Kevin Durant is under a one-year contract with the Brooklyn Nets, but based on a series of reports and leaks about Kyrie melodrama is extremely fluent and its potential failure, his employment is fluctuating. That uncertainty has spawned a multitude of options for the Durant, but only the Portland Trailblazers make their sales pitch. Crazy Men levels. It begins with Jusuf Nurkić quoting Durant-Lillard’s photoshopped image tweet and adding an emoji implying Durant is the missing piece. Damian Lillard shared the same image on his Instagram page. Lillard’s reckless shot at KD wasn’t as effective as the Golden State Warriors rallying the entire gang for them. Hamptons Stadium to Durant in 2016, but this could be the first offering.
Kevin Durant’s brother try to throw flame retardant on the greasy fire Lillard kicked in, but the problem had too much traction for a high school character to get through. Alternatively, Blazer might make the most sense in the current context. Durant assigns Portland a fiduciary partner who can ultimately help Lillard prevail against Golden State. After bringing Golden to the forefront, doing the same with Steph Lite would save his rep after he failed to capitalize on the stacked Nets lineup from 2021 to early 2022. Durant has been linked. associated with almost every star point guard of his generation. He played the two-man game with Russell Westbrook, Steph Curry, James Harden and Irving. Two of those three partnerships have turned sour. Durant would have been better off joining 2010’s Point Guard Bingo with Lillard, who was built from leftover Curry mold.
Unlike Curry, Lillard has stagnated in the era of player empowerment, where superstars have taken the lead in arranging their own mergers. Lillard spurred Durant as the final all-round moment. The Blazers had the chance to land Durant in 2008. All they had to do was make him the top pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.
Before the dawn of positionless basketball and the philosophy of floor spacing reigned supreme, Greg Oden fit the then-contemporary model for a franchise player. Durant was the first unicorn of this era. Durant is clearly the more accomplished attacking talent, but while the average score is often bogged down in the high 80s, low 90s, a big ball is the ideal choice. In 2007, the NBA was still a copycat league. In the past, LaMarcus Aldridge and the big Oden of Texas were an easy-to-sell bridge as the next Twin Towers duo.
If Portland could raise a healthy Oden, perhaps they wouldn’t be in the precarious situation they are in today. It’s been 15 years since the Blazers picked Greg Oden over Durant and they’re still watching him. Durant’s virtuoso game would be perfect alongside Lillard, Jerami Grant and Jusuf Nurkić – if he re-signs next month.
From the Nets’ point of view, Brooklyn has the most promising properties to offer. Anfernee Simons or their recent lottery pick, Shaedon Sharpe, and future picks are prospects far superior to those first protected from Durant suitors, who are expected will be outside the top 20 for the next few seasons. Sharpe has the potential to be the best wing from this draft, but scouting reports on him are thinner than Chet Holmgren’s after he sat out the whole season at Kentucky for reclassification from the class of 2022.
Anfernee Simons is the ideal Irving replacement and a future top 20 player who can thrive alongside Ben Simmons. That deal will only act as a signing deal for Simmons, who is on a restricted free agent this summer, although the Blazers are expected to match any offers that are offered. he received from interested teams.
Durant appears to have a hidden relationship with the Toronto Raptors. However, Masai Ujiri will likely have to forgo some packages including the promising Scottie Barnes. Pascal Siakam is Toronto’s best player at the moment, but he and Fred Van Vleet make up what remains of the core that beat the Warriors (limp) in the 2019 NBA finals. What they did having with Durant might be good enough to get them 50 wins, but that could leave Durant with a shabby, smart, well-trained but poorly trained playoff roster.
A Celtics offer of Jalen Brown and plenty of options would appeal to Brooklyn, but will Boston ready to bid farewell to the NBA Finals runner-up? They possess a youthful core that can play defensively to destroy 29 out of 30 teams. Brown is still a healthy 25-year-old All-Star. For all his gifts, good health has not been one of the past three seasons. While he remains a force to be reckoned with, Durant has missed 126 games since being ripped off in 2019. A Thin Towers roster will be the biggest payoff for the Oklahoma City reunion. While Durant, Holmgren, and Poku are an interesting novelty, they don’t fit into Durant’s timeline. Durant’s return to Golden State is an unlikely scenario, and after all the setbacks he caught signing with them after they lost in the Finals, he’d never live up to a title. another store in Curry’s town.
A Durant-Lillard pairing is the best of both worlds. There was a time when Lillard and Curry were considered peas in pods. Since then, Lillard has been the Clyde Drexler for Curry’s MJ. He is 8-26 ahead of Curry in the regular season, 0-10 in the following season and four titles behind. What better way to finally make a match at the Warriors than lure Durant to Portland as his championship sherpa? Elevating a starving basketball city during a nearly 50-year title drought to boot would be a hellish way to return to equality.
