The Brooklyn Nets traded superstar Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns for a package including young players and draft picks in a surprising move early Thursday morning.
The deal sends Durant and T.J. Warren to the Suns in exchange for Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, four first-round draft picks, and one option to swap picks for the Nets, ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted.
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The move shocked the NBA world, which sensed a move might be imminent after Durant's costar in Brooklyn, Kyrie Irving, was traded to the Dallas Mavericks this week, but did not expect one to materialize so quickly and ostensibly in the Suns's favor.
Durant, a consensus top-5 player in the league, was having an MVP-caliber season before he injured his knee in early January, averaging 30 points, seven rebounds, and five assists per game, per Basketball Reference, as well as shining on the defensive end of the floor. Because Durant is expected to return to action soon, the move immediately vaults the Suns to the favorite in the Western Conference.
It also places doubt on the Nets's future. While Bridges and Johnson are strong, young, athletic wings any team in the NBA would have been thrilled to acquire, they are not stars, nor do they project to be, and the Nets already owe future first-round draft picks to other teams based on win-now moves they've made in the past.
Thus, the Nets are in a position in which they have a solid roster but no realistic path to a championship, and their future remains uncertain because they do not own many of their own draft picks in the coming years.
"Omygod lol," Bridges tweeted shortly after the trade was announced. His pinned tweet is a picture of him being drafted by the Suns, which he retweeted and wrote, "I don't ever wanna leave."
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The Suns now pair Durant with future Hall of Famer Chris Paul and star shooting guard Devin Booker, creating a lethal trio to try and return the team to the NBA finals, in which they lost to the Milwaukee Bucks two seasons ago. The Nets face a bevy of question marks.
And the NBA, ever as exciting for what goes on off the court as what goes on it, will sit back and enjoy.