’Neale, a solid piece for a championship contending team, but not for one dealing with a Durant trade.
The 3-and-D forward trade was called a “head-scratcher” by Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes, and said it was one as soon as it was reported. Outside of Durant trade request, Hughes lays out a few reasons why this trade is considered the team’s biggest “loss” of the offseason so far.
O’Neale Trade Blasted
If Durant and Kyrie Irving both return, then this trade will look better going forward as this did end up costing the Nets a first round pick. If their stars leave town, that draft pick will be something that was sorely needed by the franchise.
Hughes notes that, but also the fact that O’Neale had a weak showing in the playoffs as the main reasons this is viewed as a bad move by him.
“O’Neale wasn’t up to the task of guarding top-flight wings last year, and though he continues to shoot it well from deep, you’d think a Brooklyn team that had reason to know an overhaul was coming might value its own first-round picks,” he wrote. The deal wasn’t a catastrophe, but it didn’t make sense at the time, and it’s no less puzzling now.”
Teams in the NBA can always use more 3-and-D players, so the trade is fine on that aspect, it’s just the timing that’s the problem. Trading away a draft pick amidst the turmoil Brooklyn is going through is a tough pill to swallow, but if Ben Simmons, Irving and Durant are all in the lineup next season, it might not matter a whole lot in the grand scheme of things.
Is the Team Breaking Up?
As of right now, it’s difficult to say what the future holds for the Nets. Durant’s trade request looms over everything and a trade would change everything for the franchise.
If they manage to hang onto him, then they can run it back and try to compete for a championship. There will be no more eligibility concerns for Irving, and that means the team can actually play together and build off each other throughout the season.
For what it’s worth, the trade market for Durant seems to be drying up, but there’s still a lot of time left in the offseason. The Miami Heat seem to be out on the sweepstakes, and that would leave the Nets will one less major suitor.
“While the Miami Heat remains interested in Kevin Durant, the Brooklyn Nets have displayed little interest in the Heat’s offer for the high-scoring superstar and Miami is moving ahead with its current roster for next season, according to sources briefed on the situation,” reported the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang.
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