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As the clock ticks, but slowly, all the way down to what feels like an inevitable Kevin Durant trade, undergo in thoughts that this isn't a easy case of Durant identifying in which he wants to move and the Brooklyn Nets acquiescing. There are a lot of things in play here. Below is a listing of the whole thing you want to realize as Brooklyn considers what may be the best-leverage exchange in NBA history.
 

 

1. Durant is beneath settlement until 2026

Most instances when a player demands a trade, he is on a settlement that is set to expire -- or like Anthony Davis in New Orleans, is ready to go into his walk yr. This leaves the crew with little leverage. If it doesn't bend to the player's will and at the least recoup market fee, the participant will soon be in function to definitely depart on his own.

That is not the case with Durant, who's about to go into the primary 12 months of the four-year, $193.6 million contract extension he signed with the Nets final summer season. That method Durant is beneath settlement with Brooklyn through 2026. So why might the Nets alternate him if he can't threaten to walk on his very own? Well, they don't need to. That's why they're pronouncing they're organized to take this as a long way as they want to so as to get the exceptional deal viable. Part of that is posturing, and part of it is simply proper.

Brooklyn doesn't need to rush this, and it doesn't should send Durant to the crew of his selecting. Durant without a doubt owns a massive part of manipulate here; the Nets are, in spite of everything, looking to exchange him sincerely due to the fact he said that is what he desires. But to a few degree, this can be on Brooklyn's terms.

Multiple reviews suggest that the Nets asked the Timberwolves for a bundle such as Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns and four first-spherical draft picks in alternate for Durant. That's a daft ask. Brooklyn knew it wouldn't get conventional and was definitely seeking to set as high a bar as viable.

This is what the 76ers did with Ben Simmons, who also demanded a alternate from Philadelphia earlier than the max extension he signed with the team even started. The Sixers waited that element out, leaking similarly ridiculous asking prices at the same time as enduring the torturous method of Simmons refusing to play. Simmons made it as depressing as feasible, however in the long run, Philly had the energy. Simmons wasn't going anywhere till the Sixers were glad with what got here again. He turned into beneath contract for the subsequent 1/2 decade. Get comfortable.

And ultimately, it labored. The Sixers got what they desired in James Harden. So regardless of the Nets prefer, be it draft picks or All-Star participant(s) or probably a aggregate of the 2, they simplest have one shot to exchange a player of this lots cost, and once more, being that they maintain the trump card of having Durant locked up via 2026, they're now not going to concede tons.
2. How Ben Simmons impacts ability trades

It's known as the Designated Rookie rule, and it is best to permit my colleague Sam Quinn, our CBA guru here at CBS Sports, give an explanation for how this rule, and Simmons' connection to it, impacts the gamers that Brooklyn can presently target in a capacity Durant deal.

    The Designated Rookie rule allows groups to signal players coming off rookie contracts to a 5-12 months extension rather than the standard four. A group can designate up to two rookies for such contracts, but there is a caveat: handiest one of them can be obtained through exchange. Ben Simmons, himself on a five-year Designated Rookie deal signed with Philadelphia, already occupies one of these slots for the Nets. Therefore, if the Nets maintain Simmons, they can't accumulate some other Designated Rookie participant in a trade for Durant.

    That takes 13 notable gamers off the table in a Durant alternate for the time being:

1.     Luka Doncic, Mavericks
2.     Trae Young, Hawks
3.     Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Clippers
4.     De'Aaron Fox, Kings
5.     Donovan Mitchell, Jazz
6.     Bam Adebayo, Heat
7.     Jayson Tatum, Celtics
8.     Karl-Anthony Towns, Timberwolves
9.     Devin Booker, Suns
10.     Jamal Murray, Nuggets
11.     Michael Porter Jr., Nuggets
12.     Andrew Wiggins, Warriors
13.     Joel Embiid, 76ers

You might remember the Celtics angling to change for Anthony Davis, a Designated Rookie participant, returned in 2019, but they weren't capable of achieve this with Kyrie Irving, some other Designated Rookie obtained with the aid of exchange, already at the roster. The handiest way Boston may want to've traded for Davis would've been to ship Irving some other place.

