ESPN’s Zach Lowe said Friday on his podcast “The Lowe Post” that “the whole league is ready now to re-engage” the Brooklyn Nets about a trade for star forward Kevin Durant.
This report comes on the heels of the Nets going through a tumultuous start to the season with drama engulfing the team. The most prominent issue facing the Nets is the suspension of star guard Kyrie Irving, but the organization also just moved on from head coach Steve Nash and is reportedly planning to bring in Boston’s Ime Udoka — a move that will ignite a fresh round of controversy given Udoka’s season-long suspension with his current team.
Brooklyn explored trading Durant in the offseason, but only for the right price that was never met by any team. However, given how this season has begun, it makes sense that teams see this as a window to acquire one of the best players in the league.
“The vultures are going to circle on Durant. Those vultures expect the Nets to put on a strong face for a while. To not rush it, to posture – probably honestly – that ‘no, he has four years left on his contract.’ Just like over the summer ‘he’s got four years left, we control the situation, we’re trying to win, we don’t want to do this.
…. December 15 and especially January 15, a whole slew of players become tradeable that are critical here. So I don’t think this is going to be fast, I don’t know that it will ever really happen, but I know the whole league is ready now to re-engage on Durant.”
Lowe and ESPN’s Bobby Marks go on to discuss various potential landing spots for Durant, including Phoenix, New Orleans, Memphis and Toronto.
“New Orleans was hesitant to trade (Brandon) Ingram the first time around, if not an outright no on Ingram. … Now it’s like … the Lakers’ pick looks more valuable than Brandon Ingram, so how about we just give you all the picks, some young guys, some salary matching which we have in spades, and we have C.J. McCollum, Brandon Ingram, Kevin Durant, Zion Williamson and whatever else is left over.”
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