Report: Kevin Durant Privately Requested Trade to Suns After Kyrie Irving-Mavs Deal

Kevin Durant reportedly asked the Brooklyn Nets to trade him to the Phoenix Suns after the team dealt Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks.

ESPN's Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst reported Friday on Durant's request to Nets general manager Sean Marks:

"On Monday afternoon, Durant and his business partner Rich Kleiman had asked for a meeting. It was a somber one. Less than 24 hours earlier the Nets had traded Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks after a whirlwind three days of action. Now Durant was repeating the words he had said on the eve of free agency last June that had turned the NBA on its side for weeks.

"Again, Durant told Marks he wanted to be traded. Only this time, Durant specifically asked to be traded to the Suns. The group then FaceTimed Nets owner Joe Tsai, who was at his home in San Diego, with the decision.

"It was not fiery. It was a request, not a demand like Irving had made of the Nets the previous Friday. More importantly, in stark contrast to Durant's public trade request last June and Irving's maneuver, this was to stay a private appeal. Durant didn't want a bidding war and days of being the target of intense speculation and online obsession."

Brooklyn dealt Durant and T.J. Warren to Phoenix on Thursday for Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Jae Crowder and four unprotected first-round picks.

The Nets previously moved Irving and Markieff Morris to Dallas for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2029 first-round pick and two second-round picks (2027 and 2029).

With that move and the Durant deal, the short-lived superteam era in Brooklyn came to an end.

Durant and Irving signed with the Nets together in 2019, and James Harden joined them via trade in January 2021.

However, the three players only took the court together for 16 games. That glimpse showcased what the team might have been with a 13-3 record.

All three players are in different locations after each of their trade requests was granted. Brooklyn sent Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers before last year's trade deadline.

In regards to Durant, rumors surfaced of his desire to head to Phoenix last summer when he made his initial trade request.

"It was Phoenix. It was always Phoenix," Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports wrote. "Even before Kevin Durant requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets last June, mere minutes before the NBA's 2022 free-agency period began, word had already spread among league personnel: Durant's eye was wandering toward the Suns."

It's easy to see why he would like to join Phoenix from a basketball perspective. The Suns have a star core four of KD, Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton. They could well be the Western Conference favorites.

Durant's Suns debut will have to wait as he recovers from an MCL sprain that will keep him out through the Feb. 19 All-Star Game, but the Suns are in position for the franchise's first NBA title when he returns to action.