Could Kevin Durant actually decide to retire?
According to NBA insider Marc Stein, one NBA exec believes it’s a real possibility.
An NBA executive believes Kevin Durant is more likely to retire than play for the Nets again, per @TheSteinLine
There’s a ‘growing expectation’ that KD could cause ‘a ruckus’ to get the Nets to make a trade pic.twitter.com/ju01EPHIEM
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 15, 2022
“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.”
Stein continues to report that people in league circles believe Durant will cause a “ruckus” behind the scenes to get himself traded.
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.”
Fans were not convinced that KD would retire.
call his bluff #NBA . Fine . Retire . And u don't get paid . https://t.co/F8DGFDWoAC
— Gabriel Morency (@sportsrage) August 15, 2022
https://twitter.com/NickAshooh/status/1559254965763325952
What a mess….. I need them to wrap it up… whatever they're going to do… lol https://t.co/1TcJeWDYwN
— LizzLocker (@Lizzs_Lockeroom) August 15, 2022
To quote Wu Tang: BRING DA MF'IN RUCKUS https://t.co/wyPOAJ8XWv
— Geri Máté (@mate_geri_) August 15, 2022
Good…let this idiot retire https://t.co/Q3AuRnMUpn
— Dan Greenstein (@dg12x) August 15, 2022
I'd love for nets ownership to take a stand vs players not living up to their commitment.
Call his bluff https://t.co/pzxJ9GTSQF— AAisthemysteryteam (@RyanLottinger) August 15, 2022
Every day we are reminded that we watch more basketball than "NBA Execs".@KDTrey5 is a hooper. Hoopers hoop. https://t.co/dohQvgq1Aa
— GHOST (@GhostOchai_SZN) August 15, 2022