Kevin Durant shocked a lot of people around the NBA when he requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets. It had to be a decision that he has thought long and hard about as the Nets have given him everything that he has asked for during his tenure with the team.
They provided him a chance to team up with Kyrie Irving during free agency in 2019, also signing his friend DeAndre Jordan.
A head coaching change was made at his behest, as Kenny Atkinson was replaced by Steve Nash. It is hard to imagine James Harden was acquired without any input from Durant on the plan.
For three years the Nets have bent and did everything he asked, yet he still requested a trade. We haven’t heard much about his thinking when it comes to that request, as the only thing we know is that the Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat are the two teams that have been mentioned as being on his preference list.
LATEST NBA NEWS AND RUMORS: Kendrick Perkins Has Theory Kevin Durant Doesn’t Want Brooklyn Nets Trade
However, that isn’t for a lack of effort. Players around the league have reached out to Durant but haven’t gotten any responses back. According to Chris Haynes on the latest “Post Up With Chris Haynes” podcast, he revealed that Durant has gone radio silent.
“Since he requested a trade, there’s been numerous stars that I’ve spoken to that have been trying to get in touch with him to pick his brain and see if he would consider other avenues, just want to see what he’s thinking. KD’s gone dark,” Haynes said. “He’s not talking to anybody, not answering anybody’s phone calls, not responding to texts. KD has gone dark. The only time you see him get out into the sunlight is when he responds on Twitter and he’s not saying much on there aside from probably going at a fan or something like that. But yeah, he’s gone dark. I guess he’s hoping this process plays out the way he wants to, but he’s pretty much not speaking with anybody right now aside from his inner circle.”
While teams cannot interact with Durant as long as he is under contract with the Nets, as that would break the league’s tampering policy, players are free to interact with one another. Players could have been attempting to recruit Durant to their teams, but those messages aren’t reaching him unless they are sending him tweets on Twitter.
LATEST NBA NEWS AND RUMORS: Kendrick Perkins Has Theory Kevin Durant Doesn’t Want Brooklyn Nets Trade
This is certainly an odd development. If Durant really wanted to get traded, you would think he would help the process along as much as he can. Going silent and talking to no one certainly isn’t going to help things at all and will make things a little tougher on his representation that is attempting to find him a new team to play with.
