Is the ball in Brad Stevens’ court with Kevin Durant trade talks?

It’s been fairly a while for the reason that final Kevin Durant replace, however The Athletic’s Shams Charania broke the silence Monday.

Based on Charania, Durant met with Nets owner Joe Tsai over the weekend to reiterate his commerce request, additionally giving Tsai an ultimatum to decide on between himself or the GM/coach duo of Sean Marks and Steve Nash.

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Charania additionally states that the Celtics are one in every of three groups who will be thought of “vital candidates” to land Durant, joined by the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat.

Based on Charania’s sources, Boston’s reported package deal centering round younger star Jaylen Brown is seen as a viable deal.

With the 2022-23 NBA season just some months away, the already-intriguing Durant drama is about to ramp up. The Nets don’t wish to drag this out into coaching camp, which leaves a good window for a deal to be accomplished over the approaching weeks.

Right now’s reporting stresses an idea that has been floating round my thoughts for some time now, which is that the ball may very well be in Brad Stevens’ court docket relating to commerce talks with Brooklyn.

Let’s study different potential packages that might rival Boston’s pursuit of the two-time NBA champion.

As acknowledged earlier, it seems like Miami and Toronto are the one different groups in rivalry to accumulate Durant in the intervening time. We’ll begin with the Warmth.

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Are you actually a star if the Warmth aren’t rumored to be in on you?

Miami’s curiosity in Durant might be true, however Pat Riley’s workforce doesn’t really feel like an actual risk to land Durant for one large purpose. The Nets will not be in a position to commerce for Bam Adebayo whereas Ben Simmons is on the roster because of CBA guidelines relating to rookie max extensions. This leaves the Warmth with restricted choices to place collectively a package deal for one of many league’s greatest gamers.

That package deal would focus on Tyler Herro and draft picks. Herro is a strong participant, however he’ll want an extension shortly and doesn’t evaluate to the expertise that Boston or Toronto can supply.

Talking of the Raptors, they’re the one workforce that might put collectively a worthy package deal to compete with Boston proper now. Assuming Scottie Barnes is off the desk — as he must be — Masai Ujiri may supply Brooklyn some mixture of Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby and picks.

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Siakam — who is sort of six years youthful than Durant — is coming off a formidable season through which he averaged 22.8 factors and racked up a career-high 8.5 rebounds per contest. Anunoby is an attractive younger prospect who simply averaged 17.1 factors per sport, additionally showcasing his elite defensive capabilities on a nightly foundation. Assuming the Raptors could be keen to supply three or extra picks, this can be a strong potential return for the Nets.

All of that stated, Toronto’s supply nonetheless looks like a definitive step down from what Boston can convey to the desk. Jaylen Brown is essentially the most beneficial single piece in any reasonable commerce for Durant. There are some followers on the market who don’t wish to swap Brown for Durant straight-up, and that isn’t an absurd opinion.

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Brown is eight years youthful than Durant, contemporary off a powerful 2021-22 marketing campaign through which he averaged 23.6 factors and 6.1 rebounds per sport. The 25-year-old was additionally Boston’s greatest participant within the NBA Finals. There are rightfully considerations about buying and selling him for an older, albeit clearly higher Durant.

The Celtics’ commerce package deal wouldn’t finish with Brown both. The Nets already reportedly turned down a proposal of Brown, Derrick White and a first-round choose. Some dispute that this deal was ever truly provided, nevertheless it feels fairly near what Brad Stevens would want to placed on the desk to land Durant.

Whereas this can be studying an excessive amount of into it, Charania’s wording even looks like Boston is the clear frontrunner in commerce talks. He solely dives into further particulars about Durant’s match with the Celtics in his newest article, stressing the 33-year-old’s robust relationship with Ime Udoka.

Contemplating Brown’s standing as the most effective obtainable participant in any commerce package deal and Boston’s reported willingness to place extra on the desk, it looks as if the ball is in Stevens’ court docket proper now in potential discussions with Brooklyn. Will he be keen to supply extra for the most effective gamers in NBA historical past, or will Sean Marks blink first and take much less simply to get the Durant saga over with?

Solely time will inform, however all eyes are on Stevens because the Celtics’ President of Basketball Operations has a particularly robust choice to make.