Kevin Durant requesting a trade from the Brooklyn Nets emerged hours before the official open of free agency and has become the hottest storyline around the NBA.
Durant is one of the greatest scorers to ever play in the NBA. Before he starting missing time with an MCL sprain in January, the Nets held a 27-15 record and he was the MVP front-runner. He was averaging 29.3 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 5.8 assists while shooting 52.0% FG, 37.2% 3P, and 89.4% FT. With a stable basketball environment, any team that has him in the lineup is a contender.
The Brooklyn Nets had an ill-fitting roster with old, slow frontcourt depth coupled with underwhelming shooting threats. The Boston Celtics were able to often overload the strong-side against him and the length to contest his off-the-dribble jumpers.
Among the teams considered to be a potential suitor is the Toronto Raptors, the team that took the risk to trade for Kawhi Leonard and ended up winning a championship.
“I think a team that’s lurking is Toronto,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on NBA Today. “They have all the kinds of pieces that you would want and their picks to do a deal for Kevin Durant… Masai Ujiri, you saw the chance he took on Kawhi Leonard.”
LATEST NBA NEWS AND TRADE RUMORS: Toronto Raptors ‘Lurking’ In Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant Trade Sweepstakes
For the Nets, they are going to want a young player with a lot of potential. The Raptors are confident they have the best trade offer available to acquire Durant from the Nets, but they haven’t been willing to part with reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes to get it done.
“The Raptors have remained fixed on keeping rookie of the year Scottie Barnes out of any package they are offering,” Michael Grange reported.
There is plenty of reason to be excited about what Barnes can become as an NBA player. He is only going to be 21 before the start of the upcoming season and averaged 15.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in his first professional season. The 6-foot-7 forward brings a lot of defensive versatility and could become something intriguing offensively with proper development.
Did you catch the important word in that last paragraph? Here it is: “Could.” Durant has won an MVP and two championships, which he came away with as the Finals MVP in each. He is the type of talent Barnes should dream of even scratching the surface of becoming and almost surely will never come close in doing so. That’s not to say he isn’t a very good player already and won’t continue to develop into being very impactful. Again, we’re comparing him to Durant.
It doesn’t take long to look back at the last Raptors case of the word “could” not coming to fruition. Is OG Anunoby an All-Star? No. But there were many NBA analysts that picked him as a Most Improved Player of the Year candidate prior to the start of the 2021-22 season. Instead, he ended up being the worst isolation scorer with at least 100 possessions and was inefficient on post-ups, when running ball screens, and when involved in handoffs.
LATEST NBA NEWS AND TRADE RUMORS: Toronto Raptors ‘Lurking’ In Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant Trade Sweepstakes
The best way to sum up Anunoby’s lack of progress toward stardom is this is to look at the lack of efficiency he had as a shot creator. Among all 99 players who took at least 150 off-the-dribble jumpers (half-court) last season, his output of 0.702 points per possession was last. Again, remember, he was supposed to take that leap toward being the next Raptors star this season. To be clear, Anunoby is a very good player, but if you’re running an offense through him: Good luck. Until proven otherwise, Barnes falls under a similar category.
Banking on the hypothetical potential of a player can be a dangerous game when there is a major opportunity cost at hand. Fred VanVleet is coming off an All-Star season while Pascal Siakam earned an All-NBA Third-Team nod. Both of those players are 28 years old and have a lot of great basketball left in the tank. For a team that has those talents and embraces competing on defense, imagine if they had Kevin Durant to add to be the top option? On top of that, Durant is signed for the next four seasons.
LATEST NBA NEWS AND TRADE RUMORS: Toronto Raptors ‘Lurking’ In Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant Trade Sweepstakes
Trading for Durant is a decision seems to fall under the ‘no brainer’ category. Finding elite players is what building a team ultimately is all about. You don’t win championships without them. Toronto should know more than anybody considering they won it all with Kawhi Leonard and have since been mediocre without him.
If the Toronto Raptors have the option to trade for Kevin Durant while being able to keep a reigning All-Star and member of an All-NBA team, make the trade. It’s that simple.
