Say the nicest of it all, of course. Use charm and professionalism to contact Durant’s business director Rich Kleiman that they can work together to find a friendly deal. Sing buttons together. Pretend the world is dogs puppies and rainbow if you must. It has been leaked, as has already happened, that the Marks and the Nets intend to work with Durant as they try to find the right return for Brooklyn. Say what you should. The real task, however, is to repel the temptation to care even from a distance that Durant longs to play for this or that team, the Heat or the Suns or any other group of rivals to catch his weird look. Durant was part of the Nets’ power structure and a partner in trying to navigate the turbulent waters of Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Ben Simmons and a disappointing year. He is now an asset, a great player of all time with four years – four! – stayed under contract. In fact, he’s probably the most valuable player ever in the commercial data market of those times, the one who allegedly toured Marks, directly to Nets owner Joe Tsai, to demand an exit. Supposedly without contact with the Nets front office all week. Does he want to play hardball? No problem, Kevin. Here are some difficult ones for you: The Heat, one of the team’s players on their wish list, can not exchange Bam Adebayo for the Nets as long as Ben Simmons is on the Brooklyn roster, as no team can have two players with the designated rookie extension. . And no Bam should equate to any deal. This is hardball, and Simmons’s move right now would be even more daunting than, say, the Lakers continuing from Westbrook. In addition, the Bam / Tyler Herro / Duncan Robinson / options are not enough, even if it were possible. · The potential offers of the Suns – the other “wish list” team – also add an equally attractive odds for a Durant tall player with so many years left on his contract. First, a DeAndre Ayton sign-and-trade would hit the Nets. Second, even Ayton, Cam Johnson, Mikal Bridges, and draft options that may have little value suggest that a Durant-Booker-age CP3 group probably did not cough up lottery options, even if they are years old. Seriously. Because for good you would basically like last year’s Phoenix Suns, but with Simmons trading with Devin Booker and Chris Paul. No thanks. You. There are many things happening here at the same time, and they all indicate, for the Nets, the need to repel a player-empowerment movement that has turned into a star-player-have-all-power movement. First, Durant, who has a history of injuries and is set to turn 34 in September, has four years left on his contract. There is not a single chance that if KD had blown up his MCL, or been seriously injured, or had simply retreated in terms of performance, he would have woken up one morning in Brooklyn and agreed to give some of it. refund. It is a contract. It is an agreement. Get insurance from it in case of bad luck or sudden old age. The Nets will have to keep what they got – Durand for another four years or the proper performance that matches the value of Kevin Durand for those four more years. Second, the Nets, under Marks, exchanged a number of young talents as they recruited Irving, Durant and Harden and then, when they succumbed to Harden ‘s demands, Ben Simmons. This list includes: Jarrett Culver, Caris LaVert, Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAngelo Russell and DeMarre Carroll. This young team once reached the playoffs and looked interesting enough to be a star away from real competitiveness. There was also a strong culture with a ceiling. So, Sean Marks, having bet everything with Durant and Irving, is now faced with his superstar – like many today – who requires an exit and specific definitions. Which brings us to the third reality: GMs are expected to work in the best interest of their team, but of course they also work in their best interest. Marks can not, deep down, want an exchange of picks and young players who may not be able to see if he does not survive the wreckage of Kyrie-and-Durant. KD played hard, not caring a single ounce about the Nets’ future or Marx’s career. Fine. Everyone here is an adult. But why should Marks do anything that is outside the interests of him and his team? Marks has been, for years, the manager of a team made from very limited choices, to promising and new, to a potential candidate, to a possible rubbish fire, by changing Durant’s mood. So there is one word Marks has to offer according to this last wish on Durant’s wish list: No. In the hope that Durant could follow this path, I had conversations this week with NBA sources about the idea of refusing to succumb to a one-star exit requirement. They met with a series of answers. Distrust. Reminders that the stars can just shut it down, and in Simmons the Nets have a prime example. The devastating impact of a star who plays but does not try. All valid points. But Durand’s wishes do not concern the Nets. Meet the hard fight with theirs. Do you want to sit outside? Fine. Sit outside for the next four years. Do you want to play somewhere else? We’ll see. Go find us a deal we want, not a pioneer (again) to suit your purely selfish needs. Do you want a ring elsewhere? Yes, we have seen this story from you before. Just understand that we are chasing our own ring and we will not move you without the necessary pieces to make this possible. Talk to the Grizzlies about leaving some of their young stars who are not called Ja Morant and a load of options. See if, say, the Atlanta Hawks trade Trae Young and a first-round pick for Durant. Call Houston for all of these options. Point out – and, yes, that’s certainly what drives it – that aside from the irony it turns out that two of the most exciting packages could actually come from the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Golden State Warriors. See if the Boston Celtics want to trade KD for Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown (and, in Brown’s case, some). Explore every crazy idea. Because trading KD for less than what the Nets need is crazier, more destructive, and more likely to end badly, just as it did when they succumbed to Harden’s request. Durant has already gone to the mats with his GM. So it’s time for Marks to remember that he is not personal. It is strictly professional. And the Brooklyn Nets are dealing with the Brooklyn Nets, not the dreams of Kevin Durand’s next team.
