Nets want to bring their team back, hoping Kevin Durant agrees to return

Windhorst: So from what I can gather, it appears he and the Nets are looking forward to meeting up in training camp. Whether Kevin Durant is there and his level of buy-in, that’s the big question. But right now, I think the Nets want to run this team back and they’re hoping Kevin Durant agrees. The way they’re conducting trade talks and the prices they are asking has teams out there thinking they don’t really want to trade Kevin Durant anyway. They want to bring this team back. We’ll see if Kevin Durant goes along with that in training camp.
Source: YouTube

What’s the buzz on Twitter?

Duane Rankin @DuaneRankin
#Celtics and #Suns 1-2 in Kevin Durant’s ‘next team’ odds (via @OddsCheckerUS). pic.twitter.com/n2P9BB9clF – 2:13 PM Lev Akabas @LevAkabas
With his contract extension yesterday, LeBron moved back ahead of Durant in the race for most guaranteed earnings in NBA history (and U.S. sports history, actually)
Read more from @kbadenhausen: https://t.co/RH08mvPSp0 pic.twitter.com/smkP7KdLJI – 11:57 AM Get Up @GetUpESPN
“If there was a party at a nightclub, KD would show up with a basketball if he could. … This brother is about ball! … I cannot see him sitting out because he wants to play elsewhere.”
😂 @Stephen A. Smith pic.twitter.com/8h5NFyDQD8 – 11:17 AM Get Up @GetUpESPN
“KD, Kyrie, Ben Simmons, you are a top four team in the NBA. You are a title contender, which makes me say to Joe Tsai, tell ’em all … ‘You gonna stay right here and give me this year.'”
—@Stephen A. Smith pic.twitter.com/9UVoPAjMme – 10:57 AM Keith Smith @KeithSmithNBA
Throwing this out there because I’m generally curious as to what folks are thinking: Who actually gets traded before the season starts?
K. Durant
D. Mitchell
K. Irving
R. Westbrook
B. Hield
M. Turner
Do you think any move? Some move? None move? I’m very curious on gut feelings. – 9:57 AM Kurt Helin @basketballtalk
PBT Podcast: Durant drama, is trade request bad for his legacy? nba.nbcsports.com/2022/08/17/pbt… – 11:40 PM Clemente Almanza @CAlmanza1007
KD & Chet in the gym together pic.twitter.com/wASTdHriF5 – 8:15 PM Kristian Winfield @Krisplashed
Column: Kevin Durant and the Nets need each other, even if both sides won’t admit it trib.al/tTURWPS – 5:54 PM Chris Mannix @SIChrisMannix
NEW @TheCrossover Pod w/@Howard Beck: KD responds to a trade report, latest on the Knicks, Jazz talks on Donovan Mitchell, more. @SInow Links: bit.ly/2w1G5e2 – 4:01 PM Jeff Goodman @GoodmanHoops
Can the Celtics Win A Championship without Kevin Durant? | Bob Ryan & Jeff Goodman Podcast | Powered by @AthleticGreens twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1… – 4:00 PM Sam Quinn @SamQuinnCBS
For the “a trade is coming” crowd based on LeBron extending, I’d assume a Pacers trade is likelier than Kyrie if this is some sort of hint that a deal is imminent. I don’t think that’s the case, but even if it is, Kyrie still feels tied to what happens with KD. – 3:18 PM StatMuse @statmuse
Most guaranteed career earnings (millions):
$532 — LeBron James
$499 — Kevin Durant
$470 — Steph Curry
$450 — Damian Lillard
👑 pic.twitter.com/zOHQLi3Jus – 3:12 PM Nick Friedell @NickFriedell
The league told you all you need to know about what it thinks of the Nets as a marquee franchise moving forward with the Christmas schedule. That’s the NBA’s biggest day — and Kevin Durant is one of the game’s biggest stars — and the Nets are nowhere to be found. – 3:11 PM Adrian Wojnarowski @wojespn
The two-year, $97.1M extension, which includes a 15 percent trade kicker, makes LeBron James the highest earning player in NBA history with $532M in guaranteed money. He surpasses Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant. pic.twitter.com/UUHMspiKZp – 2:58 PM Gerald Bourguet @GeraldBourguet
Off to Hawaii for 10 days! In other words, smart money is on some big Kevin Durant trade breaking within the next 10 days – 1:26 PM Evan Sidery @esidery
Jaylen Brown reportedly is the best player offered in any Kevin Durant trade package thus far.
However, one team could come out of nowhere and top Boston’s offer. Here are some sleeper teams to keep an eye on during the Durant derby (via @basketbllnews): basketballnews.com/stories/nba-tr… – 1:05 PM BasketNews @BasketNews_com
Victor Wembanyama compared himself to Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant. He also found parallels on the defensive end with Rudy Gobert 👀 pic.twitter.com/KJAn2HfpMC – 12:29 PM

More on this storyline

Among the executives with whom I spoke, a Boston deal with Jaylen Brown as the centerpiece appears to be the unofficial front-runner here. In general terms, sources say the Nets are using the fact that the Celtics (and perhaps other teams) have made their second-best player available as a baseline of sorts in negotiations. Translation: If you’re still trying to discuss a Durant deal without putting your second-best talent on the table, then just stop wasting everyone’s time and bow out of this race. -via The Athletic / August 18, 2022 “Marks is still asking for the world; that won’t change,” one front office executive texted late last week. “They could call his bluff and make him come to camp. I can’t see him sitting out.” -via The Athletic / August 18, 2022 Brian Lewis: The #Nets – following Kevin Durant’s trade request – have seen their nationally-televised games on ABC, ESPN and TNT – slashed in half from last season, from 26 down to 13. They go from five ABC tilts down to just one. #NBA -via Twitter @NYPost_Lewis / August 17, 2022