The Brooklyn Nets are a team that is constantly in the news as they look to figure out how to handle the situation surrounding their star duo of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. At the moment, both players are on the roster, but that could change at any moment.
Durant, of course, requested his trade back on June 30 right before free agency began and the Nets have had to decide what they are going to do with their superstar forward. They have received offers, but they have not been up to their standard so therefore, he has remained on the roster.
The Boston Celtics are a team that has popped up recently and they even made a trade offer to the Nets for Durant. A mock trade from Bleacher Report has Brooklyn sending Durant to the Cs in a big deal:
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The fake trade proposal
Nets receive: Kevin Durant
Celtics receive: Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, a 2025 first-round pick, a 2027 first-round pick swap, and a 2029 first-round pick swap
B/R on why the Nets do this deal
Boston was already sitting in pole position (or at least close to it) in the East, just by bringing everyone back. And with Tatum and Brown as your top two, you have the potential to contend for around a decade. Swapping Brown for Durant opens the window wider, but it shortens the amount of time it’ll stay that way.
The Celtics have certainly considered all of that already, though. Pushing their chips in for KD would make the Milwaukee Bucks less of a worry. Ditto for the Philadelphia 76ers. And it’d probably eliminate the Nets from the analysis for the foreseeable future.
Losing Smart is a big deal too, but the addition of Malcolm Brogdon for a pick and fringe rotation players softens that blow. And Boston could probably get away with adding fewer picks than most teams, since its package includes a 25-year-old All-Star.
Analyzing the deal from a Nets standpoint
At this point, the Nets should wait this out as long as they can. There isn’t much point in moving Durant and giving up on this experiment. Brooklyn can go into the 2022-23 season in a pretty position as they are led by Durant, Irving, and Ben Simmons and they figure to be much healthier.
The vaccine mandate is not in the way of Irving playing anymore either so that will allow him to be on the floor and then there is the injury Simmons is working his way back from. On paper, the Nets have one of the strongest and most complete rosters in the league. They might as well try and run this back one more time with durant in tow.
More Nets news and notes
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Will the Celtics acquire KD before the start of the season?
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