Latest Updates On Boston Celtics Pursuit Of Kevin Durant
Now inching closer and closer until the start of training camps around the NBA, there is still no certainty on what will occur with the Brooklyn Nets and Kevin Durant.
After once again making his trade request clear to owner Joseph Tsai, the Nets have continued to hold conversations with teams around the league regarding Durant, constantly leading to speculation of where the twelve-time All-Star will ultimately end up.
The Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors have been at the forefront of trade conversations since the very beginning and now, it seems like Kevin Durant getting dealt to the Boston Celtics is a very real possibility.
Fresh off their run to the 2022 NBA Finals, the Celtics will enter the 2022-23 season as one of the favorites to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy into the air at the conclusion of the season.
However, Brad Stevens has proven that he is willing to make aggressive moves in order to set Boston up for the most success possible.
I mean, just look at what he has done dating back to the trade deadline by acquiring Derrick White and then going out and getting both Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari this offseason!
Boston knows they are close to winning another championship, which is why Jaylen Brown’s name has popped up in trade rumors surrounding the Celtics and Kevin Durant.
No team in the NBA has been able to meet general manager Sean Mark’s and the Brooklyn Nets’ front-office’s asking price for Durant, yet the Celtics may very well have offered the best deal the Nets will see.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Celtics have already offered Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and a first-round pick in July, a deal the Nets did not think so highly of due to the fact that they wanted more value.
There has been speculation since that the Nets are wanting Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart included in this potential deal.
However, neither Marcus Smart nor All-Defensive center Robert Williams III have been included in any offers made by the Celtics for Kevin Durant. The Nets did counter the Celtics’ first offer, asking for Brown, Smart, draft picks and another rotational player, but nothing has been made of this second offer according to Charania.
The key thing to note with the Celtics is that they do have an All-Star-level talent that they seem to be alright dealing in a trade for Durant and that’s Jaylen Brown.
Is this necessarily a smart move for the Celtics to make though?
At 25-years-old, Brown has already proven to be an All-Star, he is one of the better two-way wings in the league and has been the perfect No. 2 option for Boston next to Jayson Tatum out on the wing.
Greed is a powerful emotion, especially from a front-office perspective in professional sports, which is where the Boston Celtics could be getting blinded here.
Just because Brown’s name has popped up in trade rumors for Durant does not necessarily mean that he is going anywhere anytime soon, but Boston does need to be careful because Brown is an extremely important piece to their championship puzzle.
Let’s just say that the Celtics had both Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari in their recent NBA Finals battle against the Golden State Warriors. Do they still lose this series in six games?
Maybe they still ultimately lose this series, but that extra firepower is what the Celtics were missing on the offensive-end of the floor, which is why they are considered the favorites to win the 2023 NBA Finals this upcoming season.
Out of all the teams in the league right now, the Boston Celtics probably have the best assets and players to give up in terms of what the Brooklyn Nets are looking for in a trade involving Kevin Durant, but this ultimately may not be the smartest move for their franchise.
At the end of the day though, this is Kevin Durant we are talking about, so this truly is a very tough decision the Celtics are facing.
