Brooklyn Nets: NBA Finals matchup bad for Brooklyn’s superteam dream

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Brooklyn Nets Kevin Durant D’Angelo Russell (Photo by Matteo Marchi/Getty Images) /

With Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard in the NBA Finals, the Brooklyn Nets could find their path to both — or either — blocked by a new championship ring.

Arguably, the two best free agents in 2019 are Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard. Pairing them together on the same team would make any franchise the favorite to go to the NBA Finals and probably win the NBA title and there has been buzz the Brooklyn Nets could swing for that pairing.

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The fact Durant and Leonard are now both in the NBA Finals as rivals presents major problems in trying to pair them together via free agency, especially for Brooklyn. The NBA Finals matchup is bad for Brooklyn’s superteam dream.

In order to even make pairing Leonard and Durant financially possible, Nets general manager Sean Marks would have to move Allen Crabbe‘s expiring $18.5 million contract and renounce all of Brooklyn’s restricted free agents, including beloved All-Star D’Angelo Russell.

Such a move would anger many Nets fans, but if it guaranteed a Durant and Leonard pairing in Brooklyn, I think those fans would get over the loss of D-Lo pretty fast.

As if those obstacles weren’t enough, now the very nature of the matchup of the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals poses even more obstacles in trying to pair Leonard and Durant in Brooklyn.

Let’s look at how this could play out in three different scenarios and how it could affect Brooklyn’s chances of trying to sign Durant or Leonard and pairing them together.