"Even for as long as LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard have made the league wait over the years, this one has proven to be particularly protracted" - NBA insider speaks out on the Kevin Durant sweepstakes
Next week will mark a month since Kevin Durant asked to be traded out of the Brooklyn Nets. However, no clear answer seems to be in sight right now.
Is Kevin Durant waiting game proving toxic to NBA, Heat? Latest "Ask Ira" at sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-h… plus more.
In an AMA, Ira Winderman alluded to why the league would prefer that Kevin Durant get traded:
"The NBA is a league that prefers to shut down in August before ramping back up in September ahead of training camp. Still, even for as long as LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard have made the league wait over the years, this one has proven to be particularly protracted."
Will Kevin Durant meet the same fate as Kawhi Leonard?
Kawhi Leonard decided he was unwilling to play for the San Antonio Spurs after disagreements between his counsel and the Spurs management. It was about how their treatment of Leonard's quadricep injury reached a tipping point.
Leonard was eventually traded to the Toronto Raptors, where he won an NBA championship the very next season. Leonard played in just nine games in the 2017-18 season before being indefinitely out.
Also Checkout:- Kawhi Leonard Rings
Things spiraled after fellow teammates and longtime Spurs loyalists Manu Ginobilli and Tony Parker came to the defense of their organization instead of empathizing with Leonard.
Parker stated:
"I’ve been through it. It was a rehab for me for eight months. Same kind of injury (as Kawhi), but mine was a hundred times worse. But the same kind of injury. You just stay positive." (via) Tom Orsborn
June couldn't have come any faster for Leonard or the San Antonio Spurs. The debacle culminated in a trade that dispatched Leonard and Danny Green to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl.
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So will Kevin Durant, too, meet the same fate and have to sit out the entire 2022 season before teams come knocking on Brooklyn's doors?
In all honesty, it's too early a prediction, but the consensus seems to be that the Nets will start the 2022 season with Durant on their roster. The reason for such a predicament is simply the lack of resources around the league.
The two top contenders in the Kevin Durant sweepstakes made it further than the Nets this postseason. The Heat basically missed the finals over one shot, and the Suns suffered a historic Game 7 defeat in the conference semifinals.
However, neither of those teams can trade good pieces (CBA's "Rookie-extension contract acquired in a trade" clause) or don't have what Brooklyn demands.