The Warriors are among the teams interested in Nets superstar Kevin Durant, sources told ESPN’s Marc J. Spears (Twitter link). As Spears points out, it is said that more than half of the league teams are interested in Durant, so it’s no surprise that Golden State is among them.
Still, there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about the idea of the Warriors emerging as Durant’s legitimate suitor. Appearing on ESPN Radio (Twitter audio link) Spears proposed a package that would include Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga and James Wiseman, but the Nets would not be allowed to acquire Wiggins without exchanging Ben Simmons, and there is no there has been no indication that they intend to move Simmons, especially considering that they should sell him for pennies on the dollar at this time.
Without Wiggins included, Klay Thompson or Draymond Green would be needed for equal pay, and it’s hard to imagine the Warriors breaking their long-term championship core to reunite with Durant, who chose to leave the organization as free agent three. years ago. Earlier this week, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report cited sources with knowledge of the situation who indicated that Golden State is the only team that is not “a tangible option” for Durant.
As we await further developments at Durant’s front, we also have a few notes to convey about him and his Nets teammate, as well as commercial candidate Kyrie Irving:
- League staff who spoke with Brian Lewis of The New York Post said the Nets are “inflexible” when it comes to reclaiming All-Star-caliber talent in any deal with Durant and that they are in no hurry to do so. no movement. League sources tell Lewis that nothing is close to being done at this time.
- Appearing on Saturday in The Rally on Bally Sports (Twitter video link), Athletic’s Shams Charania suggested that the Sixers are among the teams to watch out for Irving. It’s very hard to imagine Philadelphia making a serious play for Kyrie: she would have to part with James Harden or move Tobias Harris to reunite Irving with Harden, whose trade request outside of Brooklyn was said to be motivated in part by Kyrie’s vaccination decision. .
- For what it’s worth, FS1’s Nick Wright (Twitter link) reports that “there’s no appetite” for Irving in Philadelphia and the Sixers haven’t participated in any trade negotiations for him. According to Lewis, the 76ers are watching Irving and have spoken briefly with the Nets, but he hears from a source that “nothing happened.”
- Charania also identified the Mavericks as a possible suitor for Irving, but Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News is not convinced of that, and wrote that Kyrie is “acquiring a desperate team.” Towsend doesn’t think Dallas is that desperate.
- The Lakers remain Irving’s most likely business partner. According to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter video link), there has been some optimism on the part of the Lakers who are gaining momentum to reach an agreement with the Nets.
- In his latest Substack article, Marc Stein says he believes Irving is destined to end the Lakers. As Stein writes, he has heard “repeated returns” that LeBron James is pushing for the team to acquire Irving, and it’s “impossible to ignore the growing anticipation throughout the league” that Kyrie will land in LA.