Kevin Durant made headlines over this past offseason when he said that he wanted out of the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets were fresh off of getting swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the 2022 Playoffs and were a few months removed from having traded away James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers.
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Sean Marks and Joe Tsai would eventually convince Durant to buy into the Nets this season and so he stayed. After having dealt with the Kyrie Irving antisemitism debacle, Brooklyn actually looked like a legitimate title contender, even going 18-2 in a 20 game stretch at one point.
However, after Irving was denied a 4-year guaranteed contract worth $198 million by the Nets front office without some basic stipulations. He asked out. After Irving was dealt to the Mavericks, perhaps the biggest trade in NBA history went down when KD was traded to the Phoenix Suns.
Also read: “You’re getting Kevin Durant”: Mikal Bridges Justifies the Suns’ Nonchalantly Trading Him For 6ft 10″ forward
Kevin Durant didn’t want people to know he has requested yet another trade
One of the biggest factors surrounding this trade was just how quiet everything was. There was no indication whatsoever that KD wanted out and that was done on purpose. According to Marc Stein, Durant’s camp made sure this was kept out of the public’s eye and instead, handled internally.
Kevin Durant had one destination in mind and that was the Phoenix Suns. The Suns had been on his preferred list of destinations back in the summer and were reported as the first team to be monitoring the situation after Kyrie had requested his trade this past trade deadline.
The Nets were in communication with only the Suns, negotiating the terms of the deal and well past midnight, both Shams and Woj dropped the bomb on the trade having gone through with no prior notice of any talks happening between the two teams.
The reason for this was because KD didn’t want to deal with the public scrutiny of having requested a trade for the second time in 8 months.
Kevin Durant is still out
Kevin Durant stepped foot on the court as a Phoenix Sun for the very first time during shootaround and seemed to be working his way back to returning to NBA play. He’s been put since early January due to an injury he suffered against the Miami Heat.
He’s slated to miss the All-Star Game yet again due to an MCL sprain and doesn’t have a concrete timetable set for his return either. It’s safe to say that the Suns are playing it quite safe with a man who is undoubtedly the most talented player to have worn a Phoenix Suns jersey in franchise history.
