Kevin Durant traded from Brooklyn Nets to Phoenix Suns ahead of NBA trade deadline – reports | NBA News

The Brooklyn Nets have traded All-Star forward Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns in a swap deal that includes four other players and future first-round picks, American media reported on Thursday.

ESPN reported two-time NBA champion Durant and TJ Warren would head to Phoenix, while Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder would move the other way along with first-round draft picks in 2023, 2025, 2027 and 2029 plus a 2028 pick swap.

The move comes two days after Mat Ishbia, the billionaire president and chief executive of United Wholesale Mortgage, completed the purchase of the Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury for $4bn.

The trade ends Durant’s unhappy three-year stint in Brooklyn where he was sidelined in his first season due to injury, while he never got close to winning a championship despite being teamed up with Kyrie Irving and James Harden.

While Harden was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, Irving moved to the Dallas Mavericks earlier this week, bringing the curtains down on Brooklyn’s ‘Big Three’ experiment.

Durant, who has not played in the last four weeks and missed 14 games due to a sprained knee ligament, will now team up with fellow All-Stars Chris Paul and Devin Booker in the hopes of winning his first NBA title since 2018.

In 39 games this season, Durant is averaging 29.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists. In his NBA career with the Seattle SuperSonics, Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State and Brooklyn, he has averages of 27.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists.

Warren, 29, played in just 20 games for the Nets after recovering from a foot injury that sidelined him all of last season. He averaged 9.5 points and 2.8 rebounds for Brooklyn, well below his career norms of 15.1 points and four rebounds.

Bridges, 26, made the NBA All-Defensive team last season. This season he was averaging a career-best 17.2 points plus 4.3 rebounds in 56 games for Phoenix, better than his career marks of 12.2 points and four rebounds.

Johnson, 26, was putting up a career-best 13.9 points plus 3.8 rebounds per contest in 17 games (16 starts) for Phoenix this season. For his career, he has averages of 10.7 points and 3.6 rebounds.

Crowder, 32, has not played this season, with the forward and the Suns agreeing he would sit out until he could be traded. As he heads to the eighth team in his NBA career, he has averages of 9.6 points and 4.3 rebounds.

The trio join a new-look Nets roster, which added Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie from Dallas in the trade for Irving.

With the trade deadline at 8pm on Thursday, it remains to be seen whether the Nets will make further moves with management potentially now looking towards a rebuild.

Speaking after making his Mavericks debut in a victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday, Irving said he was “glad” that Durant had been able to force a move away from Brooklyn.

“We had a lot of conversations throughout the year of what our futures were going to look like,” Irving said.

“There was still a level of uncertainty, but we just cared about seeing each other be in places that we can thrive and whether that be together or whether that be apart.

“This business changes so quickly. He’s getting a little bit older, I’m getting a little bit older… I just am glad that he got out of there.”