Kevin Durant had a bit of a tough offseason. He found out the hard way that his trade value and his leverage werenāt as high as he thought, failing to force a trade out of the Brooklyn Nets.
Simply put, Durantās reputation took yet another hit, albeit to no avail. Itās not like he got any of his conditions done, but fans wonāt forget the fact that he once again tried to force his way out of a team.
Thatās why NBA Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett didnāt hesitate to take a swipe at him. Per Garnett, going back to Brooklyn after all that off-season drama showed how little leverage he actually had.
NBA News: Kevin Garnett Rips Kevin Durant For Going Back To The Brooklyn Nets
āKD didnāt get traded. Lowkey controlled his movement. Do you know why they didnāt love it? Because he got the leverage himself,ā Garnett told Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson ināAll the Smoke.ā
āYou understand what Iām saying? I heard him almost going back to Golden State, I heard that. I heard that was a real thing. I couldnāt understand it, Iāve never seen a situation where a guy tells the owner, a b, and c of it, and then it donāt get done, and the guy is [like], āokay cool, Iām coming back,'ā Garnett added.
Suns Didnāt Want To Trade Cam Johnson To Get Durant
Multiple teams were interested in Durant, yet none of them wanted to bet against themselves. In fact, the Phoenix Suns didnāt even want to include a sixth man like Cam Johnson in a trade for him:
āInstead, Phoenix has aimed to supplant Crowder in its starting group with Cam Johnson. During the teamās trade pursuit of Kevin Durant this summer, sources said, Suns officials remained steadfast that Johnson was off limits,ā Fischer reported.
While Durant is one of the greatest players of all time, his well-documented character issues drove multiple teams away from putting together big-time offers. Now, heās stuck in Brooklyn and with fans who may not like him that much.
