According to Yahoo Sports’ Vincent Goodwill, the Brooklyn Nets wanted big names from the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Kevin Durant.
The Brooklyn Nets are no strangers to big-name trades, evidenced most recently this past season by becoming the team that eventually traded James Harden for Ben Simmons.
The Harden situation became untenable for the New York team, and one member of their superteam trio — Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant — was finally out. A week into NBA free agency, the other two members of that trio already have their own trade rumors circulating.
While Shams Charania said there’s “no traction” on a deal sending Irving to the Los Angeles Lakers, the jury remains out on the futures of Durant and Irving in Brooklyn. Durant, who has been a staunch advocate of keeping Irving on the Nets, has four years left on his deal, but whether or not he remains has yet to be seen.
With all that being said, if the Nets were to trade one of their remaining stars, they’d theoretically ask another team to give up the farm for someone like Durant. According to Yahoo Sports NBA insider Vincent Goodwill, that’s exactly what the Nets are asking for if the Timberwolves are entertaining the idea of Durant.
“I’d heard that Brooklyn came to Minnesota and said, ‘We want Karl-Anthony Towns, we want the Ant-Man, and we want four draft picks,’” Goodwill said.
Nets expect Timberwolves to trade away their future for Kevin Durant
It’s difficult to imagine the Timberwolves trading away a young franchise pillar like Karl-Anthony Towns, especially coming off the best season of his career. The Ringer’s Dan Devine recently argued that after seven years, KAT finally has ideal pieces around him that allow him to amplify his capabilities. Undoing years of carefully coordinated chemistry would be a rash decision for Minnesota, even if it were for Kevin Durant.
But this isn’t even a 1-for-1 trade, it’s a 6-for-1 that also sends Anthony Edwards to Brooklyn. The 20-year-old shooting guard is already expected to be a “renowned superstar in the league over the next decade,” which makes a case for the 33-year-old Durant even weaker. Then the four draft picks…again, the Timberwolves would trade what’s looking like a solid expectation of success for a relative gamble that only has a few years to pan out in a championship.
There’s a reason Kevin Durant’s name has the power it does, but it’s still not powerful enough to uproot a young superstar roster out of Minnesota.