It might become a long season for Kevin Durant and everyone in Brooklyn if the Nets fail to meet the expected trade value for their 2x Finals MVP. But Fox Sports analyst believes it doesn’t need to be.
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The James Harden situation, albeit shorter than most of these turbulent scenarios, is still fresh in the minds of everyone in the Nets camp. Five months on, they are on the verge of losing two more of their prolific offensive juggernauts – KD and Kyrie Irving.
The gamble that started in 2019 with trading almost all of their young and more than decent squad starring Jarrett Allen, D’Angelo Russell, Caris LeVert, Spencer Dinwiddie, and a few others for the forming the greatest Big-3 since the Heat of 2010, ended with the first-round exit in 2022 Playoffs.
Having already lost the 2018 MVP to the Philadelphia 76ers in February for Ben Simmons, who hasn’t even played a game since coming in, the Nets now have a trade request from The Slim Reaper and pretty clear intentions of Irving to take his talents to the Lakers.
But a veteran analyst believes if he were Joseph C. Tsai, he would make KD and Kyrie stay at least for a year until the latter’s contract runs out.
Skip Bayless goes on his typical rant, saying the Nets shouldn’t allow Kevin Durant and Kyrie to leave
Durant still has to kick in on his 4-year $198 million contract when the 2022-23 season starts. The 4x scoring champ, having suffered his friend cum teammate’s antics throughout the past season, is now fed up by it and took no time in putting in a trade request as soon as he saw Irving hesitating to opt-in for his $36.9 million last year of contact.
But Fox Sports analyst believes Nets should ignore these approaches from the duo and let them play for at least a year until Kyrie’s contract expires.
If I ran the Nets, I’d tell Kevin Durant, “You have 4 years left on your contract. You’re playing for the Nets next year, with Kyrie and Ben Simmons. We’re going to win it all.” If KD wanted a different coach, fine. But why give up KD & Kyrie and pretty much start over? Just me.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) July 4, 2022
Both players will anyways give their best to win a championship if they stay because they are in their primes and who knows what the future would have in store for them with the growing competition in the league, as well as Father Time catching up.
