Subscribe
Follow Us
Kevin Durant ended up staying with the Brooklyn Nets after weeks of drama stemming from his trade demand. However, he certainly didn't help himself with his ultimatum. Not to mention the timing of everything.
According to a former NBA coach who spoke with Steve Bulpett of Heavy, Durant made two key mistakes that didn't help his case of getting traded. First and foremost, he basically decreased his value with his trade demand. He could have handled things silently, but that was not the case. He then only poured fuel to that fire by asking the Nets to choose between him or Steve Nash and Sean Marks.
Article Continues Below“And then Kevin doubled down on the same stupidity by giving an ultimatum designed to force their hand. He don’t really feel all that badly about Sean Marks and Steve Nash. He probably really likes them. They pretty much let him have free rein of the franchise. He doesn’t really have a problem with them. But he knew that he was looking for another leverage point to give them greater urgency to trade him even at a discounted price. So he came out with this ultimatum, and Joe Tsai looked at him and said, ‘Nah, bruh. Sorry. Not going to happen,'” the ex-coach explained.
Kevin Durant's trade demand decreasing his value is no longer news. That has been a major talking point for the most part of the saga, though at that time, many believe he would still get traded in one way or another. It is only after he had no choice but to return to Brooklyn that it was made clear how much the action hurt his value.
For what it's worth, though, it might have been difficult for the Nets to find a suitable trade for Durant even if he did not ask out or issued the ultimatum. As another front office executive said, many people don't realize how hard it is to get “proper value” in a trade from the game's top talents. Not to mention that KD is nearing the twilight of his career as he heads to his age-34 season.
“It IS difficult to trade superstars,” the exec explained to Heavy. “And we’re not just talking about an All-Star. We’re not just talking about a Hall of Famer. We’re talking about somebody who’s in the top 75 in the history of the NBA — and, to some people, a top 10 guy in the history of the NBA. That’s a difficult thing to extract proper value from.”
Now that KD has re-committed to the Nets, though, at least he can focus on improving his game and helping the team win the title. Who knows, should he prove that he can still lead a team to the championship, it might be easier to trade him should he still desire it.
