Rival teams hoping Kyrie Irving leaves Nets so they can try and trade for Kevin Durant

There are teams rooting for Kyrie Irving to opt-out and walk away from the Nets, believing it would give them a chance to cobble together trade packages to acquire Kevin Durant. As much as Durant asking out hangs over the Nets, there’s also the reality that four years on his contract will mean he has little, if any, voice on when or where he would be traded. This would be a small-market team’s dream, robbing a goliath of an MVP-level talent whose contractual circumstances would leave him little choice but to play for them.