Media Reacts to Kevin Durant's Trade Request From the Brooklyn Nets
By Liam McKeone
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It seems Kevin Durant has had enough of the circus that has been the Brooklyn Nets organization over the last two years. The former MVP and superstar officially requested a trade this afternoon in a stunning move that is, in many ways, truly without precedent.
Durant requested a trade with the team today, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/BkNEHwkrc0
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2022
A perennial MVP candidate like Durant rarely asks for a trade, and never asks right after signing a four-year contract extension that doesn't include a no-trade clause. If Durant wants out no matter what, as the request seems to indicate, then he has no say over where he'll end up next. The Nets are empowered to take the best package no matter who offers it.
The trade request has rocked the NBA world. Here are some of the immediate reactions from the sports media world.
ESPN -- Brian Windhorst, Tim Bontemps, and Dan Graziano on This Just In
Dan Graziano was joined by Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps for the first ESPN reaction to the KD trade during the airing of This Just In, normally hosted by Max Kellerman. I bet he's unhappy he was off today. Anyway, Windhorst dominated most of the segment with his insider info, saying Brooklyn would honor KD's trade request and very likely end up trading Kyrie Irving, too. The crew at large were in awe of the size of this moment.
ESPN -- Adrian Wojnarowski and Malika Andrews on NBA Today
The latest on Kevin Durant requesting a trade from the Nets from @wojespn.
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) June 30, 2022
Join us now on ESPN2 for our NBA Today Free Agency special as we break it all down. pic.twitter.com/dsRBjecW8S
Fortunately for all the main sports companies, everything was all set up for full-time basketball coverage today anyway because free agency begins tonight. So it was no hassle at all to get Adrian Wojnarowski onto NBA Today with Malika Andrews and let him cook. Woj provided more intimate details in regards to how the trade request went down and said there was a sense of "inevitability" and that everybody expected this day to come.
Fox Sports -- Emmanuel Acho and Marcellus Wiley on Speak For Yourself
.@EmmanuelAcho: Kevin Durant is looking real Halle Berry right now... pic.twitter.com/mE3FjEaNjR
— Speak For Yourself (@SFY) June 30, 2022
.@MarcellusWiley gives his reaction to Kevin Durant requesting a trade from the Nets.
— Speak For Yourself (@SFY) June 30, 2022
“KD is using what he got to get what he wants. What does he want? Another title. What has he realized? It won’t come in Brooklyn.” pic.twitter.com/B36pfL8Vvo
The crew of Speak For Yourself had the Fox Sports stage when the news broke. Marcellus Wiley observed that a good player is using his leverage to compete for championships. Emmanuel Acho said he's looking "real Halle Berry-ish" which apparently means that KD looks good from a distance but any long-term relationship isn't going to work out. Apparently like Halle Berry. It felt like Acho was steering real close to danger but kept himself out of serious trouble.
Fox Sports -- Nick Wright
DO IT!!! https://t.co/ii8qPfoWFE
— nick wright (@getnickwright) June 30, 2022
LeBron & AD, PG13 & Kawhi, and KD & Kyrie teamed up in the same Summer.
— nick wright (@getnickwright) June 30, 2022
The Lakers have been largely pilloried by the media in this era. They also won a Championship.
Meanwhile, KD/Kyrie & Kawhi/PG13 played a combined ZERO (0) Finals, or even Conference Finals, games together.
Lakers management is AWOL & the Russ trade was a disaster… BUT they won a title, both of their stars want to be there & only owe 1 more pick.
— nick wright (@getnickwright) June 30, 2022
Kawhi hasn’t played in over a year & the Nets just disintegrated in record time AND neither BK or LAC have any of their own picks.
Wright had a multi-tweet reaction to the news that started with retweeting a First Things First segment from last week in which he urged Durant to return to the Oklahoma City Thunder and ended with comparing the state of affairs of all the teams who created superteams in the summer of 2019 -- the Lakers, the Clippers, and the Nets.
Bill Simmons
Most fun KD trade outcomes for all of us just from a HOLY SHIT standpoint…
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) June 30, 2022
1. Zion/Pels
2. AD/Lakers
3. Knicks
4. OKC
5. Boston
Finishing last… Sacramento
Here's Bill Simmons' list of the most fun possible outcomes from this.