When Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Tuesday that Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets were having challenging conversations about their future together, the entire NBA took notice of a significant change of posture from the franchise. For the entire offseason, the Nets seemed adamant they would not trade Durant but a trade with the Phoenix Suns came together quickly.
“There was a big giant record scratch in the NBA,” said Brian Windhorst. “Wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay.
“The Nets were full bore still salvaging the season with Kevin Durant on Monday. Then all of a sudden it changed. Instead of there being an auction for his services where you would have a bunch of teams bidding as we saw in the frothing of the mouth last summer when he made his trade demand… Instead it became a covert, one-team negotiation. And that one-team negotiation is from an owner who took the team over a few hours beforehand and the only place Durant wanted to go.
“And the trade offer the Suns would not have made and in fact I don’t believe did make last summer under Robert Sarver. They were willing to make [under Mat Ishbia].”
Windhorst also detailed how the NBA expedited the transfer of ownership to Ishbia to take effect before the trade deadline.
When Durant requested a trade from the Nets last offseason, he signaled he preferred to end up with the Suns.