It’s no secret that the Brooklyn Nets want to make a splash in a Kevin Durant trade. Every indication is that the team wants impactful players and draft capital to replace Durant, whose 4-year contract makes him the rare star on the trade block who can give a team several years of high-level basketball.
As for who, specifically, they would like back, there hadn’t been too much out there beyond their interest in getting Devin Booker should they work out a deal with the Phoenix Suns. That did change in the aftermath of the trade that sent Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves, as Jon Krawczynski reports that Minnesota reached out to Brooklyn to see if they could work something out. That was until the Nets said what they wanted in return and things didn’t even get off the ground.
The Wolves also made several calls to Brooklyn on Kevin Durant, sources said, but the Nets were asking for established All-Stars and a mountain of picks. Minnesota was unwilling to part with either Edwards or Towns in a KD-centered deal, so there was no traction.
The Gobert trade does show that the Timberwolves were willing to part ways with a gigantic amount of draft capital if it meant landing a superstar, but it’s hard to blame them for not wanting to trade either of the guys around whom they’ve built their team.