Kevin Durant has requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets, according to a person with direct knowledge of the seismic decision that undoubtedly will have teams scrambling to put together enormous offers for the perennial All-Star.
The Nets have been working with Durant to find a trade partner, and he has multiple teams on his preferred list, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because neither the player nor Brooklyn revealed any details publicly.
ESPN first reported Durant’s trade request, citing Phoenix and Miami as two of his preferred destinations.
Durant is a 12-time All-Star, four-time scoring champion, three-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time NBA champion. He also has four years and nearly $200 million remaining on his contract, which means that it may take a haul of players, draft picks or possibly both for a team to acquire him.
Durant spent three seasons with Brooklyn, not playing in the first of those years while he recovered from a torn Achilles. He averaged 29.9 points in 55 games last season, after leading the U.S. to Olympic gold at the Tokyo Games last summer.
The news on Durant came three days after Kyrie Irving decided to exercise his $37 million option to remain with Brooklyn this coming season.
• Brooklyn acquired forward Royce O’Neale from Utah for a conditional 2023 first-round draft pick. The Nets announced the deal, noting the Jazz will receive the least favorable of the Brooklyn/Houston first-round pick swap and Philadelphia’s first-round pick that was previously acquired by Brooklyn.
O’Neale has appeared in 370 NBA games in five seasons in Utah, averaging 6.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists.
CELTICS: The Celtics have an ancillary interest in the major trade that found Atlanta sending Danilo Gallinari and three first-round picks to San Antonio for the Spurs’ young all-star Dejounte Murray on Wednesday.
A league source confirmed a report from Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer earlier in that day that the Celtics have an interest in signing the 33-year-old Italian if, as expected, he is waived by the Spurs. Though the team chose not to get involved in the bidding process for Murray, a young point guard who, combined with Trae Young, will give the Hawks one of the NBA’s great young backcourts, the Celtics are focusing on quality veteran help to add to their bench.
Donte DiVincenzo, now a free agent after Sacramento decided not to extend a qualifying offer to the talented wing player, is stacking up as another Celtics target.
Gallinari has struggled to overcome injury for much of his career, though his 66 games for the Hawks last season were his most since he played 68 in 2018-19 for the Clippers.
His fit for a Celtics team in need of bench scoring and playmaking is undeniable. At one point earlier in his career considered a major scorer, the 6-foot-10 Gallinari is a career 38% 3-point shooter and a gifted playmaker off the wing.
The only obstacle, especially on aging legs, may be Gallinari’s ability to defend in Coach Ime Udoka’s relentless switching scheme, though the Celtics have clearly decided that their offense needs help.
The Celtics will have competition for Gallinari’s services, and it’s unclear whether they will be forced to use their $6.1 million taxpayers mid-level extension on him.
NUGGETS: Nikola Jokic went from No. 41 draft pick, to two-time MVP, and now the holder of the largest contract in NBA history when Jokic and Denver agreed Thursday to a $264 supermax extension, according to a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
It begins with the 2023-24 season and continues through 2027-28 – when, if Jokic exercises his option for that season, he could make roughly $60 million.
The Serbian star has had a meteoric rise in his seven NBA seasons, all with the Nuggets. He became an All-Star in his fourth season and has stayed at that level since, plus won MVP in each of the last two seasons after averaging 26.4 points in 2020-21 and 27.1 points this past season.
WIZARDS: Bradley Beal and Washington have agreed on a five-year contract that could pay him as much as $251 million – one of the largest contracts in NBA history.
Beal’s announcement was made by his agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports. The decision came almost immediately after this season’s NBA free agent negotiating window opened Thursday, and is a max-value deal. There have been other contracts with a bit higher value: Damian Lillard’s most recent extension in Portland three years ago pushed his existing contract value to $257 million, for example, and Denver’s Nikola Jokic is expected to soon sign a supermax extension of his own that will be worth around $260 million.
Beal’s isn’t an extension, but a separate contract since he became a free agent by opting out of a $36.4 million contract for this coming season on Wednesday. He did that with the supermax deal from the Wizards clearly in mind, and the sides wasted no time making that happen. Either way, between the new deal and the $180 million or so that Beal has earned in his first 10 NBA seasons – all with the Wizards – he’s now cemented a spot as one of the highest-paid players in the history of the league. Beal will make about $43 million this season, get raises of between $3 million and $4 million annually and make around $57 million in the 2026-27 season.
KINGS: Malik Monk will sign a two-year contract with the Sacramento Kings, sources told The Los Angeles Times, expected to be worth nearly $20 million, more than the Lakers could’ve offered under salary-cap rules.
Monk, 24, rejuvenated his career last season with the Lakers, averaging 13.8 points and making 39.1% of his 3-pointers. A former first-round pick of the Charlotte Hornets, the Lakers signed Monk on a one-year minimum deal last season.
HORNETS: Forward Miles Bridges was arrested in California on the eve of NBA free agency after a warrant was issued, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
LAPD spokeswoman Lizeth Lomeli confirmed Bridges was arrested on Wednesday but did not release details on the charges. TMZ reported that Bridges is facing felony domestic violence charges.
The Hornets said in a statement they “are aware of the situation involving Miles Bridges. We are in the process of gathering additional information. We will have no further comment at this time.”
Bridges, the Hornets’ leading scorer last season, is set to become a restricted free agent and could command a max contract in the coming weeks. .
The 24-year-old Bridges averaged career highs with 20.2 points and seven rebounds in what amounted to a breakout season for the four-year NBA veteran while playing alongside All-Star point guard LaMelo Ball.
MAGIC: Mo Bamba has agreed to return to the Magic on a two-year, $21 million contract, according to reports.
Bamba, the No. 6 pick in the 2018 draft, finished the final season of his 4-year, $24.1 million rookie-scale contract in 2021-22. He averaged career-highs across the board last season, including minutes (25.7), points (10.6), rebounds (8.1), blocks (1.7) and assists (1.2) in 71 games (69 starts).
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