Sounds like a massive 4-team deal could be in the works, Utah, Indy, New York and Phoenix are rumored to be hashing out a deal that moves Simmons and Durant, Utah moves Mitchell, Indy moves Turner and Buddy and New York moves whomever they can and a boatload of draft picks.
If that is more than rumor (no guarantee and I think New York would maybe prefer to deal with Utah exclusively since it’s a lot fewer moving parts and why should they help Brooklyn anyhow?) than we could see Durant moved by the end of the weekend.
Or it’s just a rumor and a Durant deal stays on ice. Unlike the Lakers there aren’t a ton of leaks coming from any of these teams just that the Nets would like to get salary relief in any Durant/Irving deal, want good draft picks and good players. That’s a “no doy” kind of statement.
NBA going to make the MLB All Star game as irrelevant as it truly is!
It truly is crazy season. I haven’t read that one yet. But many outlets are reporting that Kyrie said he never asked for a trade and that he intends to play for the Nets with or without KD. And Windhorst reported this morning that the vibe around the Nets front office is they are prepared to keep both KD and Kyrie. Perhaps that is what prompted Kyrie to say he intends to play with the Nets. It all could be posturing. Or it could be the truth. Who knows. But with all of these different possible narratives out there it does prove that there is no such thing as a sure thing.
All of those Kyrie wanting to play for the Nets stories came from a NY Post story that reported someone who knows Kyrie says he has never asked to be traded and actually opted in to finish the year with the Nets. From there, the story was aggregated everywhere. There is no chance imo that Kyrie or Russ do not get traded but there is no doubt this is a crazy offseason.
Here’s the original story:
When asked if Irving was also willing to play for the Nets despite the team having had multiple rounds of talks with the Lakers, the source said he was — and that includes even if Durant is traded away.
“Kyrie wants to play. … He wants to win a championship, and he wants to play,” the source told The Post, adding Irving and Durant are friends and supportive of each other although not necessarily tied at the hip. “I think when KD said he wanted a trade, he didn’t say I’m going to trade to where Kyrie goes.”
https://twitter.com/NYPost_Lewis/status/1547030683326984192
I read the story. None of it is all that believable or, frankly matters. It’s what the Nets choose to do that will define what everyone else is allowed to try and do. All I’m trying to do here is balance the flood of “It’s 100% bonafide surefire guaranteed and I’ll bet my saddle it’ll happen 5 minutes ago” stuff with something a little different.
The truth is the Nets haven’t stated they want to trade Kyrie just as Kyrie hasn’t stated he wants a trade. At least publicly. All this hoopla, except for KD saying he wants to be traded, has been created by the various media personalities.
That is why I am not very convinced there will be a trade. I did some reading last night, I went back and looked at the stories that were out there when Kobe demanded a trade.
Kobe Bryant submitted a trade request from the Lakers on a radio show in 2007, but walked it back. Kobe Bryant went on an ESPN radio show during the offseason to push for a trade away from the Lakers. He laid it out as non-confrontationally as he could muster the composure to:
“I would like to be traded, yeah. Tough as it is to come to that conclusion there’s no other alternative, you know?”
“I just want them to do the right thing.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li52iOIFA6M
Here’s a sample story from the time regarding the demand:
https://www.espn.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/3446/kobe-bryant-says-he-d-like-to-be-traded
Kobe went further, a lot further, in terms of an all out media blitz to convince the Lakers and the world he wanted and was going to be traded. We all know that worked out.
So, based on all of the above, and the fact that of all the parties involved the only one who has made a concrete statement is Kevin Durant I can quite easily see all of this not working out the way folks are predicting. I won’t be surprised if both KD and KI are on the Nets to start the season.