BOSTON — The Kevin Durant commerce saga got here to an finish Tuesday, with the famous person now keen to maneuver ahead with the Brooklyn Nets after demanding a commerce earlier this summer season. Now life can go on for the remainder of the NBA, particularly right here in Boston.
Durant commerce rumors and hypothesis dominated the NBA offseason for the reason that finish of June. The Celtics had been all the time on the forefront of these rumors, with Jaylen Brown’s title being introduced up at each flip. Now that the rumors are over — at the least, for now — we’ll discover out if there may be any lingering sick will from Brown towards the group.
Celtics president of basketball ops. Brad Stevens addressed the Durant commerce chatter throughout a Tuesday look on WEEI’s Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon, and mentioned that he was all the time in touch with Brown to handle any rumors the Celtics guard discovered himself concerned in.
“Jaylen’s been by way of this from the standpoint of listening and the noise has been round him for a very long time, large names over time. I believe one of many issues you’ve gotten to have the ability to do is ignore the noise and know what’s essential,” mentioned Stevens. “Additionally, be capable of attain out and have candid and clear communications with the individuals concerned. We have had these and been very open from the get-go as all of this has been happening for any of our guys.”
Brown has been concerned in a number of rumors all through his profession, from Jimmy Butler to Anthony Davis to Kawhi Leonard. Stevens mentioned that he sat down with Brown final week in Los Angeles, and the guard will probably be again in Boston quickly.
Primarily based on what Stevens mentioned in regards to the Celtics’ involvement within the Durant talks, Boston’s curiosity in was merely exploratory. The Celtics have been happy with their crew since buying Malcolm Brogdon and signing Danilo Gallinari simply forward of Durant’s request, and they’re keen to enter the brand new season with this new group.
“Pay attention, on the finish of the day I am not going to enter any conversations that we had as a result of I do not suppose that is applicable,” mentioned Stevens. “However my job is to know what prices are after which in the end decide whether or not or not we need to be concerned in any cope with any crew across the league.
“However for the reason that Brogdon commerce, we have felt actually good about our crew and we have felt actually good about constructing round these guys that we have been constructing round, attempting to intensify our greatest gamers and we’re excited to maneuver ahead with our crew. That is actually been our focus for some time right here,” he added. “You say it has been busy and there is been numerous speak, however it hadn’t been for me. Hopefully it provides everybody one thing to speak about, however it’s been fairly quiet on our entrance for some time now.”
