Kevin Durant asks for commerce from Brooklyn Nets

Kevin Durant could also be taking his quest for extra titles elsewhere. Durant has requested a commerce from the Brooklyn Nets, in response to an individual with direct data of the choice that undoubtedly can have groups scrambling to place collectively provides for the perennial All-Star.

The Nets have been working with Durant to discover a commerce companion, and he has a number of groups on his most popular record, in response to the one that spoke to The Associated Press on situation of anonymity Thursday as a result of neither the participant nor Brooklyn revealed any particulars publicly.

ESPN first reported Durant’s commerce request, citing Phoenix and Miami as two of his most popular locations. The bombshell got here simply hours earlier than the NBA’s free-agent interval for this summer time was set to start. The information additionally got here precisely three years to the day after Durant introduced that he was becoming a member of Brooklyn in a social-media put up — a transfer that got here June 30, 2019.

FILE – In this Aug. 21, 2016, file picture, United States’ Kevin Durant celebrates after the group gained gold in males’s basketball on the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Durant and coach Gregg Popovich will lead the U.S. group into the Tokyo Olympics because the Americans attempt to safe a fourth consecutive gold medal.(AP Photo/Matt York, File)

Durant is a 12-time All-Star, four-time scoring champion, three-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time NBA champion — these rings coming with Golden State, the group he was with earlier than becoming a member of Brooklyn. He has 4 years and almost $200 million remaining on his contract, which implies that it might take a haul of gamers, draft picks or presumably each for a group to amass him.

Durant has performed 14 seasons, not together with one yr when he sat out whereas recovering from a torn Achilles. He has averaged 27.2 factors in his profession — over that span, solely LeBron James, at 27.3 factors per sport, has averaged extra.

And even at his age — Durant will flip 34 on Sept. 29, across the time coaching camps open this fall — he’s nonetheless top-of-the-line gamers within the sport, his 6-foot-10 body making his soar shot virtually unstoppable by any defender.

Durant spent three seasons with Brooklyn, not enjoying within the first of these years whereas he recovered from the Achilles damage. He averaged 29.9 factors in 55 video games final season, after main the U.S. to Olympic gold on the Tokyo Games final summer time.

Unless he modifies his thoughts and stays, his departure might be an enormous blow to the Nets. At this time final yr, the Nets had been banking on contending for a championship with a core led by Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving.

That plan didn’t come near actuality. Irving missed a lot of the yr due to his refusal to be vaccinated towards COVID-19; he was ineligible to play in residence video games for almost all of the season. Harden wound up getting traded to Philadelphia for Ben Simmons, who didn’t play in any respect final season. Durant led Brooklyn into the playoffs, the place it was swept within the first spherical by eventual Eastern Conference champion Boston.

And the offseason hasn’t precisely been calm for the Nets, both. Irving’s future was a significant query mark till he determined to train his $37 million possibility earlier this week to stay with Brooklyn this coming season. Now, Durant needs out, and the Nets will both have to alter his thoughts or go forward with strikes that may overhaul their group.