Nothin' But Nets
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Brooklyn Nets: 3 reasons Kevin Durant should come to Brooklyn next summer

By Phil Watson

OAKLAND, CA - MARCH 06: Kevin Durant #35 of the Golden State Warriors looks to pass over the top of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson #24 of the Brooklyn Nets during an NBA basketball game at ORACLE Arena on March 6, 2018 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA - MARCH 06: Kevin Durant #35 of the Golden State Warriors looks to pass over the top of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson #24 of the Brooklyn Nets during an NBA basketball game at ORACLE Arena on March 6, 2018 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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Brooklyn Nets
OAKLAND, CA – MARCH 06: Kevin Durant #35 of the Golden State Warriors looks to pass over the top of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson #24 of the Brooklyn Nets during an NBA basketball game at ORACLE Arena on March 6, 2018 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

It’s a pipe dream, but a partnership between the Brooklyn Nets and Kevin Durant makes sense on a lot of levels. Here are 3 reasons Durant should be a Net.

Kevin Durant has never expressed an interest in playing for the Brooklyn Nets. The Brooklyn Nets have never gotten a meeting with, or expressed a desire to sign, Kevin Durant.

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Let’s get those facts out of the way right up front.

Much has been made of the maneuvering Nets general manager Sean Marks has done to create up to $70 million in salary cap space in the summer of 2019.

But recent events have tempered the enthusiasm about that development, since two of the potential free agents in 2019 may already be off the market by the time July 1 rolls around.

Point guard Kyrie Irving said Thursday — very publicly — that he intends to opt out of the final year of his contract next summer and re-sign with the Boston Celtics for the long term.

Irving has a $21.3 million player option for 2019-20, but by opting out, he puts himself in position to get five years and $188 million from the Celtics as a free agent.

Jimmy Butler, meanwhile, is the star of his own little soap opera in Minneapolis after requesting a trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves. Butler wants to go to a team that has the cap space to sign him to a max deal when he declines his $19.8 million option for 2019-20.

Butler could also get the maximum five years and $188 million from whatever team happens to hold his Bird rights next July.

There was a lot of buzz about Irving and Butler potentially planning to team up with a team in the Eastern Conference next year, but Irving downplayed those rumors and that idea now appears to either be (a) dead or (b) never alive in the first place.

So how does that circle back to Kevin Durant, exactly?

Because we’re almost a year from NBA Free Agency 2019 and wild speculation can be fun.

Durant re-signed with the Golden State Warriors on July 7 on his second consecutive one-plus-one deal (two years with a player option for the second year). He’ll get $30 million this season and his option for 2019-20 is $31.5 million.

He signed a similar two-year deal when he left the Oklahoma City Thunder in July 2016 to join the Warriors, a two-year, $51.5 million deal, and exercised his $25 million for last season.

So we have the idea of Kevin Durant to the Brooklyn Nets, a team he shut down completely when he was a free agent in 2016.

Why is it not as insane as it might seem on the surface?