The equal workaround could be an alternative for the Nets, who ought to change Simmons in a separate deal, or in a 3-group setup, if they were in role to add one of the 13 players above for Durant. It's no longer an unrealistic situation. Assuming Simmons intends to play basketball once more, there would be lots of suitors for him, and a 3-group deal for Durant might be within the cards for other motives.

Whatever the case, just keep this Designated Rookie rule in mind. There were quite a few fake trades thrown out for guys like Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker and Trae Young. None of these guys, or everybody else at the list above, are eligible to be traded to Brooklyn so long as Simmons continues to be there.
Three. Navigating the Stepien Rule

When the Timberwolves sent as part of their Rudy Gobert bundle four destiny first-round alternatives to the Jazz, the natural response become "holy cow, the Nets can get (insert big variety) selections for Durant!" That's now not necessarily genuine. There's a restrict. For starters, a group is simplest allowed to trade draft selections as much as seven years into the destiny, meaning no alternatives beyond 2029 can presently be traded.

So can a team exchange all seven of its alternatives through 2029? No. The Stepien Rule dictates that a crew can't be without a primary-round choose in consecutive years. Put some other manner, unless a group has choices coming in thru somewhere else from a previous alternate, it is able to best trade its very own pick out each different yr.  Let's study a few examples of groups that figure to be in the marketplace for Durant.

Phoenix Suns: The Suns control all their own alternatives, but in a potential deal for Durant, they would simplest be allowed to alternate -- within the every-other-12 months state of affairs -- a maximum of four: 2023, 2025, 2027 and 2029.

Toronto Raptors: Like Phoenix, the Raptors additionally control all their very own future picks and could for that reason trade four destiny firsts: 2023, 2025, 2027 and 2029.

Miami Heat: Miami is every other crew that has been said as a favored Durant vacation spot, and this gives us a chance to address the all-essential protections which can be so regularly connected to draft-select reimbursement. It is going like this: The Heat owe their 2025 choose to the Thunder, however it is pinnacle-14 blanketed, meaning if it doesn't fall outside the pinnacle 14, it doesn't carry to OKC till 2026. The Stepien Rule doesn't allow for maybes.

Instead, the Heat must design a alternate package that suits in the Stepien Rule accounting for both possibilities. Say Miami trades its 2023 choose to the Nets for Durant, that regulations out 2024 in the each-different-year scenario. Then, being that the pick they owe to OKC ought to bring in either 2025 or 2026, that wipes out each those years plus 2027 (inside the occasion that it conveys in 2026).

    There are some workarounds because it relates to protections and the Stepien Rule. It's a chunk complex, as is pretty a great deal the whole lot CBA related. Again, I'll refer to Quinn's explanation.

    The first workaround would be doing away with the protections from an owed choose, which isn't always only risky, but calls for the consent of the team that owns that pick out. The second is by way of buying and selling choices without a delegated 12 months. Typically, the way this works is for the buying and selling crew to agree to ship out a primary-round choose two years after the unique pick out or picks that it owes elsewhere deliver. Put greater really, it essentially manner agreeing earlier to surrender their subsequent allowable pick even though they don't technically understand whilst that pick out will come.

    The disadvantage threat here is if the protections on the ones formerly owed choices save you them from conveying lengthy enough, the acquiring group may be left with nothing. This notably befell in 2017. At the time, the Lakers owed two destiny first-spherical choices, the second one of which was supposed for Orlando. The problem became that the first turned into pinnacle-3 covered … but came in at No. 2 standard 3 years in a row. The Orlando pick out therefore expired because it'd have needed to convey more than seven years after the original deal.

That caveat withstanding, if Miami became to exchange its 2023 choose, the following pick it'd be allowed to connect to a exchange might be 2028. If it did that, 2029 might then be ruled out. Long tale quick, Miami can trade a maximum of two future first-round choices to Brooklyn for Durant: 2023 and either 2028 or 2029 -- until Brooklyn is willing to simply accept the "subsequent allowable" provision unique above, wherein case the Heat ought to change 2023 and the subsequent  allowable, which could be 2027 and 2029 if the select they owe OKC conveys in 2025.

