The deal of the century: The most ideal trades for Kevin Durant

All over the NBA are waiting to see how the star's summer saga will end, and in honor of that we have put together a series of intriguing proposals: from the city that needs a savior, to the way to collaborate with young guards to the huge package of draft picks

cliff ravine

02/08/2022

Tuesday, August 2, 2022, 9:00 p.m

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Kevin Durant is training for the start of the season (from Twitter)

In today's NBA, the power has long since passed into the hands of the players.

Every year, superstars who are under fat contracts decide that they are fed up with the existing situation, demand to leave, and drag the transfer market in the NBA into a spin.

This summer it seems that the rotation is especially big and even hinders other moves around the league.

The reason?

In the last decade there has not been a player of the caliber of Kevin Durant who asked for a trade.

Although at the beginning of the upcoming season he will be 34 years old and despite the injuries that caused him to be absent quite a bit in recent years, Durant is still one of the greatest scorers of all time and every team is thirsty for a player with such a set of abilities.

However, the star's trade value is a mystery.

On the one hand, in exchange for players like Dejontae Murray and Rudy Gober, teams gave up three and four draft picks, so the price for Durant must be higher, certainly when he still has four years left on his contract.

On the other hand, the medical history and the problems that have been discovered in Brooklyn in recent years may discourage groups and give the impression that they have lowered the price.

When Durant asked to leave, the teams mentioned as the ones he wanted to move to were Phoenix and Miami.

The Suns signed DeAndre Ayton to a new contract and won't be able to move him until January, which in the short term puts them out of the running.

The best player the Heat agree to offer so far is Tyler Hero - and that's not enough.

In light of the complex situation Durant found himself in and the stagnation in the market, we decided to put forward several particularly intriguing offers.

Recommendation: come with an open mind.

* Note - some of the players involved in trades can only move from a certain date in the offseason due to various restrictions.

Soon in green?

Durant with Tatum (Photo: GettyImages, elsa)

The big market that awaits: Boston Celtics

The return: Jaylen Brown, Derek White, Grant Williams, three first-round picks A

trade offer that was already on the table, which the Nets demanded to change and add Marcus Smart, the defensive player of the season.

At age 25, Brown already has impressive playoff mileage and this year he's proven that he can be trusted in playoff series on both ends of the court.

The decision between Durant and Brown is controversial, but the Celtics have proven throughout their modern history that they don't mince words and are willing to give up their stars if they get an even fatter fish.

Relinquishing Brown and Smart is actually relinquishing Boston's current identity, so in my opinion it is too high a price, but in this deal the Nets get two rotation players in addition to Brown on fairly favorable contracts that they can move on if necessary.

For Durant, it is an opportunity to reunite with one of the representatives of the younger generation whom he knows well from the United States team - Jayson Tatum.

The offensive threat in the wings will be even scarier than it is today, and this may be the step that will bring the Greens closer to title number 18.

You need to understand the context, even in preparation for the next offers.

Brooklyn is betting its future on a trade with Houston for James Harden and is left with a small amount of draft picks.

This means that if it doesn't spread a huge amount of picks in the Durant deal, it will have to get back a star that will keep the club's head above water and save it from deteriorating into irrelevance, as happened to the Nets several years in the previous decade.

More in Walla!

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In collaboration with the lottery

Will he leave again in exchange for a bigger star?

DeRozan versus Durant (Photo: Reuters)

The city that needs a savior: Chicago Bulls

The payoff: DeMar DeRozan, Patrick Williams, Kobe White, three first-round picks

since the heady days of Michael Jordan, only one player has made Chicago fans dream big - Derek Rose.

The explosive guard looked like the real deal when he was named the league's MVP in his third season, but serious injuries quickly dashed the fantasy and fans in Illinois are still waiting for their first NBA Finals of this millennium.

Durant can enter the savior slot and take the Ghost City to new heights.

Chicago will forever be Jordan's city, but if Durant gets there and leads it to a championship, it will be a huge boost to his legacy.

In such a trade, the Bulls are forced to give up the player they fell in love with this season at first sight.

Last year, DeRozan looked like an MVP candidate at times, but he's only a year younger than Durant, and as Toronto gave him up to get Kawhi Leonard (and everyone remembers how that ended), the Bulls also know they're getting a player who raises their ceiling.

The shell in the Bulls is great: Zach LaVine is a great talent on the offensive side, and the team has a series of quality guards in the various positions such as Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, Ayo Dosunmo and Derek Jones Jr.

This trade leaves the Bulls a little thin on the wings in light of the fact that Patrick Williams was also included in the trade, but this is a solvable issue.

Williams is a particularly intriguing forward, but in his two years in the league he has yet to prove himself on the offensive side.

Kobi White, who has been mentioned all summer as a candidate to leave and somehow it hasn't happened yet, is a guard who can contribute off the bench to any team and is also on a contract that ends next summer.

Bottom line - Brooklyn gives up a superstar, but gets back a star and an intriguing young man.

Chicago gives up a young and intriguing star, and accepts who may yet turn out to be its new hero.

Huge potential.

Jackson Jr. (Photo: GettyImages, Andy Lyons)

Puberty: Memphis Grizzlies

The return: Jaren Jackson Jr., Xavier Tillman, Steven Adams or Danny Green, four first round picks

Ja Morant is about to open his fourth season in the league, and every year there has been progress in the individual and team aspect.

