Kevin Durant’s Nuclear Option Revealed if He Can’t Get Traded

Will Kevin Durant take the Nuclear option?

The NBA calendar is at its slowest point of the year, which means fans have little choice but to speculate about Kevin Durant and his trade request. The realistic answer to that question is: Who knows what will happen to Durant and the Nets, is a reconciliation even still possible? But what we do know is that the relationship between Durant and the Brooklyn Nets seems to have deteriorated to the point of no return.

While it is hard to know just how bad things have gotten between the two parties, what we do know is that this problem is not likely one with a simple fix. To give some context to that situation, league insider Marc Stein recently had this to share

“During summer league in Las Vegas, one of the most well-connected team executives I speak to regularly insisted to me that, based on what he was hearing, Kevin Durant was more apt to retire than play again for the Brooklyn Nets. This was in early July.

I told the tipster that I simply couldn’t believe that. I was a loyal subscriber to the theory that Durant The Hooper loves playing basketball way too much to adopt such a stance.”

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My Monday Musings offer the latest from the Durant Trade Watch … and the Nets' ill-fated attempt to wrest control of the franchise they haven't had for three seasons: https://t.co/UINBe5lb90

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 15, 2022

Interesting that a rival NBA executive told Stein that Durant was more likely “to retire” than ever play again for the Nets, could he possibly be trying to pry Durant away from the Nets?

Stein continued that if Durant is not traded in the next six weeks, we can expect more chaos :

“Now? More than a month later? Attaching the R-word to Durant still comes across as serious hyperbole, but it is certainly getting easier to envision him refusing to report to training camp when the Nets get back together in six weeks for Media Day (Sept. 26) and their first practices of the new season (Sept. 27).

If Durant hasn’t been traded by then, there is a growing expectation in league circles that he will continue trying to cause as much of a ruckus behind the scenes to try to prod the Nets into lowering their asking price at last to facilitate a deal. If it wasn’t apparent by now, he really wants that trade to Phoenix or Miami or maybe even Boston or Philadelphia, no matter what it does to his reputation when he hasn’t played a single game yet under the four-year, $194 million contract extension signed in August 2021.”

Brian Windhorst did report that he’d stay away from training camp too.  

Hard to believe Kevin Durant will never play again, but you really just never know.

He’s 34 and already has won two Championships but still has a lot to prove to all his haters…

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