The NBA rumor mill abhors a vacuum.
In the absence of any actual action on the Kevin Durant trade front, wild rumors start to fly around to fill that void. One came from Marc Stein, who said a source told him Durant would rather retire than play for the Nets again. While someone with a sober viewpoint would read that and think, “no way Durant walks away from $194.2 million” — and Stein himself called it “serious hyperbole” and never promoted the idea — we circle back to the NBA rumor mill abhors a vacuum.
Durant himself stepped up and shot this rumor down.
I know most people will believe unnamed sources over me but if it’s anyone out there that’ll listen, I don’t plan on retiring anytime soon. Shit is comical at this point.
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) August 15, 2022
Durant was never retiring. Aside from his love for the game, there are 194 million other reasons that would never happen.
We have a breakdown of what is next in the Durant trade saga, but here is the elevator pitch version: Nothing. And nothing is very likely to happen until we get close to or into training camp, when both the Nets and Durant will be put to the test. First, Durant will choose to hold out of training camp (the more expected option) or show up and play. Second, the Nets will either be able to handle the heat of the media spotlight and the distraction of the Durant trade saga (as the 76ers did last season with Ben Simmons), or they will decide it is all too much and will trade him just to get it over with.
Until one of those things happens, expect more wild rumors.
