NBA Trade Rumors: Kevin Durant’s trade request was about Kyrie Irving?

NBA Trade Rumors: Was Kevin Durant’s trade request all about getting away from Kyrie Irving? We explore the latest rumblings.

There hasn’t been much movement when it comes to the Brooklyn Nets moving forward with Kevin Durant’s trade request, however, the expectation is that they’re trying to get the best offer on the open market.

However, there has been an interesting twist to the entire situation. According to a recent report, there are rumblings that the true reason behind KD’s trade request is quite interesting – and unexpected.

Per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, there’s a thought around some in the league that the reason KD wants out of Brooklyn is to get away from Kyrie. And once Kyrie elected to opt into the final year of his contract with the team, perhaps requesting a trade was the only way to accomplish that goal.

"There’s a school of thought, speaking to people around the league, that they think that the Durant trade request wasn’t actually about him getting out of Brooklyn. It was about getting Kyrie out of Brooklyn."

If nothing else, it’s an interesting wrinkle to all of this. Though, if this is indeed the case, wouldn’t the Nets be equipped with this information and try to do whatever they can to trade Kyrie in an attempt to retain arguably the best player in the world?

That seems like it would be a good bet. Though, as is almost always the case, I’d have to imagine there are several factors at play behind the scenes. And this possibility is just one of them. And the rumors that the Nets will trade KD before Kyrie don’t fall in line with this line of thinking.

Or maybe the Nets are sick of both Kyrie and KD and feel this is the perfect opportunity to cash in on both of them? Either way, this is an interesting angle that I’m not sure many even considered – especially considering they are reportedly good friends and elected to play with each other just a few offseasons ago.