Where will Kevin Durant play in 2022/23? Another NBA team has emerged as a suitor
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Celtics are keen to take Durant to Boston. The franchise won’t be including star man Jayson Tatum in any trade, though.
Progress is slow, but it seems that no one has forgotten (how could they?) that Kevin Durant is on the market. The star requested a trade a few hours before free agency opened and the Nets have been trying to find him a way out ever since, although the forward’s four-year commitment to the Brooklyn franchise allows the New Yorkers to take their time moving him out of the Big Apple...if they end up doing it at all. Influential observers, such as Jerry West, have said they are convinced that neither Durant nor Kyrie Irving will leave the Nets. But for now, the rumours continue and it seems that offers for the forward will continue to come in.
Celtics’ Stevens out to recruit Durant in major trade coup
The latest on the list of Durant’s potential destinations is Boston. The Celtics, last season’s losing NBA finalists, have entered the race to secure the 33-year-old’s services, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Monday.
Brad Stevens wants to leave behind the conservatism that predecessor Danny Ainge (now in the Jazz front office) showed in his time as president of basketball operations and make a move that turns the best league in the world upside down and gives the Celtics what it takes to clinch the championship ring next year. A ring they have won only once since 1986. In 2008, a year that is beginning to feel a bit too long ago.
Durant arrival would make Celtics NBA title favourites
The Celtics have plenty of bargaining chips with which to make the trade: Jayson Tatum is untouchable, but Jaylen Brown is on the market. In addition, Stevens has four first-round picks and two Draft pick swaps to negotiate with, theoretically enough material to carry out a trade that would shake the foundations of the league and would take Durant to current Nets colleague Irving’s former team.
With Durant alongside Tatum, the Celtics would immediately be installed as favourites for the 2022/23 NBA title and all eyes would be on a team that, let’s not forget, was only two wins away from the championship in 2021/22. They could almost reach out and touch the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Charania: Nets will do trade for Brown, Smart
The Athletic’s Shams Charania has revealed that the Celtics have offered Brown and Derrick White for Durant, and that the Nets have said no... but have made a counteroffer: they would trade KD for Brown and Marcus Smart, the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year last season.
So the ball is in the Celtics’ court: how much is Durant worth? Is it worth risking a project? At nearly 34 years old, with an Achilles tendon injury, a propensity to pick up knocks and four years to go on a contract which is still to net him over $194m, the situation is complex. Because, despite all that, the talent of one of the best players of all time is undeniable; he’s a player you can hang your hat on. Now, the question is the one that the entire NBA is asking: what will the Celtics do?