Report: Nets Only Worked With Suns on Kevin Durant Deal

PHOENIX -- It's Super Bowl week here in the Valley, but don't tell the Phoenix Suns.

Even in spite of this hemisphere's largest sporting event being played here in the state of Arizona, the Suns sent shockwaves through the entire sports landscape by acquiring Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant.

The Suns and Durant were previously linked together in the summer but nothing came to fruition. Now, with Brooklyn selling at the deadline and Phoenix looking to upgrade their championship dreams to reality, a deal was done that saw Cam Johnson, Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder and four first-round picks dealt to Brooklyn.

NBA insider Shams Charania says the Nets only worked with the Suns when Durant said he wanted out.

"The moment Kevin Durant requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets come the summer time, there was a lot of angst in what would happen in that situation. He recommitted to the Nets after meeting with Joe Tsai and Sean Marks and the organization let him know that if things go south over the course of this season, they would work with him to find him a new home," said Charania.

"We've seen what has happened over the last week where Kyrie Irving requested a trade, Kevin Durant was fully locked in on this season and Kyrie Irving made a trade demand and that changed everything around the Nets. It changed everything around Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns emerged in the last several days as his preferred destination, and I'm told the Suns and Nets started negotiations Sunday into Monday.

"So they've been going back and forth on a framework for the last couple of days, and it reached a pretty high threshold: Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, four first-round picks, a swap. It's a massive haul that now pairs Kevin Durant with Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton and Chris Paul."

Reporting on the process that led the Nets to work with only the Suns on a Kevin Durant trade: pic.twitter.com/nHBdBCjyWN
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 9, 2023