NBA: Stuck in a waiting period, will Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, or Donovan Mitchell push for a trade before teams start reporting for training camp?
Less than two months away from the start of the NBA training camp, there is still much unresolved around the Association. The offseason began with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant shocking the league with what appeared to be trade demands and it would be somewhat surprising if it didn’t end with some sort of resolution between them and the Brooklyn Nets.
However, for the past few weeks, there has been little to no movement on both those two fronts. In fact, an argument could be made that the most likely outcome is that they will both be on the Nets training camp roster in a couple of months.
Although, from all indications, it doesn’t seem like the Nets are pushing for a trade just for the sake of one. I think we’re beyond that stage. Brooklyn has survived (from a public relations standpoint) the initial shock of a trade demand that they don’t necessarily have to make a trade just yet if they don’t want to.
And that’s exactly what we’re seeing from them. It seems that short of a monster offer, the Nets aren’t going to trade Durant. And if they don’t trade Durant, it would make little sense for them to move Kyrie.
However, there is one other way that perhaps the Nets could be moved to make a trade – and that’s if Durant or Kyrie push to get a deal done. In other words, they would have to make this whole situation even messier than it currently is.
And that’s the same boat that Donovan Mitchell sits in at the moment as well. Mitchell has been rumored to be available on the trade market, but no team has matched the Utah Jazz’s asking price.
However, should Mitchell – or KD or Kyrie – make this messy, there’s no question that it could push this entire situation further.
I’m not sure if that’s the best move for either party PR-wise, but it has proven to work effectively in the NBA. If a player truly wants to be traded, they must make things messy. We saw that most recently with James Harden and Ben Simmons.
Both wanted out of their current situations and they didn’t make life easy for either Brooklyn or Philadelphia.
It’s truly a catch-22. And something that KD, Kyrie, and Mitchell will each have to individually decide over the course of the next few weeks.
The question is, are they willing to make this offseason even messier?