In the debut season, the Grizzlies lost in the playoffs in the bubble, in the second season they surprised Golden State in the playoffs and were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, and last year the explosion came.

The Grizzlies stunned the league, looked great even when Morant didn't play, and finished second in the Western Conference.

If Morant hadn't been injured in the second round series against the Warriors, the sky is the limit.

Now that the Grizzlies have gone from building mode to making a run for a championship, a trade for Durant will only echo that message.

It feels like a message that is repeated every year, but the West has gotten stronger.

The Grizzlies did not make any significant changes to the roster this summer and the danger is that standing still will actually lead to going backwards.

The highlight of the trade is the waiver of Jackson Jr.

On the one hand, he is one of the best defensive players in the league at the moment and has the potential to be one of the best interior players in the NBA.

On the other hand, this is a player who has suffered quite a bit of bad luck and injuries, and he is not expected to start the upcoming season before 2023 either. The versatile forward earns about 29 million dollars in the upcoming season, but in his contract for the next four years, the amount only decreases from year to year, which is quite unusual in the landscape.

For a player with such a high ceiling, it's a gamble that might pay off.

To the trade we added "decorations" such as Tillman, a young center who proved a significant contribution to the team, and the expiring contract of Adams or the injured Green.

The advantage for the Grizzlies is that in negotiations they have more cards to draw.

They can offer Dillon Brooks and leave the stage even more open for Desmond Bain, they can also offer youngsters like Zaire Williams or one of the players they selected in the last draft.

And for the sake of the picaresque, Durant could be a particularly intriguing addition to the developing rivalry between the Grizzlies and the former Golden State.

They made life difficult for Phoenix, even without Zaion.

McCollum (Photo: Reuters)

Election campaign - New Orleans Pelicans

The return: Brandon Ingram, Jackson Hayes, Devonte Graham, Kyra Lewis or Dyson Daniels and six first-round picks.

Except for Oklahoma City, which refuses to be competitive in the short term, the Pelicans have the richest pool of draft picks in the league, with 13 first-round picks through 2029. Except for the picks On its own, New Orleans gained quite a few picks from the trades for Anthony Davis to the Lakers and Jrue Holiday to Milwaukee which they could use to land Durant and unexpectedly break into the top battles in the West.

What is certain is that no team will be able to offer the Nets the amount of picks that the Pelicans have, and as already mentioned, Brooklyn is thirsty for picks.

He has tough competition from Jaylen Brown and DeMar DeRozan, but Brandon Ingram is a serious contender to be the best player the Nets could get in the Durant deal.

Many compared the two early in Ingram's career due to his physical build, and while he has yet to reach those same heights, Ingram is a good enough player to build a team around.

After a terrible start to last season, the Pelicans were able to get back on track and reach the playoffs after a four-year absence, all without Zaion Williamson, who should return to action this year.

The Pelicans did lose to Phoenix in the first round, but they made it very difficult for the Suns and were very fun to watch in that series.

CJ McCollum is a proven guard in the league, and the team is full of veteran and young players who can contribute to a winning team in the immediate term - Jonas Valanciunas, Larry Nance Jr., Herb Jones, Jose Alvarado and this is only a partial list.

Add Zion and Durant to that, and you have a very interesting team here.

It is not impossible that this is the best offer that the Nets could receive - now they just need to convince Durant to live in New Orleans.

Young, mature?

Allen, Garland and Mobley (Photo: Reuters)

Speeding up the process - Eastern version: Cleveland Cavaliers

The payoff: Jarrett Allen, Colin Sexton and three first round picks

Although it didn't end in the playoffs, the Cubs were one of the surprising and fun teams of the past season.

Darius Garland broke through in a big way to be selected for the All-Star game, the rookie Evan Mobley proved that he is ready and together with Jarrett Allen put together one of the best front lines in the league.

Maybe it's a risk, but in my eyes, Garland and Mobley, accompanied by a veteran like Durant, are already ready to fight in the advanced stages of the playoffs.

As part of the trade, the Cubs are forced to make a painful concession, dismantle that impressive front line and return to the Nets Am Allen, who came to them in the four-way trade for James Harden.

Brooklyn gets an All-Star, a colorful owner, and with him also the most senior free agent left on the market - Colin Sexton.

The talented guard missed most of last season due to injury, and watched Garland flourish in his absence.

As mentioned, Sexton is a restricted free agent who can decide where to go, and if the situation with the resurgent Nets seems suitable to him, he could be included in the "sign and trade" framework.

The advantage the Cavaliers have over the rest of the teams on the list is that they have a lot more assets to put on the table in negotiations, so the proposed deal could just be the foundation for something even bigger.

Assuming that Garland and Mobley are of course not included in the talks, the Cubs can offer youngsters like Isaac Okoro and rookie Ochai Agbaji, or proven rotation players on fairly affordable contracts like Caris Levert, Lauri Markkanen or Chadi Osman.

Here, too, a persuasive campaign may be necessary for Durant to come live in "LeBron's city", but with him the sky is the limit for this team.

In conclusion, there are many teams that can formulate intriguing offers and solve the floundering around Kevin Durant.

Of course, the Nets will not give him up so quickly and may try to delay, but if the legendary forward is determined and insists on leaving, history shows that Brooklyn will have no real choice.

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