The NBA world has shifted all of its focus to the Brooklyn Nets following Kevin Durant’s request to be traded. He isn’t the only Net that has been involved in NBA trade rumors since, but he is grabbing a majority of the headlines and rightfully so.
Durant remains one of the best players in the league and Brooklyn is looking for a historic haul in return for him. Acquiring him from Brooklyn will not be an easy task as they are looking for All-Star players and a boatload of draft picks in return.
If the report being shared by Vince Goodwill of Yahoo Sports and a host on SiriusXM NBA are true, the bar has been set astronomically high by the Nets. He shared that the Nets sent a trade proposal to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Durant and that they asked for Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards and four draft picks.
Minnesota declined that trade, which isn’t too surprising. Durant is a great player, but surrendering the two foundational pieces of the roster in Towns and Edwards is an asking price no single player is worth before even considering the draft compensation that was asked for.
LATEST NBA NEWS AND TRADE RUMORS: Brooklyn Nets Not Thrilled With Kevin Durant Trade Offers
One of the issues that Brooklyn is going to run into is that teams around the league know Durant wants to end up with the Phoenix Suns. As a result, they aren’t going to part ways with high-end assets knowing he could very well request a trade again sooner than later, just as James Harden did. It would be hard to imagine Durant being happy in Minnesota, let alone without Towns and Edwards on the roster.
The Timberwolves did end up pulling off a blockbuster trade with the Utah Jazz. They acquired three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert in exchange for Patrick Beverley, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro, Walker Kessler, four first-round draft picks and a draft swap.
That is essentially five first-round picks if you consider Kessler, who was selected No. 22 overall in the 2022 NBA Draft. The selections in 2024, 2025 and 2027 are all unprotected, while the 2029 pick is top-five protected. There is also a pick swap in 2026.
LATEST NBA NEWS AND TRADE RUMORS: Brooklyn Nets Not Thrilled With Kevin Durant Trade Offers
While that deal required just as much draft capital, it resulted in the Minnesota Timberwolves having a Big 3 of Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert instead of a Big 1 in Durant. If that is the kind of package Brooklyn is looking for, finding a trade partner is going to take quite a while.
