Breaking: Kevin Durant has requested a trade; UPDATE: KD wants Sean Marks/Nash fired - Shams

[NyCeEvO]

It's honestly looking more and more likely that KD won't be traded right now, which means the Nets might have to run it back with both him and Kyrie. But from what I've heard the owner say, he wants both of them gone pronto so its a messy situation.

Kyrie camp using Scoop B as their mouthpiece. That clown has a nerve to go on social media and represent their demands

Read on Twitter

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These player stans extra toxic and media feeds on it. They not coming, not a chance.

I just wonder if they understand what they doing to themselves, players and players union. This upcoming CBA will get extra ugly for them, for good reasons.

While everything you’re saying is 100% true, I actually don’t mind requests as long as they are ancillary to the core of what management and a knowledgeable coach wants.

I don’t mind Melo as long as he earns his keep and doesn’t stand in the way of a promising prospect or better player. If he sucks, there must be no push back about letting him go (even though we know they’ll probably deny any decline lol).

[GTR11]

It's honestly looking more and more likely that KD won't be traded right now, which means the Nets might have to run it back with both him and Kyrie. But from what I've heard the owner say, he wants both of them gone pronto so its a messy situation.

Kyrie camp using Scoop B as their mouthpiece. That clown has a nerve to go on social media and represent their demands

Read on Twitter

?s=20&t=KrTSPZ5spLzsh5cZiLFArw

These player stans extra toxic and media feeds on it. They not coming, not a chance.

I just wonder if they understand what they doing to themselves, players and players union. This upcoming CBA will get extra ugly for them, for good reasons.

While everything you’re saying is 100% true, I actually don’t mind requests as long as they are ancillary to the core of what management and a knowledgeable coach wants.

I don’t mind Melo as long as he earns his keep and doesn’t stand in the way of a promising prospect or better player. If he sucks, there must be no push back about letting him go (even though we know they’ll probably deny any decline lol).

C'mon man, this is ludicrous. First they spit in Kenny's face and made Tsai to comply. Kyrie and KD came out talking how they don't need to be coached. Who we ended up with? How did it worked out?
Now they spitting in Marks face and talking about how they can be GM's too. What you think is going to happen?

Sorry buddy, I'm not supporting any of that knowing and seeing results we already ran into.

[GTR11]

Marks better not trade Joe to LA. There will be no justification for that.

Craptors and Saltics still popping up as KD landing spot. If I'm Marks, I'm not hesitating here at all. Get packages build around Brown or Barnes and call it a day. These guys going to be perineal all stars for years to come and young enough to be groomed by next HC.

I'm really losing my mind here looking at some of these reports.

[Swift21]

Read on Twitter

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lol dude is a coward.

Unless we don't get a high end prospect, a serviceable starter and 4 1sts/3 pick swaps, he can sit his ass down. The Nets have no obligation to do anything for his benefit anymore

It's funny how hard he trys to be real, but is so transparently fake.

I don’t think it’s fake, but I do think he’s deflecting.

I think he wants to convince himself that he’s not all of the things his critics say he is by talking “tough” (to no one directly I might add) so thousands of player fans can reassure him that he’s ‘the best player in the world,’ didn’t make any mistakes, and has every right to do what he’s doing.

I lose respect for people who talk a big game to everyone but the person they have an issue with and/or will talk about how great they are. It wreaks of insecurity and immaturity.

It’s funny how so many of these guys talk about how much they hate the drama, just want to ball and be appreciated for their skill, but will sidetalk and subtweet on Twitter for likes to create more drama.

Just look at Kyrie with the ‘bird being released from a cage’ GIF with no caption posted to Twitter yesterday/today. He’s fishing for comments and responses to we’ve his own ego. These guys say they hate drama, but they’re always creating it themselves.

Warriors winning the title without him really messed his head up. All the naysayers on Twitter and IG couldn't wait to rub it in his face. KD can't handle that kind of criticism.

[GTR11]

https://youtu.be/Qcub0eYSi-U

Get him and call it a day Marks. No need to over do things.

[sp6r=underrated]

I'm a Knicks fan but I come in peace. My two cents.

1. Nets need to view Kyrie and Durant as separate transactions. They came to the Nets as a package but haven't done anything for the Nets that warrants management viewing them as a package now. If you guys had say made 2 CFs, won a title, I'd say you would owe them some loyalty. But they didn't give you your money's worth and now just view them as separate entities.