That could be a huge IF for Brooklyn. If that pick does not carry until 2026, then the Nets could be caught with the 2023 and 2028 alternatives with the 0.33 first-rounder it concept it was getting turning into a second-rounder. The most effective manner I see this going on is that if the Heat do away with the protections from the OKC choose, ensuring it goes out in 2025, clarifying Miami's outgoing pick allowance at 3.

That's a number of transferring parts while you recollect the Heat could nearly truly also need to trade Adebayo to get Durant, which could pressure the Nets (don't forget the particular rookie rule!) to also pass off Ben Simmons.

New Orleans Pelicans: New Orleans is loaded with draft capital and could, if it preferred, exchange a most of six first-spherical selections for Durant. This is due to the fact further to their very own selections, the Pelicans have choices coming in from the Lakers (via the Anthony Davis deal) and the Bucks (through the Jrue Holiday deal).

Example: New Orleans trades its 2023 pick out to Brooklyn (which will be its choose or the Lakers' select, whichever is higher). Typically, that could rule out buying and selling their 2024 select, however the Pelicans also have the Lakers' choose in 2024 (with the right to defer to 2025), so it could exchange the Lakers' pick and still be left with their very own to fulfill the Stepien Rule.

So now it's 2023 and 2024 going out. Since they still have their select in 2024 (recall, that they had two to work with), they could change the 2025 choose as long as they hang onto their 2026 choose. So that is 2023, 2024 and 2025 going out. Then they are able to trade their very own and the Bucks' pick (from the Holiday exchange) in 2027, making for five general alternatives. Then hold their personal in 2028, and trade their 2029 pick for a total of six destiny selections eligible for exchange. Unless the Thunder get concerned, no group can alternate more draft capital for Durant than New Orleans.  
Four. The Houston Rockets issue

Being that the Nets owe the Rockets their 2024 and 2026 first-spherical selections from the James Harden trade (with Houston additionally having the right to swap alternatives with the Nets in 2023, 2025 and 2027), Brooklyn would not have plenty incentive to enter tank mode. If the Nets lose, it is the Rockets who will get the excessive draft choose. That's why you're hearing that the Nets want All-Star player(s) in return. They intend to remain competitive with a brief pathway to the following era of contention.

That stated, there's one viable way the Nets could have their tank and devour it too. Being that the 2023 select owed to Houston is a switch (that means Houston receives the higher of the two picks), and being that Houston is a superb guess to complete with a pretty horrific record in its personal proper, the Nets may want to, in principle, tank their way right into a excessive lottery pick out, and the worst that would occur is they could transfer choices with Houston. As lengthy as Houston is likewise drafting high, the Nets would nonetheless get a excessive choose in a skilled draft class.

Example: The Nets tank all of the manner to a pinnacle-3 choose. Houston lands at No. Four or five or 6. They change. Yeah, Brooklyn loses a pinnacle-three select, however it nevertheless lands a high-quality pick out. Combine that with a the bevy of choices it is able to get for Durant and Irving, and all at once that is a huge bundle of alternatives it can then go out and turn for, say, Donovan Mitchell (as long as they pass off Simmons; recall the Designated Rookie rule!) or something other big name is seeking to get out of his modern scenario.

Brooklyn could truly be threading a needle here. But it is a legitimate course to tank 12 months and then have a stable of draft selections to show your self proper returned right into a contender in a 12 months's time. My bet is Brooklyn won't do it. The Nets will emerge as with a pair suitable gamers to remain aggressive inside the quick time period and nevertheless sufficient draft picks to get into future disgruntled-superstar bidding.

Either way, the takeaway here is that Brooklyn can't in reality cash in its stars for destiny draft fairness (like Oklahoma City did with Paul George and Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook) with a single-minded purpose of tanking. The Rockets are inside the manner. Starting in 2024, the Nets have every reason to position a winning team at the floor.

From Houston's attitude, but, tank away! Just for fun, consider if the Nets and Rockets had been to turn out to be with two of the worst 3 information next season. They might every have a 14 percentage hazard of getting the No. 1 pick, which means Houston, with the proper to switch picks with Brooklyn, would absolutely double its probabilities of lucking into Victor Wembanyama (a drool-inducing prospect) to 28 percentage.

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