The Brooklyn Nets had an eventful few days before the NBA Trade Deadline. The landscape of the entire league has been changed because of the events that unfolded with the Nets leading up to the deadline.
Less than a week before, All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving issued a trade request to the team that took everyone by surprise. It didn’t even take two days before he was on his way to the Dallas Mavericks.
After that, many people wondered what would be coming next. How did Irving’s trade impact, Kevin Durant? Clearly, it wasn’t a move that led to him being confident in the franchise as he was traded on Wednesday night to the Phoenix Suns.
However, the Nets did try and make things work with Durant. There wasn’t much time, but they did make a call to the Toronto Raptors and discuss Pascal Siakam. Zach Lowe revealed what occurred during those calls on a recent episode of his Lowe Post Pod.
“I think (the Nets) told (Durant), ‘Hey man, in the summer, we can get some big names. There are going to be some big names who might ask out. We are going to collect stuff to give ourselves a shot at it,’” Lowe said. “… They tried to get Pascal Siakam now in the intervening 96 hours because KD made it known he likes Pascal Siakam. He thought he would be a good fit.”
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Brooklyn Nets Updates
Nothing came from those talks as the Raptors likely were more interested in trading for Durant than helping the Nets improve the team around him. When it became clear that the best course of action was to just rip the bandaid off, Durant landed with a preferred destination with the Suns.
However, that wasn’t the last trade talks that the Nets had. Also on his podcast, Lowe stated that the Nets received considerable interest in Mikal Bridges, one of the players that were acquired in exchange for Durant. A monster offer was put in for the versatile wing by one team.
“I know of one team – and I’ve confirmed this – I know of one team who offered four first-round picks for Mikal Bridges,” Lowe said. “Now, I know of at least three first-round picks. I think the fourth one may have had some protections or something, but I’m pretty sure that was a thing.”
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Brooklyn Nets Updates
Who that team was is anyone’s guess. It would be fair to guess that the teams who were willing to pay a premium to acquire OG Anunoby from the Raptors could have also shown interest in Bridges. The Memphis Grizzlies and Indiana Pacers would fall into that category.
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