Nets Rumors: Kevin Durant 'Surprised' by Kyrie Irving Trade Request Ahead of Deadline

Brooklyn Nets star forward Kevin Durant was reportedly "surprised" to hear of teammate Kyrie Irving's trade request, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported on SportsCenter Friday:

"Teams who are watching what happens with Kyrie Irving are really much more interested in Kevin Durant's response to this," Wojnarowski said. "I'm told that the trade request surprised everyone in Brooklyn today, including Kevin Durant, so how does he respond to this?"

Durant, who requested a trade last summer before pulling it back before the season, is currently out with a left MCL sprain. Per a conversation Wojnarowski had with Durant's business partner Rich Kleiman on Wednesday, he's hoping to return for the Feb. 19 All-Star Game in Salt Lake City.

Durant signed a four-year, $194.2 million contract with the Nets that runs through the 2025-26 season. Brooklyn would clearly want to build around one of the game's top superstars, who has averaged 29.7 points per game on 55.9 percent shooting, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists.

The question is whether Irving's trade request has any impact on whether Durant wants to stay in Brooklyn. He revealed the reason for the original trade request during NBA media days in September (h/t Joyce Li of Yahoo Sports).

"It was a lot of uncertainty around our team last year. I committed to this organization for four years last summer with the idea that we were gonna be playing with that group that we kinda went on that little round, went to the second round with.

"I felt like another year of that, us being healthy we were building something towards the future. So then as the season went on, you seen what happened with our season. Guys in and out of the lineup, injuries, just a lot of uncertainty which filled some doubt in my mind about the next 4 years of my career.

"I mean I'm getting older, I want to be in a place that's stable and try to build a championship culture so I had some doubts about that. I voiced them to Joe (Tsai) and we move forward from there."

Irving, an eight-time All-Star, is averaging 27.1 points, 5.3 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game. Losing him would be a big blow to the team's championship aspirations and create more uncertainty about the future of the team.

As it stands right now, the Nets appear to be in limbo. If they don't trade Irving, they risk losing him for nothing in the offseason in free agency. If they do trade him, they risk getting back less value than deserved. Andscape's Marc Spears reported that Irving has "little value" right now during a conversation on NBA Today Friday.

"I've been speaking to six different general managers today, and four of them said that Kyrie had little value, that they thought that maybe they could get some expiring contracts or some role players for him. Of the teams that they mention that could have interest, there was Dallas, Lakers, Miami and even the Chicago Bulls."

Then there's the question of what Durant wants to do, but right now, that's unclear. At the moment, the 31-20 Nets forge ahead as they look to improve upon their fourth-place spot in the Eastern Conference standings. Their next game is home against the Washington Wizards on Saturday.