NBA Trade Rumors: According to a recent report, Kevin Durant is now interested in a trade to the Boston Celtics or Philadelphia 76ers.
Originally, when it was reported that Kevin Durant had requested a trade out of Brooklyn, the two teams that were on his preferred list were the Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat. However, that was roughly a month ago and much has changed.
The Suns dropped out of the Durant sweepstakes when they matched an offer sheet for Deandre Ayton and the Heat simply don’t have the necessary assets to offer up a serious deal – even less so considering they don’t plan on offering Bam Adebayo or Jimmy Butler.
There had to have been a recalibration if you will. And that’s exactly what took place recently, it appears. And according to a recent report, Durant has an interest in a possible deal to the Boston Celtics or Philadelphia 76ers as well.
This is an interesting development, and likely a necessary one.
If Durant wants to force his way out of Brooklyn, there had to have been an expansion on his preferred destination wishlist. It was clear that neither Phoenix nor Miami could come to the table with what Brooklyn wanted.
Interestingly enough, both Boston and Philadelphia could probably present better offers than Miami. Brooklyn likely would be higher on Tyrese Maxey than Tyler Herro, especially considering his contract situation, and the only problem with an offer from Philadelphia would depend on draft compensation.
Boston has plenty to offer for KD and would likely still have enough to surround him with a competitive team in the Eastern Conference.
But Boston would likely have to part ways with Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, and future first-round draft picks.
It’s tough to predict what will eventually happen with Durant, but there’s at least a better chance now that he will be traded. And, perhaps most importantly, there are now an array of options that the Nets could choose from.
The next few weeks should be interesting in the Durant saga.