Brooklyn Needs To Burn It Down. It’s Time to Trade KD

Mikal Bridges, Deandre Ayton, and Jae Crowder for Kevin Durant. Which side says no?

So, the Nets finally grew a backbone yesterday and suspended Kyrie Irving for failing to "unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs" after Irving refused to apologize for promoting a vile, anti-Semitic documentary.

Four hours later, Irving took to Instagram. "To All Jewish families and Communities that are hurt and affected from my post, I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize," he wrote. 

Too little, too late, and all that jazz.

Thursday morning, Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote, "there's little hope that [Irving] will change because he's insulated by fame and money and surrounded by yes-people. There is no motivation to learn how to distinguish propaganda from facts. All that's left is for the world to decide how it should respond to him."

Unfortunately, Kareem is probably right. Kyrie will likely dig his heels in and stubbornly retreat further into the conspiracy wormholes that led him first to proclaim the earth was flat and eventually pushed him into amplifying holocaust denialism.

But here's to hoping Kyrie proves us cynics wrong. That he uses the time away from the game to reevaluate how he consumes information. That someone close to him is brutally honest with him. In some ways, this past week has been an (unintentional) cry for help, in my opinion. 

But we've spent enough time in this newsletter highlighting the dangerous, unhinged conspiracies Irving gave life to. (The documentary he promoted has jumped to No. 1 on the Amazon best-sellers list in two separate categories: "Best Sellers in Religion & Spirituality" and "Best Sellers in Ethnic Studies.”) 

Looking at the big picture in Brooklyn, the 2022-23 season is barely three weeks old, and the team has already fired Steve Nash, suspended Kyrie Irving and ruled out Ben Simmons for multiple games due to a knee injury. 

Last night, I couldn't help but think: What was the best offer Brooklyn received for Kevin Durant this past offseason? It's understandable they were unwilling to trade KD at a discount (after he damned to be moved), considering he is arguably one of the 15 best basketball players in the history of the sport and still on the backend of his prime. 

In retrospect, they obviously should have cleaned house by accepting the best package possible for Durant and then immediately dumping Irving. There were reports that the Lakers were willing to trade Rusell Westbrook and two future first-round picks for Irving in July. 

Well, we know Irving has completely cratered any semblance of trade value. ESPN's Zach Lowe reported Wednesday that Irving is considered "radioactive" around the NBA. "I talked to a lot of people around the league over the weekend, and the sense I get right now is he's radioactive. Even if you drop the price to nothing, the baggage is just too much," Lowe said on his podcast.

However, plenty of teams would still love to get their hands on Durant. KD is currently averaging 32.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists and a career-high 2.0 blocks, while shooting 52.8% from the floor and 93.8% from the charity stripe.

Although Brooklyn will have to drop their asking price to consummate a deal, it's clearly time for Brooklyn to burn the whole thing down. Press reset and start fresh. 

If they hold onto KD, will his trade value be any higher than it is right now? More teams would be able to wheel and deal next summer instead of the middle of a season, but waiting is risky. Durant has been relatively healthy since returning from his devastating Achilles injury, but he just turned 34 and has logged a ton of minutes since the start of last season (and that won't change with Irving and Simmons sidelined). 

The Nets' situation is complicated by the fact that Houston controls Brooklyn's draft picks over the next four years due to the ill-fated James Harden deal, which means they can't completely tank for better draft positioning. Still, make no mistake, it's time for the Nets front office to tear this roster down to the studs.

So, I started digging around the Trade Machine this morning to see what potential deals might make sense. 

The Phoenix Suns were the team most often attached to KD over the summer. Would they still consider making a blockbuster deal for Durant?

How about these hypothetical deals?