2. There is a negotiation concept called best alternative to a negotiated agreement. It basically means asks yourself what is the best alternative to a completed trade (in this case). If the proposed trade isn't better than the alternative don't do the trade.

The best alternative for a completed Durant trade is 4 years of a locked in Kevin Durant who will be 37 at the end of his contract. KD is a mostly rational actor, who while a dolt, knows his only alternative is retirement. And if he intentionally plays poorly he'll never get another big pay day again. If he plays great for the Nets he keeps his trade value up and his leverage to demand a trade goes up too.

The best alternative to a completed Kyrie trade is 1 year of Kyrie. Kyrie is a total nutbar. If he turns in a great season, 75+ strong RS/PS, no drama, he'll get his max somewhere. If he nukes the Nets because he is mad, he has no shot at a max deal. It is in his rational interest to be a good soldier next year. But the dude is a loon so odds are he won't. We're years removed from a normal season from Kyrie.

But the Nets have a recourse if he goes full moron. Tell him at the beginning of the season, if he acts the fool, Nets will sit him with pay and he'll enter free agency with his last full RS/PS, that had no drama and high level play, being 2017. His agent will tell him he has no shot at a max if that happens.

3. Given that I'd look at the minimum I'd accept if I were the Nets

Durant: Max # of Picks (4 outright, unprotected/3 swaps), top young player (I'm higher on Ayoton than you but it has to be someone Nets value), another two young players with potential. If I don't get no deal.

Kyrie: expiring, 1st rounder unprotected (this is because I think Kyrie still potentially (10%) could give Nets value next year).

4. I think there is a high probability someone will offer a deal worth doing for Kyrie. He'll be outta here most likely shortly. And if I'm the Nets I find that fine. As I said these are seperate transactions getting rid of Kyrie quickly makes clear to Durant that duo is dead.

5. I think people are underselling Durant coming back. A lot of ATGs have asked for trades that never happened. Hakeem asked for one and didn't get it. Nor did Kobe. And in both of those cases titles resulted in resulted in Houston/LA.

[Netaman]

So reading all this AM's rumors about Mitchell and Simmons dumping his insta, I think something like this trade from the main board is where things are going with some slight revisions in red (I think the original version had Utah getting overcompensated and the Nets getting undercompensated) and additions in blue.

Here is my attempt:

BRK trades: Durant, Simmons, Irving
BRK receives: Mitchell, Porzingis, Bridges, Crowder, Johnson, Nunn, NETS RECEIVE AYTON INSTEAD OF PORZINGAS

WAS trades: Porzingis PLUS YOUNG ASSET (protected FRP or young player) to UTAH
WAS receives: Simmons

UTA trades: Mitchell, Bogdanovic, Conley, Gay
UTA receives: Ayton, Westbrook, Saric, Craig, Nunn, 2027 LAL 1st, 2029 LAL 1st, 2024 PHX 1st, 2026 PHX 1st, 2028 PHX 1st, 2030 PHX 1st, UTAH RECEIVES PORZINGAS INSTEAD OF AYTON PLUS ANOTHER YOUNG ASSET OR TWO

PHX trades: Ayton, Bridges, Saric, Johnson, Crowder, Craig, 2024 PHX 1st, 2026 PHX 1st, 2028 PHX 1st, 2030 PHX 1st
PHX receives: Durant, Bogdanovic

LAL trades: Westbrook, Nunn, 2027 LAL 1st, 2029 LAL 1st
LAL receives: Irving, Conley, Gay

I want to find one more team to send some picks for Ayton but in thinking about it I could see Utah just keeping him and trading him after we know if we got Wembanyama or not.

in the original the Nets were giving up $116m and taking back $104m. so I think you simply swap Porzingis' $34m and he goes to Utah, with Ayton's presumed $32m max coming back to the Nets. that has BYC implications but i think they are solvable since the nets are cutting $ and there are so many maneuverable salary pieces in this deal (Crowder, Saric, Craig, etc).

I also think Washington probably has to add an asset to the deal to get Simmons, so that could be an extra pick (with protections) to Utah or a young player. The Nets can kick in Cam Thomas to Utah too if they want.

