Brooklyn Nets fans may have jumped for joy last week at the thought of superstar players wanting to play for them. NetDaily.com sent out a tweet last week about Nets general manager Sean Marks having a shot at future meetings with All-Stars Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, and Jimmy Butler. Just the thought of landing one or more of these players is enough to bring back hope to Brooklyn’s faithful.

Brooklyn vs. New York

Brooklyn is a prime destination for many NBA players who would like to grow roots and build a stable foundation for their career. Don’t forget, the Nets play in New York just as much as the Knicks do, too. They may not play in Madison Square Garden but Barclays Center is an excellent arena to play in. It doesn’t offer the bright lights of MSG, but at least anything you do doesn’t get magnified as much as it will if any of these free agents played for the Knicks.

Kevin Durant, Warriors, Knicks

Durant, Leonard and Butler may not be the type of stars that can handle the scrutiny that comes with playing in front of the Garden crowd on a nightly basis. They are more private than most stars of their caliber. Knicks fans have a “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately” mindset, booing even their own stars when they play horribly.

Remember Patrick Ewing and Carmelo Anthony? As beloved as these players were during their time with the Knicks, they were booed mercilessly for a time when the team’s fortunes went south. Can you imagine if any of these players received that kind of treatment from their home fans? Durant might curse out the crowd, Leonard could clam up and Butler may ask for a trade eventually.

That won’t be as much of an issue in Brooklyn. The fans have been deprived of superstars for so long that they would be so grateful to have one or more of these franchise players to root for. Seeing the Nets become relevant again would be a breath of fresh air for the NBA as well. There have been a number of surprise teams at the top of the league’s standings this season and it’s time the Nets join them next year.

Warriors, Kevin Durant, Knicks
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When the Nets moved to Brooklyn from New Jersey in 2012, the fans excitedly welcomed the franchise and embraced it as their own. The fanbase simply needs a superstar or two (or three, maybe) for Nets basketball to truly blow up in the city.

Brooklyn’s Chances

All three players can, and are likely to, become unrestricted free agents next July by declining their player options for the 2019-20 season. When that happens, the bidding war for these perennial All-Stars will be bloody as every team that has enough cap space to sign any of them will want to have an audience with each of them. Let’s take a look at Brooklyn’s targets in free agency in the offseason.

Jimmy Butler

One of the teams that Butler wanted to be traded to when he was still playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves early this season was the Nets. According to reports, one of Butler’s preferred destinations was Brooklyn. The Nets didn’t pull the trigger for fear of jeopardizing their plans to be a big free agent destination in 2019. Add to that the fact that Butler may not be the kind of superstar that attracts other superstars to join him and you can see why the Nets were hesitant to make a move.

Butler has since been traded to the Philadelphia Sixers and the more he gets comfortable playing there, the less chances that the Nets, or any other team for that matter, may be able to pry him away from there. It will be even more difficult if the Sixers end up in the Finals this season. Regardless of how the Finals play out if they make it there, Butler may opt to stay in Philly because of the experience especially if they win a championship.

jimmy butler

If they don’t, and the three-fourths of a season experiment fails, then the Nets have a shot. Perhaps Marks will be able to woo Butler to the fold come next summer if this is the case.

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Kawhi Leonard

As Clutch Points’ own Ashish Mathur noted, Leonard is quite familiar with more than a few folks around the Nets organization.

“Nets general manager Sean Marks was an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs and not only has a great rapport with Kawhi Leonard, but also with Leonard’s uncle and advisor, Dennis Robertson. Brooklyn has 10 former Spurs employees in the organization as well.”

With this in mind, Leonard would be familiar with these people and he could feel more at home in Brooklyn than he does with the Toronto Raptors right now. In fact, he might see these former Spurs folks as somewhat like family compared to the ones he had to deal with in San Antonio during his final few months with them.

Leonard is a top five talent, someone who can take over a game on both ends of the floor. The San Diego State University alum has improved his offensive game so much that it rivals his defensive acumen and that’s saying something. As a two-time Defensive Player of the Year awardee, not only can he shut down the other team’s best player from the swingman position, he can also play the passing lanes as well as anybody.

kawhi leonard

Based on what we’ve seen so far from his play with the Raptors, Leonard is back to playing like an MVP candidate. He will be extra motivated to prove his former coach Gregg Popovich wrong that he is a leader. However, he or Butler could be Brooklyn’s second-best player because the team’s primary target will be this next guy.

Kevin Durant

By now, everyone knows about Durant and Draymond Green’s squabble. No matter how they have smoothed over their differences, it’s hard to imagine Durant forgetting the painful words hurled at him by Green as soon as he becomes a free agent.

That could pave the way for Marks to sell Durant on playing for the Nets. Durant is the kind of player that Brooklyn could get behind. He will be the undisputed leader of the team by virtue of his 2014 MVP award, two championship rings and two Finals MVP awards. Among the three players, the 7-foot forward (he’s listed at 6-foot-9, but who are they kidding?) could bring in the other superstar that the Nets need to compete with the best teams. Those other superstars could be Leonard, Butler or maybe even both.

It’s easy to imagine Durant as the Nets’ franchise player and the foundation upon which the team builds its playoff and championship roster. It will take more than a few key players for the Nets to become a title contender but as long as their foundation is secure, the other parts will be easier to manage. And that foundation could very well be Kevin Durant.