Raptors well positioned to enter Durant sweepstakes, if they want in on it

TSN Raptors Reporter

Follow| Archive

TORONTO – For at least a few minutes it didn’t seem too outrageous to think that this could be a relatively quiet summer around the NBA, by NBA standards anyway.

It was the eve of free agency. Kyrie Irving had just shocked the world by doing the sensible thing and opting into the final season of his contract instead of leaving $30 million on the table. Good for him, even though the alternative sure would have been fun.

This year’s free agent class wasn’t lined up to be the greatest. The Hawks-Spurs swap was interesting, with Atlanta adding all-star guard Dejounte Murray to pair with Trae Young and the Spurs finally embracing the tank. But one of the league’s most pressing questions was whether the Knicks could clear enough salary to overpay Jalen Brunson. Ho-hum.

Well, so much for that. In one fell swoop, the league became delightfully crazy again.

On Thursday afternoon, mere hours before the free agency negotiation window was set to open, it was reported that Kevin Durant had requested a trade out of Brooklyn.

When a superstar and one of the top-five players in the game suddenly becomes available, that’s considered an actionable event in the NBA. Given their track record, you can absolutely expect the Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster-led Raptors to at least kick the tires, but they won’t be alone.

If you’re one of the league’s other 29 teams and you’re not currently preparing your best offer and dialling up Nets general manager Sean Marks – assuming you haven’t already – what are you even doing?

Toronto is as well positioned as any team in basketball to enter the Durant sweepstakes. The question is, how serious are they about making a run at the former MVP, two-time champion and