End result for the Nets is basically they become Phoenix east. Mitchell, Bridges, and Ayton are the new big 3, each on 4 year deals.

Mitchell / Patty
Seth / Harris
O'neale / Crowder
Bridges / Johnson
Ayton / Claxton

Utah goes full rebuild for max draft capital. LAL and PHX get their stars.

here's a link to a trade machine that says it works (with some minor tweaks) and I believe keeps nets below apron at $150m with 13 roster players when completed - https://i.ibb.co/TWhHnYd/fanspo-nba-trade-machine-snap-7-3-2022-8-22-01-AM.png.

[3pt_chucker]

Can someone convince me why the Nets should choose to give up Simmons for Mitchell.

Assuming Ben is fully healthy(I know this might be hard to picture), if he can be just as good as when he was in Philly, I'd take him over Mitchell. If he shows ANY improvement in his offensive game, then it's not even a conversation.

I know we all want a deal done but just doing a trade for the sake of it doesn't make sense at all. I don't see why the Nets would give up on Ben for a worse player unless his medicals are horrific, which nothing points to that being the case.

The sad part is Mitchell should fit pretty nicely next to Ben but that arcane rule is a serious inhibition to so many potential moves the Nets could make.

[MrDollarBills]

If we can turn Durant, Irving and Simmons into Mitchell, Ayton, and Bridges with a roster full of shooters, I'm okay with that. We would be pretty competitive.

[MrDollarBills]

Can someone convince me why the Nets should choose to give up Simmons for Mitchell.

Assuming Ben is fully healthy(I know this might be hard to picture), if he can be just as good as when he was in Philly, I'd take him over Mitchell. If he shows ANY improvement in his offensive game, then it's no even a conversation.

I know we all want a deal done but just doing a trade for the sake of it doesn't make sense at all the I don't see why the Nets would give up on Ben for a worse player unless his medicals are horrific, which nothing point to that being the case.

The sad part is Mitchell should fit pretty nicely next to Ben but that arcane rule is a serious inhibition to so many potential moves the Nets could make.

Mitchell is a 25 5 and 5 SG without any of the baggage that Simmons has. That in itself is enough for me

[3pt_chucker]

Can someone convince me why the Nets should choose to give up Simmons for Mitchell.

Assuming Ben is fully healthy(I know this might be hard to picture), if he can be just as good as when he was in Philly, I'd take him over Mitchell. If he shows ANY improvement in his offensive game, then it's no even a conversation.

I know we all want a deal done but just doing a trade for the sake of it doesn't make sense at all the I don't see why the Nets would give up on Ben for a worse player unless his medicals are horrific, which nothing point to that being the case.

The sad part is Mitchell should fit pretty nicely next to Ben but that arcane rule is a serious inhibition to so many potential moves the Nets could make.

Mitchell is a 25 5 and 5 SG without any of the baggage that Simmons has. That in itself is enough for me

Yes he's clearly a All-Star level PG and would be awesome to get in a trade.

However he's a small combo guard(6'1), that plays below avg defense, good but not great play making and good but not elite efficiency.

I don't think you're going anywhere with him as your best player. Rather keep Ben for at least 1 season to see how he looks before trading him, especially since Ben's ceiling is much higher.

Also, I'm sure a Ben-Mitchell trade will still be on the table by the deadline. The Nets would have assets from any KD/KAI trade + Ben, that should beat out most offers out there and I'm 1000% sure Ainge knows this.

[Netaman]

Mitchell is just a much safer player and a simpler fit into most lineups than Simmons.

Remember that Simmons shooting is a liability late in game. In the version of the Nets with KD and Kyrie that's manageable. If he's your best player it's not. You not only need him healthy and engaged but also to improve his late game performance significantly. That's a lot to ask.

I think that swap is the key thing Marks may be angling to accomplish now. Mitchell allows a lot more roster flexibility in terms of who he can play with. Ayton being a good example.

[Eatgreenz]

Not mad at getting mitchell but would still love to see what Ben could do here first, see what we got.

[Netaman]

Here's a trade from the mainboard I like even better than the one I came up with. I actually think we'd need to give up more, this return seems too good.

Monster 5-team trade based on reports..

