According to Stephen A. Smith, Kevin Durant is on the verge of being moved to the Boston Celtics, and there is a “Kevin Durant-Jaylen Brown deal ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline”.
The details via the Daily Mail;
‘I’m hearing that he’s on the verge of potentially being moved,’ Smith said on Monday’s edition of ESPN’s First Take. ‘Obviously, we’ve all been speculating about that, that he may be moved. They’re on the phone. I’m hearing Boston is making some calls. Keep your eye on that, Jaylen Brown. Keep your eye on that.’
Durant requested a trade out of Brooklyn prior to the season, but rescinded that demand after sitting down with owner Joseph Tsai, general manager Sean Marks and then-coach Steve Nash to hammer out his issues with the Nets.
Nash has since been fired and the Nets responded by going 30-15 under his replacement, Jacque Vaughn.
But just when things appeared to be improving in Brooklyn, the Nets (32-20) hit an impasse in extension talks with Irving, who demanded a trade. Marks acquiesced, sending Irving to the Mavericks for a 2029 first-round pick, point guard Spencer Dinwiddie and forward Dorian Finney-Smith.
Adding fuel to the rumors was Brown’s presence on Boston’s injury report Monday, with what the team described as a non-COVID illness. Brown remains questionable for Monday’s game against the Detroit Pistons.
‘Now why would Jaylen Brown be questionable?’ one fan wrote on Twitter, suggesting the team is preparing to move him in a trade.
Of course, this isn’t the first time that the 26-year-old Brown has been floated in trade rumors involving Durant.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported in July that Boston inquired about Durant and was willing to relinquish Brown.
Brown did not comment on the report directly, but did tweet ‘SMH’ – the abbreviation for ‘shaking my head.’
One potential obstacle to that deal was the Nets’ reported asking price for the 34-year-old Durant.
According to Woj, the Nets want multiple unprotected first-round picks, pick swaps and several impactful players.
The demand was somewhat similar to the trade that brought Brown to Boston: Brooklyn’s 2013 acquisition of Celtics stars Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.
At the time, the Brown-Durant trade rumors did not sit well with Tatum.
‘I played with him during the Olympics,’ Tatum said when asked about Durant. ‘Obviously, he’s a great player. But that’s not my decision. I love our team. I love the guys we got.’
Flip to the next page to watch Stephen A. Smith speak on Kevin Durant’s move…
