The Nets had time on their side when it comes to trading Kevin Durant following his trade request, says NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski. According to him, Brooklyn wants to create an outline for other teams about what they want in return and the Rudy Gobert trade was a good example.
“The Nets are trying to create an outline for the rest of the league about the kind of package they would want back in a Kevin Durant trade,” Woj said on SportsCenter. “I think the Rudy Gobert trade to Minnesota started to frame that. Essentially five first round picks for Gobert.
“I think for Brooklyn that level of picks, pick swaps teams could do for and then an All-Star level player, those deals are difficult to put together. Teams who would like to be really aggressive with Brooklyn because they know Kevin Durant has great interest in playing for them – Miami, Phoenix – they don’t really have the ability to do one-on-one deals with Brooklyn. They need to bring more teams into it.
“So, I think right now the market is still taking shape, and I think it’s incumbent on some of the other teams to be creative and start bringing to Brooklyn ideas, going out and seeing if they can get players, picks that would put the kind of package together it would take to get Kevin Durant.
“Brooklyn’s got time on its side. They have a lot of time left in the offseason and they have a player in Kevin Durant who has four years left on his contract. They don’t have to rush into a deal.”
