Many people believe the Nets are going to want a huge package of good players and picks in return for Kevin Durant. Until recently I also thought this would be what they wanted. While considering some other KD trades that I could potentially post an interesting idea popped into my head. What if Brooklyn doesn’t want any players back for KD? I know this sounds like a crazy idea, but hear me out as I believe there might be some substance to this.

The main perk to trading Durant and receiving no players in return is that it would create an astronomically huge trade exception for Brooklyn. This would allow them to take in $40.92 million in salary with out it effecting their cap space at all. They would be able to take on a number of bad contracts for picks. They could also get involved in a number of potential blockbuster deals as a facilitating team who just takes on salary for picks.

The biggest question mark with this is how do they get enough value for KD in just picks. My answer to that… they don’t. There’s no possible package a team could offer them in just picks that would be a fair value for KD. I believe there best bet is to find a deal they like from a team interested Durant. After that they should talk to other teams around the league who might be interested in the players they will be receiving for him. Instead of taking these players on themselves, the Nets could add more teams to the deal and flip those players for picks.

Most of the players they’d be getting in any potential Durant deal would be young. This makes me believe they’d draw a fair amount of interest from other teams. Especially if the price for them is only a couple of picks. Lots of these players are still on rookie deals as well which makes it where almost any team could add them and still be under the salary cap.

If the Nets were to do a Durant deal like this, there is no doubt in my mind that they could get back 10-15 picks after turning all of the players into picks. They could then turn the trade exception into at least 5 more picks. Potentially 20 FRPs for Durant? I’d take that if I was the Nets. Not to mention they could do the same with Kyrie. A contract his size could also fit in quite a few bad contracts.

I know this is a crazy idea, but I think it could work really well. Make sure to let me know your thoughts on this!