​​NBA Bombshell: Kevin Durant Requests Trade from Nets

RIP Superteam.

Kevin Durant requested a trade from the Nets on Thursday, in a seismic move that will set back the franchise and shake up the NBA.

Three years to the day after joining Brooklyn with Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan, Durant asked out in a move first reported by The Athletic and confirmed by The Post. The Durant-Irving era ends as an error, with just 44 regular-season games played together, one playoff series victory and no rings. Just regrets.

Now Brooklyn GM Sean Marks has agreed to work with Durant and his business partner Rich Kleiman to find a new home for arguably the best player on the planet. But Marks’ unsentimental history in building Brooklyn from scratch implies he’s going to trade Durant wherever he can get the best haul.

“A top 5 player in the NBA 4 years left with no player option Unprecedented return,” tweeted ex-Nets GM Bobby Marks, now an ESPN analyst.

Historically, stars get what they want and pick their landing spots. But history hasn’t seen a situation like this. Durant is just starting a four-year deal, doesn’t have a player option or a no-trade clause, or as much leverage as one would think.

After averaging 29.9 points this past season, he’ll be the first player since 1981-82 to get traded before the following season after scoring that much — and the fourth in history, after Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and World B. Free.

Think back to 2019. Oklahoma City got five first-round picks, two years of pick swaps and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for Paul George. New Orleans got Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, three first-rounders and an unprotected swap for Anthony Davis. That should be the floor.

Durant called Nets owner Joe Tsai personally to ask to be traded, a request that has its roots in Irving’s deteriorating relationship with the team. After Irving threatened to opt out and leave for nothing — and implied that Durant could follow him out the door if he went — the point guard grudgingly ended up opting in to the final $36.5 million year of his contract.

But both seem likely gone now, with neither having any sort of contact with Marks or the front office since Irving opted in Monday. The Nets will almost certainly look to deal Irving as well, although his market will be nowhere near as robust as the one for Durant.

Brooklyn will expect to get a king’s ransom for Durant.

There has been constant talk in league circles linking Durant to Phoenix. Yahoo Sports reported the Suns are his top choice, with Miami another preference. With Ben Simmons now standing as the Nets’ foundational piece — and it clearly impossible to replace Durant like-for-like — going with elite young talent in an on-the-fly retooling makes the most sense.

The Nets would likely have targeted the Suns’ Devin Booker, but he’s reportedly inking a supermax extension, which bars him from being dealt for a year. Phoenix would rather do a sign-and-trade for Deandre Ayton, which nowhere near as tempting, and forward Mikal Bridges. But any sign-and-trade would hard-cap the Nets, and base-year compensation is another issue. A third or fourth team could be looped in.

The Heat are a possibility, but the Nets can’t trade for Bam Adebayo while Simmons is on the roster.

Much of Tsai’s business model was to go big to profit big, to do everything first class and build a star-studded team to challenge Golden State. The Nets lost money largely because of mind-bending luxury-tax bills, and after three years of the Durant-Irving experiment, they have one playoff series win and no titles.

The seeds of that failure were sown when Irving refused to get vaccinated and ended up playing just 29 games this past season — a decision that prompted James Harden to demand a trade in February. The domino effect has been devastating.

The return of that Harden trade was Simmons, Andre Drummond, Seth Curry and two first-round picks. Simmons hasn’t played for the Nets (citing a bad back and mental-health issues), Drummond is a free agent and the rebuild is on.

Again.

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