On June 30th, Kevin Durant requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets. The trade request shook the NBA, as Durant looked poised to move on from an underachieving Nets squad that was filled with drama, health, and chemistry issues.
Nearly a month later, it felt that Kevin Durant’s trade market had reached a stand-still. The Nets unwillingness to accept anything less than a god-father trade offer had turned teams away. It seemed more and more likely that Durant would have to enter Training Camp as a member of the Nets.
But, early Monday morning, an update surrounding Kevin Durant’s future broke the radio silence. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that, “The Boston Celtics have emerged among teams engaged in talks on a possible deal.” Wojnarowski went on to report that the Celtics were “no closer to acquiring Durant than others in discussions with the Nets, but Boston's ability to include All-Star forward Jaylen Brown as a centerpiece in offers does help make the team formidable in its pursuit.” According to Wojnarowski, Jayson Tatum was off limits in any trade discussions, but the C’s could “construct a package for Durant that could include Brown and as many as three unprotected first-round picks (2025, 2027 and 2029) -- and two pick swaps (2024 and 2026).”
This report was followed up by Shams Charania of The Athletic, who had even more details about the Celtics’ interest in Kevin Durant. According to Charania, “The Celtics offered Brown, Derrick White and a draft pick to the Nets for Durant, sources said. The proposal was rejected, and Brooklyn has asked Boston — in any proposal — to include Brown, Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, draft picks and potentially one more player”
These two reports quickly broke the internet, and Kevin Durant’s future re-gained everyone’s attention. The Boston Celtics are a team who were just two games shy of an NBA title, have two young star players under the age of 25, along with a multitude of role players and depth pieces. Are the Celtic serious about pulling off a move to land Durant?
I do believe that the Celtics had and still have interest in acquiring Kevin Durant. I mean, who wouldn’t? In Durant’s age 33 season, he averaged 29.9 points per game. This was his highest total since the 2013-2014 season. He also put up more assists per game (6.4) than any other season in his career. Sure, the Nets underachieved, never getting to an Eastern Conference Finals with Durant at the helm, but his talent is undeniable. Even in his mid-thirties he’s a top-five player in the sport.
But, bringing Kevin Durant to Boston would require the Celtics to part with Jaylen Brown. Brown, who was arguably the best player for the Celtics in the NBA Finals, has two-seasons remaining on his contract, and is coming off one of the most productive seasons of his career.
While I do believe that the Celtics have interest in a trade for Kevin Durant, and I imagine that they’re likely monitoring the situation, I do not believe that they made an official offer. And if they did, they had absolutely zero intention of it being leaked out like this. I think the Celtics were doing the right thing about finding out what exactly Durant’s value was.
In my opinion, this reported trade offer was leaked from the Nets front office, and with the intention of it doing a couple different things. First and foremost, it would help drive up the price to land Kevin Durant, and would help motivate teams in the Eastern Conference to up their offer. The last thing the Miami Heat want is Kevin Durant to land in Boston, and the Nets know that. With their being a lot of silence on Durant, the Nets wanted to wake up the rest of the league.
Secondly, the Nets also played the psychological game with Jaylen Brown and the Celtics by leaking this report. Over the last few weeks, many have speculated if Jaylen Brown would want to re-sign in Boston once his contract is up in 2024. Some have speculated if he would want to lead his own team in the future, getting out of Jayson Tatum’s shadow by leaving Boston. His social media activity has been cryptic as his twitter account has raised some eyebrows. Brown has been critical in the past when talking about how his name often ends up in trade rumors. On top of it all, he recently hired Kanye West’s sports agency, “Donda Sports” to represent him. The Nets likely know about Jaylen Brown’s uneasiness with trade rumors, so putting his name in another rumor would only add to the fire. If this were to set Jaylen Brown over the edge, and push him away from re-signing in Boston, it could force the Celtics to offer more in a deal for Kevin Durant.
However, you slice it, this news being leaked was bad for the Celtics. Whether it’s true or not, it doesn’t benefit the Celtics in their pursuit of Kevin Durant or their relationship with Jaylen Brown.
All eyes are on the Nets to see what the next domino is to fall in the Kevin Durant sweepstakes.