“The hard part for teams is ‘Maybe we can get Kevin Durant in a trade but will we have enough to win a championship?’” - Adrian Wojnarowski gives the latest on the Kevin Durant sweepstakes
After getting off to an exciting start, the Kevin Durant sweepstakes have reached a standstill. No team appears to have the necessary resources to acquire Durant.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski spoke about the Durant sweepstakes, stating:
"He is under contract for four years and my sense is the owner is willing, unless they get a deal for Kevin Durant, he is willing to have an uncomfortable situation ... Brooklyn is trying it trade Kevin Durant and you look at the marketplace, five first-round picks for Rudy Gobert or whatever Donovan Mitchell might fetch.
"I think the hard part for teams is 'Maybe we can get Kevin Durant in a trade but will we have enough to win a championship?'"
Highlighting the issue with Kevin Durant's trade request
The consensus on Durant's acquisition is that most teams can't do it without completely wiping their roster. Some teams have players with similar salaries, but they aren't the players the Nets want.
Brooklyn has requested multiple first-round picks with at least one player at the All-Star level to trade Durant. Durant's contract puts the Nets in a peculiar situation.
Offering the Brooklyn Nets six players rotation players with a bunch of unprotected first-round picks is not negotiable.
Kevin Durant is taking in the action and getting loose in the Portland Pro-Am.
KD to the Blazers? 🤔
(via capturedbymatt_/IG) https://t.co/eg8WlMOsZT
Durant might be on a $200 million contract, but as Ray Allen once said, referring to Kobe Bryant, "He needs two-and-a-half good players to be a legitimate playoff contender or win a championship."
That happens to be somewhat of a maxim in the NBA. Allen predicted two and a half, but LeBron later confirmed that three would almost certainly do the trick. Durant, too, needs at least 2.5 good players to win a championship.
A team with two good players to trade and remain a contender with Durant has no interest in the deal. The Warriors are a good example here.