How Durant’s truce with Nets impacts Bulls’ future originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Chicago Bulls never were trading for Kevin Durant.
That was obvious, even more obvious—but only slightly—than the fact that no team likely would cobble together the proper package to satisfy the Brooklyn Nets’ rightfully high asking price for a top-five player with four years remaining on his deal.
And thus Tuesday’s statement from the Nets that Durant has backed off his trade demand—for now—after a meeting with ownership, management and coach Steve Nash isn’t a surprise. Given the package that the Utah Jazz received from the Minnesota Timberwolves for Rudy Gobert, the mind stretched to conceive a proper return for Durant, a 12-time All-Star and two-time NBA Finals most valuable player.
And so Durant remains in the loaded Eastern Conference, although the Nets still have the uncertain futures of Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons on their hands. That didn’t stop one prominent Las Vegas betting site, Caesars Sportsbook, from moving the Nets’ odds of winning the NBA championship from 18-1 to 9-1.
That’s how good Durant is.
That exactly isn’t a news flash. Neither is the fact the Bulls didn’t own the proper draft capital to augment any potential offer built around the minimum one All-Star player and young talent that the Brooklyn Nets sought in return for Durant.
That’s even if the Bulls were serious about trying to acquire Durant. Bulls management has made clear that it’s seeking core continuity. That’s been the theme since a quiet trade deadline last season.
It’s why management moved quickly to re-sign Zach LaVine to a five-year maximum contract and then worked the margins with moves like bringing back Derrick Jones Jr. on a value contract and adding veterans Andre Drummond and Goran Dragic in free agency.
The Nets did their due diligence with virtually every team in the league regarding potential packages for Durant. But multiple league executives worked under the impression that this outcome would prevail for now.
In many ways, the Durant situation mirrors what happened with the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant in 2007. That’s when Bryant requested a trade but ultimately returned to the Lakers after it was clear that any team that traded for him would be gutted by the return the Lakers rightfully sought.
That time, the Bulls were prominently involved. But reports of the Bulls refusing to part with Luol Deng were greatly exaggerated. For starters, Bryant wanted to end up with the Bulls only if Deng played for them. Furthermore, the Lakers engaged in mostly non-serious trade talks mainly to appease Bryant, who eventually calmed.
For now, Durant has done the same.
The Bulls captured two of three meetings against the Nets last season and finished two games ahead of them and in sixth place in the Eastern Conference. The Nets settled for the seventh seed and, after a play-in victory over the Cavaliers, got swept out of the first round by the eventual conference champion Boston Celtics.
The Bulls, of course, lost in five games in the first round to the Milwaukee Bucks.
The East remains loaded. And the Nets’ chances of faring well in the conference improved on Tuesday.
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