The Brooklyn Nets want superstar Kevin Durant to stay committed to the team as it tries to build the team around him, according to NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski. There have been multiple reports that the Nets are not done making moves before the trade deadline and that they intend to use the first-round picks they own and some of the players on the roster to get a star player.
On Sunday, Brooklyn traded Kyrie Irving and Markieff Morris to the Dallas Mavericks for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith and draft picks. With the understanding that Durant and Irving are close to each other, it makes sense Brooklyn wants it known they want to keep Durant and try to win a championship.
What makes this situation more unsettling than usual is that Durant requested a trade in the offseason for reasons related to the leadership structure. After it was clear teams were unwilling to give the Nets what they wanted for Durant, he rescinded his trade request. There has been no indication on what Durant is thinking at this time. Wojnarowski explained the Nets thinking on “NBA Countdown” on Sunday:
“Now for Brooklyn, they want to get back to work. They’ve got the three picks they got in this trade, they have a future Philadelphia first-round pick and they’ll be aggressive with those picks to go out between now and Thursday’s trade deadline to try to get more help around Kevin Durant. Quite honestly, this is an organization that wants Kevin Durant to stay committed to stay the course with this reshaping of this roster. They’re going to continue between now and Thursday to do that.”
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