Phoenix Suns general manager James Jones asserts that they never wanted to trade All-Star forward Kevin Durant, despite the Brooklyn Nets having trade talks centred on him this offseason.
The Brooklyn Nets All-Star forward Kevin Durant asked to be traded just before the start of free agency at the end of June, which was possibly the biggest news of the 2022 NBA offseason.
Just hours before free agency started, teams started putting together their best offers to possibly trade for Kevin Durant, a player of a generation who is one of the best scorers in NBA history and a true MVP candidate when he is healthy on the court. This request from Durant shocked many teams and executives around the league.
Even the best in the NBA looked to trade for Durant because he might very well make the difference between some teams competing for a championship and making it to the NBA Finals.
Due to the fact that they own all of their draught picks and had some valuable players to offer up, the Phoenix Suns were a team that was linked to the Nets star early on when trade discussions were first being held.
Both restricted free agent Deandre Ayton and teammates Cameron Johnson and Mikal Bridges were considered potential trade assets in a deal for Kevin Durant. The Nets didn’t seem to be fazed by the Suns’ extremely competitive offer for Durant, and in August, Brooklyn and their star player reached an agreement for him to stay with the team.
Every aspect of the drama involving the Brooklyn Nets and Kevin Durant seemed extremely bizarre, and many people, including Suns general manager James Jones, questioned whether the Nets even intended to trade Durant.
Jones stated to AZCentral that Brooklyn wanted to keep Kevin Durant. “I understand why he is in Brooklyn and not with another team, but as for us, I don’t. The one thing people consistently forget when talking about trades or any player acquisition is that the team that currently has the player must be willing to move the player.
Phoenix was one of a select few teams that actively pursued trades for Durant, but no agreement could ever be reached.
We spoke with Brooklyn about their goals and efforts, but ultimately, like most teams, there was nothing to it, according to me.
When viewed in the context of the whole picture, why would the Brooklyn Nets want to trade Kevin Durant?
Moving Durant would mean Kyrie Irving’s time with the team would likely be coming to an end, and after going “all-in” over the last few years by acquiring these All-Stars and also trading for James Harden last season, the Nets would immediately be tearing everything down and entering a long, arduous rebuild that would last at least the next five to six years. In addition to being one of the best players in the league, Durant is also one of the league’s best players.
While it’s possible that Durant really wanted to be traded, the Nets ultimately had the final say. From Brooklyn’s perspective, nothing about trading Durant made sense.
The Brooklyn Nets will continue to dominate news heading into the 2022–23 season as every move this team makes is scrutinised, and the trade request from Kevin Durant will continue to be the elephant in the room until this team achieves postseason success.
We might not know the answer to the question of whether Durant will play through the final two seasons of his four-year extension with the Nets until the offseason of 2025–26.