With Brandon Ingram Reportedly Off The Table, The Market For Kevin Durant Seems To Be Deteriorating By The Day

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(Source) - The Pelicans are unwilling to include Brandon Ingram in a trade offer for Nets star Kevin Durant, league sources tell Christian Clark of NOLA.com.

New Orleans has been mentioned as a possible landing spot for Durant, who is pushing for a trade out of Brooklyn. Building an offer around Ingram would mean offering up a young forward with an All-Star nod on his résumé — the Pelicans would also be able to dip into their draft pick surplus from the Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday blockbusters to give the Nets the kind of future assets they’re believed to be seeking.

However, according to Clark, the Pelicans want to see how Ingram and Zion Williamson play together in 2022/23, with Williamson on track to return from a foot injury that sidelined him for the entire ’21/22 season. Michael Scotto of HoopsHype previously reported in late July that the Pelicans had yet to put Ingram on the table in trade talks for Durant.

While it’s possible New Orleans will make some minor roster changes before opening night, Clark says not to expect any “earth-shattering” moves, adding that it’s unlikely the club will get seriously involved in the Durant sweepstakes.

Well, that solves that! Last week we heard the "report" that the Pelicans were the next team up on the Nets list of potential trade partners. A Nets beat writer had this to say about it

Which followed the formula of every single one of these Nets leaks that we've had so far this summer. Whether it was Bam or Jaylen or Barnes or Ingram, this is how the Nets have been trying to increase the market for KD. Mention everyone's best players in hopes that it leverages another team into matching their price. It's not uncommon when stars want to be traded, we saw it with Daryl Morey and Ben Simmons for example, but here's the thing.

It does not appear that any of these leverage plays are working. 

We can pretty much cross the Pelicans off the list because without Ingram, there's no deal to be made there. We know the Nets can't trade for Bam as long as Ben Simmons is on their roster, and a package highlighted by Tyler Herro and Kyle Lowry isn't going to get it done. More reporting came out today from the Boston side saying there is nothing even substantial going on there either

With the start of training camp just six weeks away, league sources continue to insist that the Celtics are not close to a deal that would bring Kevin Durant to Boston, and that there have not even been any real discussions of substance.

So in a league in which change is one of the few constants, the Celtics will likely open the season with the same starting lineup that ended the last one, with Smart joining Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, and Robert Williams. This group is accomplished and has developed uncommon chemistry. In 34 regular-season games together last year, the unit outscored opponents by 24.6 points per 100 possessions, and the Celtics went 27-7.

Even The Athletic reported that league execs think the Nets are simply using Jaylen Brown as leverage to negotiate with other teams

Among the executives with whom I spoke, a Boston deal with Jaylen Brown as the centerpiece appears to be the unofficial front-runner here. In general terms, sources say the Nets are using the fact that the Celtics (and perhaps other teams) have made their second-best player available as a baseline of sorts in negotiations. Translation: If you’re still trying to discuss a Durant deal without putting your second-best talent on the table, then just stop wasting everyone’s time and bow out of this race.

So realistically, who is even left? At what point do the Nets bite the bullet and lower their price, or do they just face the music that the market for KD stinks and just keep him? The further we get into the summer and the quicker that training camp will be here, it doesn't feel like anything is particularly close in terms of a trade actually materializing. KD shut down the rumors yesterday that he's going to retire, so the question becomes if you're the Nets do you take 60 cents on the dollar just to move him, or do you stand firm and keep him on the roster and hope he doesn't hold out? They can always move him at the deadline once we get into the season and maybe things change in terms of his market because teams may be in a different position by February, but so far nobody seems willing to come anywhere close to what the Nets want.

The longer this thing drags on, the less leverage the Nets have and they are already starting from a pretty low leverage standpoint. All the teams we've heard to be rumored don't really have to trade for KD. They're already pretty damn good without him and aren't really interested in gutting their team for an aging star. That's why I'm starting to think that if nobody is going to match their price this summer, the Nets are going to hold onto KD and 

A) Hope things actually work out on the court and the Nets don't have a season from hell again

B) Move him at the deadline/next summer

Things can change within a team from August to February, and seeing as how KD is locked up for 4 more years it's not like they have to bite the bullet right this second. I do wonder if there's a breaking point for KD where he's so frustrated about still being a Net that he goes full Kyrie and just burns that franchise to the ground, but we're not there yet it seems. 

This whole thing is crazy when you sit back and think about it. This is Kevin Durant! One of the best players to ever play the game! You would think teams would be bending over backwards to bring in that type of talent. But it just goes to show you how deep the NBA is. Teams care about age/health/etc, especially when you are either already contending, or are a young team on the rise. If KD was like 31, he's probably already traded by now. 

But for the moment, it looks like the market has spoken and there's just nothing out there.