NBA Notes: Suns, Kevin Durant, Mavs, Kyrie Irving, Wizards

Suns

While it may not always sit well with fans, Suns forward Kevin Durant said that star players being traded is actually great for the NBA.

“Teams have been trading players and making acquisitions for a long time,” Durant said, via Ben Golliver of The Washington Post. “Now a player can dictate where he wants to go, leave in free agency or demand a trade, it’s just part of the game now.”

Durant added that trade requests also seem to spur fan excitement.

“I don’t think it’s bad for the league,” he said. “It’s bringing more eyes to the league; more people are more excited. The tweets that I get; the news hits that we got from me being traded, Kyrie being traded; it just brings more attention to the league and that’s really what rakes the money in, when you get more attention. So, I think it’s great for the league, to be honest.”

Durant was dealt to the Suns from the Nets at the deadline, though he did not request a trade at the time. He did, however, request one at the beginning of the season before backtracking.

• Durant and shooting guard Devin Booker are the Suns’ best duo ever, wrote Dave King of SB Nation.

Mavericks

Meanwhile, star guard Kyrie Irving did request a trade from the Nets at the deadline. It was, of course, granted — as Irving made his way to the Mavericks, his fourth team since 2017.

“Why doesn’t anyone have the ability to ask for trades? That’s my question,” Irving said, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “When did it become terrible to make great business decisions for yourself and your happiness and peace of mind? Not every employer you’re going to get along with, so if you have the chance to go somewhere else and you’re doing it legally, I don’t think there’s a problem with it.”

NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed the topic as trades at All-Star Weekend as well.

“You want teams to be in a position with smart management where they can rebuild or make smart moves or, frankly, with both teams and players, work themselves out of bad relationships,” Silver said, via McMenamin. “You want to find the right balance. You want, obviously, players to honor their contracts, and at the same time a certain amount of player movement is good.”

• Irving said he has “no regrets” during his time with the Nets. “I had an incredible four years,’ he said. “I’m grateful to all the people I met throughout the whole entire organization.”

Wizards

• The Wizards won 10 of 14 and enter the final stretch of the season with some momentum, per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington.
• As a bonus, 15 of the Wizards’ final 24 games will be at home, Hughes added. “March is where the Wizards could really make up some ground in the Eastern Conference standings,’ Hughes wrote, noting that 11 of 16 games are at home that month.
• Power forward Anthony Gill doesn’t play much, but has helped build a positive culture within the Wizards, as written by Ava Wallace of The Washington Post.