Begley: Third teams don’t want to help Nets trade Kevin Durant

Ian Begley, updating the news on Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, writes Friday that one thing keeping keeping KD trade talk at a standstill is that teams are unwilling to work with Brooklyn in multi-team deals.

Begley writes:

Late last month, multiple people familiar with the Nets’ Kevin Durant talks were pessimistic about the possibility of a deal getting done in the near future.

Part of the pessimism stemmed from the idea that, as of last month, there was little appetite in the market for teams to serve as a third or fourth team to facilitate a Durant trade.

“No one wants to help (Brooklyn get a deal done),” one team remarked.

Although most Internet rumors have KD headed elsewhere in a straight deal with a second team, it’s still more likely that any trade involving a player as big as Durant would be multi-team deal.

The SNY reporter didn’t discuss whether Durant might want to run it back after requesting a trade of Joe Tsai on June 30, only hours before his four-year, $198 million contract kicked in. However, like Brian Lewis and Shams Charania noted recently, Irving is in “good place” with the Nets.

A source close to Irving said this week that the seven-time All-Star is in a good place with the Nets and comfortable entering the 2022-23 season.

Irving opted into his expiring, $36,5 million deal on June 29.

• Why sources were pessimistic about Nets being able to trade Kevin Durant: ‘No one wants to help’ - Ian Begley - SNY