Latest on Kevin Durant

Nothing is right in the world of Nets basketball at the moment, as Kevin Durant‘s trade request took on new life earlier this week.

He wants to be traded unless GM Sean Marks and coach Steve Nash are fired, and given that owner Joe Tsai indicated the latter isn’t happening — well, Durant is very likely on the way out.

Durant seemed to know that Tsai wouldn’t go for such an option, and perhaps that is why he presented it. Perhaps Durant was just trying to speed up the process.

“He has asked for a trade and it hasn’t been granted. He has asked for the coach and general manager to be fired and that hasn’t been granted,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on Get Up. “And so now, how do you go forward and report to training camp when you’ve been told no? That’s now the coming drama with this situation.”

Tsai said in a tweet that Nash and Marks have his full support. “We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets,” he wrote.

“Obviously, the first sentence – where he’s saying he’s not firing his coach and GM – is important,” Windhorst said. “The second sentence was a message to Durant and the whole league, which is, ‘We’re going to do what’s best for the Brooklyn Nets.’

“That is code for, “We’re not going to make a trade just to satisfy this player, no matter how good he is and no matter how much pressure he’s going to put on us. We have all the cards, we have a four-year contract.’ And so I suspect that that will be their position come the start of training camp, and that could lead to Durant not showing up.”

As for Durant’s next destination, it’s hard to say. The Celtics seem to be a frontrunner, and per Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe, the Nets attempted to steal both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum away from Boston.

The Celtics have also shot down the Nets’ attempts for Brown, Marcus Smart and multiple picks, Himmelsbach added. Meanwhile, the Nets reportedly shot down a package of Brown, Derrick White and picks.