Tsai, backs staff amid Durant swap claims

Tsai and Durant recently met in London, where Durant reiterated his desire to be traded and suggested the franchise needed to choose between him, coach Steve Nash and general manager Sean Marks.

Durant initially requested a trade on June 30 and has not retracted that request. At 33, Durant has four years and $198 million left on his contract, meaning Brooklyn can be patient waiting on teams for the kind of return it believes will eventually emerge for a star player hitting the trade market in his prime.

The meeting between Durant and Tsai was first reported by The Athletic, which also noted that it occurred on the one-year anniversary of Durant signing his extension.

Durant, along with Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan, joined the Nets in the summer of 2019 after Marks and then-coach Kenny Atkinson helped lead the franchise out of stagnation and to a surprise postseason berth.

Since then, nothing has gone as the Nets planned.

Durant sat out the 2019 season while recovering from a torn Achilles tendon, Jordan was traded, Nash was hired to replace Atkinson, James Harden came and went and Ben Simmons has yet to make his Nets debut. Irving opted into the final year of his contract with the team this offseason, but has not received an extension. He played in 29 games last season after electing not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Irving had created a list of teams he would have liked the Nets to consider working out a sign-and-trade deal with if they couldn’t agree on terms for him to stay in Brooklyn, but the Los Angeles Lakers was the only team that was made known to be interested.

Irving is now no longer eligible for a sign-and-trade deal. The Nets could still work to trade him as an expiring contract, but Irving would not have a formal say in a potential landing spot.

He has until June 30 of next year to negotiate an extension with the Nets before becoming an unrestricted free agent.