Kevin Durant's trade request was a huge shock for the NBA community. The 2x NBA champion has been the talk of the town after making such a surprising decision following a tumultuous 2021/22 season at Barclays Center. It's been exactly a month since Durant requested this trade, and nothing has happened to him yet.
However, behind the curtains, the people who pay the checks are reportedly ready to make some changes, given all the players that have forced a trade from their teams. KD is the latest name to do this, and it seems like owners have seen enough of this and will try to make it clear soon.
According to Brian Lewis of The New York Posts, NBA owners want to make some changes to prevent these situations in the future and are reportedly ready to go through a lockout to achieve it.
Kevin Durant’s trade talks are going to rock the NBA for the next few weeks, if not months. Upcoming negotiations over the league’s collective bargaining agreement, on the other hand, could stall the league – or shut it down altogether.
The two are linked.
The NBA just wrapped up its most profitable season ever, and the league and its players know even bigger gains are on the horizon once the two sides reach a new labor agreement following of a new set of media rights agreements. With a huge amount of money at stake, neither side wants a work stoppage.
But Durant’s recent actions — along with those of Ben Simmons, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, all Durant’s teammates in Brooklyn at times last season — have caught the attention of NBA owners, and not in a good way.
It's interesting to know that all the players mentioned on the piece were or are part of the Brooklyn Nets. The Brooklynites have had a rough time in the past two seasons, missing players due to a variety of reasons. Now, they could lose both Durant and Kyrie Irving, while Ben Simmons is also linked with a move away.
This situation could change a lot of things for players, but seeing how bad they have behaved in recent years, it's easy to see why owners will try to make some big changes to protect their investments. The KD saga just made things worse, and owners are ready to do anything to change things.
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