Kevin Durant plants the Brooklyn Nets and revolutionizes NBA free agency

The first bomb did not take long to fall.

The free agency of the NBA began in the early hours of this Friday with one of the most surprising news of the year: Kevin Durant asked to leave the Brooklyn Nets.

At 33 years old -they will be 34 when the next season begins-, the forward, one of the best players of all time, requested the transfer around 9:00 p.m. this Thursday (Spanish peninsular time), according to the journalist from

Shams Charania.

A few minutes later, before midnight, the time set for free agency to start, Chris Haynes, a journalist from Yahoo!, reported that the preferred destination of the '7' was the Phoenix Suns.

Durant, in Brooklyn since 2019, has been a two-time NBA champion with the Warriors (2017 and 2018, being Finals MVP both times), the league MVP in 2014, a 12-time

and the best scorer in the championship. on four occasions.

In addition, the one from Washington is part of the newly released list of the 75 best players of all time.

Now, after three years without achieving the coveted ring in Brooklyn, where his duo with Kyrie Irving has fallen far short of achieving the expected results —only 44 games together in the triennium—, the forward with infinite arms wants to embark on a new adventure, the fourth since he arrived in the league in 2007 at the hands of the Seattle Supersonics (later the Oklahoma City Thunder).

Durant, who has averaged 30 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists this season with the Nets, who were swept 4-0 in the first round of the

against the Boston Celtics, will now join a franchise capable of weathering a contract already already millionaire: 42.9 million in 2023;

46.4 in 2024;

49.8 in 2025;

and 53.2 in 2026, after turning 38 years old.

So, he will be a free agent.

The rest of the league, on

With Durant's trade request, most teams have swerved their plans in free agency.

More than half of the franchises called Brooklyn to ask about the small forward this morning, according to ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski.

Phoenix, Portland and Miami sound like the main candidates, but we will still have to wait.

After several tried, still unsuccessfully, to seduce the Nets, many teams have settled for the possibility of making their rosters by fishing in a troubled river.

To begin with, Kyrie Irving, who had promised —once again— to stay on his team, in this case Brooklyn, it seems that his future linked to the Big Apple is no longer so clear.

LeBron James' Lakers are a more than possible destination, as they would be willing to get rid of Russell Westbrook and a first round

to recruit the point guard from Melbourne, who already tasted the honeys of success with

in the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Jalen Brunson, 25-year-old point guard and Luka Doncic's guarantee squire in the Dallas Mavericks in the last

, has decided to leave the Texan franchise and sign for the New York Knicks.

The reason, a succulent contract that many consider excessive for a player whose level is not close to that of the league's big stars: 104 million dollars spread over four seasons.

Juancho Hernangómez, who acknowledged a few weeks ago to EL PAÍS his desire to continue in the NBA, has been cut by his team, the Utah Jazz, so he has become a free agent and will be able to sign for any franchise in the next few hours.

In turn, the Jazz have sent Royce O'Neale, one of the pillars in the starting lineup, to Brooklyn, in what appears to be the beginning of a clear reconstruction.

More information

Mexican-American player Juan Toscano-Anderson signs for the Lakers

A few hours earlier, the San Antonio Spurs had traded Dejounte Murray, an

last season, to the Atlanta Hawks, where he will form a very high-level outside pairing with Trae Young.

In exchange, the Spurs received three first-round

and Italian Danilo Gallinari, whom they cut shortly after to become a free agent.

It seems clear that in San Antonio he awaits a year full of defeats with a single objective: to recruit

Victor Wembanyama in the 2023

In total, this morning almost 2,000 million dollars have been committed in just six and a half hours of movements.

Much of the blame lies with the renewals of Nikola Jokic (270 million over five years to stay with the Denver Nuggets; the most lucrative contract in NBA history), Bradley Beal (251 million over five years with the Washington Wizards), Devin Booker and Karl Anthony-Towns (224 in four years to continue in Phoenix and Minnesota respectively).

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