Getty Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant.
A relatively quiet NBA offseason just got hit with one of the biggest stories in years. After three seasons with the Brooklyn Nets, superstar forward Kevin Durant has requested a trade, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. The Nets experiment clearly hasn’t gone well for Durant but it still seemed unlikely that he’d request a trade already.
Kyrie Irving didn’t help things when there were recent rumors that he was hoping to land with the Los Angeles Lakers. The situation in Brooklyn has been much too volatile and clearly, Durant would rather go somewhere stable. It remains to be seen where Durant will end up but the Lakers should at least be monitoring the situation. They may not be able to offer the best package for the 12-time All-Star but perhaps he could be convinced to force his way to Los Angeles.
The Volume’s Jason Timpf had pitched a Lakers-Nets trade prior to the request. He could see the Lakers sending Brooklyn a haul centered around Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook that would get them Durant and Irving back.
“If I was the Lakers, I would call up Brooklyn, I’d be like, ‘you can have Anthony Davis, you can have Russell Westbrook, you can have the 2027 first-round pick, the 2029 first-round pick’ … throw [Max Christie] in as well,’ and just say, ‘we’ll take back Kyrie and Kevin Durant. We take care of your Kyrie Irving problem, we take care of your Kevin Durant problem, you get a chance to rebuild,'” Timpf said on “Hoops Tonight.”
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Durant Currently Eyeing Heat & Suns
The Lakers are definitely a longshot if they hope to get Durant. Every single team in the NBA is likely trying to figure out a way to get him right now. The early favorites are the Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Phoenix and Miami are among two of the teams that Kevin Durant has on his wish list, sources tell ESPN, but the Nets plan to move Durant where they can get the best possible deal. With four years on his contract, there’s no shortage of teams willing to unload assets for Durant.
Wojnarowski listed the Suns and Heat as the team “among” Durant’s wish list. That could mean there are more teams on the list. There’s no reason to believe that he’s dying to play in Los Angeles but playing with LeBron James could be appealing to the superstar.
Durant and Irving landing in Los Angeles sounds like a long shot but ESPN’s Brian Windhorst is now reporting that it’s not entirely impossible.
“It has been floated to me by executives that if they were to be kept together, the Lakers would potentially have a package that you could trade for both of them.”
@WindhorstESPN heard LA ‘could’ trade for both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving 🤯
Would Durant Still Want to Play With Irving?
A trio of LeBron, Durant and Irving could be the greatest trio in NBA history. However, there’s more information that needs to come to light before Timpf’s trade proposal could be considered. Two first-round picks, Christie, Westbrook and Davis isn’t the worst haul for Durant and Irving. A duo of Davis and Ben Simmons keeps the Nets relevant in the Eastern Conference.
The problem is that Durant might not be thrilled about the idea of playing with Irving again. The two men are friends but Irving has caused Durant many headaches in just their three short years together. He may just not want to play with the seven-time All-Star going forward. A trade surrounding Durant for Davis could still appeal to the Nets but Irving would likely need to be left out. It’s also possible that a Durant exit opens the door for a trade centered around Irving and Westbrook. Either way, this whole situation could help the Lakers even if they don’t get both Durant and Irving.
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