Getty/Harry How Kevin Durant (right), when he was a member of the Golden State Warriors.
Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant requested a trade from the franchise on June 30 following a first-round sweep at the hands of the Boston Celtics. Durant is perhaps the biggest-named NBA superstar to request a trade, thus, teams were lining up for the chance to add the 12-time All-Star to their roster. But after months of back and forth between the two sides, Durant decided to rescind his trade request and return to the Nets for his fourth season.
Durant wanting out of Brooklyn had a ripple effect throughout the league. His trade request from the Nets came hours before NBA free agency started, and teams were a lot less hasty to finalize deals. Front offices wanted to ensure they had the available salary cap to acquire Durant in potential trades, which was to the dismay of new Los Angeles Lakers guard Patrick Beverley.
“Y’all can sit and don’t say nothing but that ain’t cool. It’s dudes with families out here who haven’t got a job because of this KD s***. And to be on and off ain’t cool. Blessing Gang,” Beverley tweeted on August 23.
Yal can sit and don’t say nothing but that ain’t cool. It’s dudes with families out here who haven’t got a job because of this KD shit. And to be on and off ain’t cool. Blessing Gang🙏🏾🏀
Durant hit back at the Lakers guard, responding with the hashtag, “#BlameKD”
Durant’s comments warranted another response from Beverley.
“Damn gang who said I was talking about you. I’m speaking of how it was done. Both sides need to keep that private. But noted,” Beverley responded.
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Andre Iguodala Comes to Kevin Durant’s Defense
After the dust had settled between Durant and Beverley, an unexpected ally came to the defense of the Nets’ star. On the latest episode of his podcast “Point Forward” Warriors star, Andre Iguodala implored Beverley to “chill out” in response to his comments about the Durant trade saga.
“Pat, Pat, Pat you gotta chill out please, please. You’ve had a great summer, so let’s end it now while you’re ahead,” Iguodala said in response to Beverley’s comments.
“But when Pat said KD was holding everybody up. So basically Pat Bev said, ‘Nobody saying nothing about KD holding up everybody’s summer where guys have to wait until he makes his decisions because teams are on pause and that’s the nature of the business.'”
Iguodala Says NBA Stars Should Be Able To Leave at Will
Despite Durant requesting a trade from the Nets and the front office agreeing to honor his demand, the truth is that Durant had zero leverage in any trade talks involving him. For those who may be tardy to the party, Durant signed a 4-year, $198 million contract extension with the Nets last summer that ties him down with the franchise until 2026. In short form, the Nets were not obligated to trade Durant despite his demand.
But Iguodala says that Durant, and a handful of other select NBA players, should be exempt from honoring their contracts if they decide to move on from their current franchises.
“We just talked about the Lebanon effect, [Durant] should have a special clause, he and you know a couple of other players in the league should have a special clause once they have a certain amount of service they can go wherever they want, for however how much they want against the cap and that’s just star players make the league just like any other sector,” Iguodala added.
Despite Durant’s decision to return to the Nets, the aftermath of his trade request will continue to be a topic of discussion. He has a chance to silence all of his critics this season.
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