With Kevin Durant now on the trade market, many teams will be interested in the Nets star. However, it seems like it will be very difficult to pry him away from Brooklyn.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix, the Nets have set a high asking price for Durant, and they don’t seem willing to come down from it.
“Brooklyn’s asking price, rival executives familiar with the situation told Sports Illustrated, is steep: two All-Star caliber talents and a cache of draft picks,” Mannix wrote. “If a team doesn’t have that, one exec said, the response has been ‘well go out and get it.’”
There are not many teams with the players and draft capital to give Brooklyn multiple All-Stars and first-round draft picks. Mannix suggested the Celtics could get involved, but that would likely require them to include at least forward Jaylen Brown as part of the deal.
The Suns, who are one of the teams Durant reportedly prefers, could offer DeAndre Ayton and Mikal Bridges, but the Nets may want newly-extended Devin Booker included instead. The Raptors could decide to build a package around last year’s rookie of the year Scottie Barnes, while the Pelicans may think about using Zion Williamson as a trade piece. However, all three of these deals would no doubt be risky and complicated to pull off.
Without much their own first-round picks for the next five years, the Nets will try to get as much out of a Durant trade as possible to avoid a lengthy rebuild. That could make this a highly difficult deal for any other team to pull off.
