It’s called the Designated Rookie rule, and in this case, it’s not about Durant himself, but his current teammate Ben Simmons. The Designated Rookie rule allows teams to sign players from rookie contracts for a five-year extension instead of the standard four. A team can nominate up to two rookies for such contracts, but there is a caveat: only one of them can be traded. Simmons, himself on a five-year deal with Philadelphia, already owns one of these slots. So if the Nets keep Simmons, they can get no more in a trade for Durand. This removes 12 notable players from the table in a Durant trade for the time being:
Luka Doncic, Mavericks Trae Young, Hawks Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Clippers De’Aaron Fox, Kings Donovan Mitchell, Jazz Bam Adebayo, Heat Jason Tatum, Celtics Karl-Anthony Towns, Timberwolves Devin Booker, Suns Jamal Murray, Nuggets Andrew Wiggins, Warriors Joel Embiid, 76ers
Some of these players were not going to be in a Durant trade anyway. Others could easily have been. Equally important to note are two players with almost identical contracts with the other 12, but not technically defined rookies. The first is Brandon Ingram. While he did sign a five-year extension with the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2020 offseason, he did so as a limited free agent with Bird Rights. This did not invoke the Designated Rookie rule, so Ingram can be traded on the Nets. Pascal Siakam has a slightly different maximum contract, which is governed by the Derrick Rose rule. That allowed him to make more than 25 percent of his earnings ceiling in the first season of his deal, in which he qualified as the all-time NBA player at the time. However, the Designated Rookie rule only applies to five-year contracts. Shiakam’s contract lasts only four. This makes it marketable to the Nets as well. If all else fails, get ideas from others. This is not the first time that the Designated Rookie rule has been a barrier to overproduction. In 2019, the Boston Celtics wanted to exchange Anthony Davis, but they did not succeed because both he and Kyrie Irving were in extensions of Designated Rookie. Davis eventually went to the Lakers. Irving left Boston for Brooklyn and another team is working on it. Select the checkbox to confirm that you want to sign up.
Thank you for your registration!
Track your inbox.
Sorry!
An error occurred while processing your subscription.
There is a solution here, but it will make life a lot harder for the Nets. One option would be to simply exchange Simmons for another team. There would be many suitors among the teams that tried to get from Philadelphia but did not succeed because they did not lack the benefits that Philly was looking for. Minnesota comes to mind if the Nets want to follow this path. Or, if they preferred, they could redirect a player on this list to a third team for assets they can legally acquire next to Simmons. Most of these players are so good that they could have a significant return from a third team, and because many of them still have several years left on their contracts, they could be traded almost anywhere. After all, Durant is such a valuable commercial chip that teams will move Heaven and Earth to acquire it. If that means finding a third party to facilitate a deal, so be it. But for now, that will make Brooklyn life a little harder as he tries to find a new home for the 2014 MVP.