Nets give Durant, Kyrie, Simmons
Nets get Mitchell, Turner, Duarte, Mikal, Cam, Conley, PHX26FRP, LAL27FRP, PHX28FRP, LAL24/25swap, LAL28swap
Conley, Mitchell, Mikal, Cam, Turner -- Mills, Duarte, Harris, O'Neale, Claxton -- Curry, Thomas, Sharpe

Lakers give Westbrook, LAL27FRP, LAL24/25swap, LAL28swap
Lakers get Kyrie, Beverley
Beverley, Kyrie, Reaves, LeBron, Davis -- Nunn, Lonnie, THT, Gabriel, Jones -- Christie, Brown, SJ, JTA

Suns give Ayton(SnT), Mikal, Cam, PHX24FRP, PHX26FRP, PHX28FRP, PHX23swap, PHX25swap, PHX27swap, PHX29swap
Suns get Durant, Gay
CP3, Booker, Crowder, Durant, McGee -- Payne, Shamet, Okogie, Saric, Landale -- Craig, Gay, Biyombo

Pacers give Turner, Duarte
Pacers get Simmons
Hali, Mathurin, Simmons, Jackson, Goga -- McConnell, Hield, Oshae, Smith, Theis

Jazz give Mitchell, Conley, Beverley, Gay
Jazz get Ayton(SnT), Westbrook, PHX24FRP, PHX26FRP, PHX23swap, PHX25swap, PHX27swap, PHX29swap
Westbrook, Beasley, Balmaro, Bojan, Ayton -- Trent, Clarkson, NAW, Vanderbilt, Kessler

[Netaman]

Not mad at getting mitchell but would still love to see what Ben could do here first, see what we got.

that's fair and i don't disagree but it's a gamble. he's a unicorn and building a team around his defense and unique size/playmaking could be a homerun. or he could tweak his back or have late game issues and turn into basically bad salary.

Marks has a lot of leverage right now, and deleveraging away from a team reliant on Simmons may be the prudent thing to do.

but at the same time if they stink this year it's not the end of the world since they still probably won't be as bad (or much worse) than Houston, so if there's a year to roll the dice on upside maybe this is it.

[Born_Ready]

Just heard from my brother that Ben Simmons deleted his Instagram..

[MGrand15]

The problem with trading Ben now is we'd be selling very low. His value is in the tank.

I'm also not sure how I feel about choosing Donovan Mitchell over him. Mitchell is explosive and fun to watch but I do think he's a little overrated. He's small, not a real PG, can be inefficient, and is a real questionable defender.

[Eatgreenz]

Not mad at getting mitchell but would still love to see what Ben could do here first, see what we got.

that's fair and i don't disagree but it's a gamble. he's a unicorn and building a team around his defense and unique size/playmaking could be a homerun. or he could tweak his back or have late game issues and turn into basically bad salary.

Marks has a lot of leverage right now, and deleveraging away from a team reliant on Simmons may be the prudent thing to do.

but at the same time if they stink this year it's not the end of the world since they still probably won't be as bad (or much worse) than Houston, so if there's a year to roll the dice on upside maybe this is it.

Yea it seems Ben really wants to prove himself and wants to be here. It be way easier to find scoring guards than to find a player like Ben his basically the definition of new age of bball wings that can do multiple things n guard 1-5. Hope we still find away to keep him give him a season to show us what his got.

[Hello Brooklyn]

Can someone convince me why the Nets should choose to give up Simmons for Mitchell.

Assuming Ben is fully healthy(I know this might be hard to picture), if he can be just as good as when he was in Philly, I'd take him over Mitchell. If he shows ANY improvement in his offensive game, then it's no even a conversation.

I know we all want a deal done but just doing a trade for the sake of it doesn't make sense at all the I don't see why the Nets would give up on Ben for a worse player unless his medicals are horrific, which nothing point to that being the case.

The sad part is Mitchell should fit pretty nicely next to Ben but that arcane rule is a serious inhibition to so many potential moves the Nets could make.

I agree.

I'm not even considering trading Simmons.

If Mitchell and Simmons played together it would make a ton of sense.

This stupid rule is **** us over. What is even the point of it?

Makes NO sense.

[Hello Brooklyn]

If we really take Westbrick I'm DONE.

AND Joe Harris.

We better not take that **** deal.

Trade Kyrie to Dallas.

Kyrie for Dinwiddie and Powell.