Brooklyn Nets fans like BetSided’s Reed Wallach can finally relax. Kevin Durant will play basketball in a Nets uniform in the 2022/23 season.
The news first emerged Tuesday morning when Brooklyn released a statement from general manager Sean Marks about the latest state of negotiations between Durant and the team. After several weeks of being willing to comply with Durant’s request to play for another team, the two sides met again and decided to stay together for now and “move forward in our partnership.”
With Durant back, here’s what the Brooklyn Nets’ lineup is likely to look like at the start of the season:
Projected Brooklyn Nets
PG Starting Lineup: Kyrie Irving
ZG: Seth Curry
SF: Ben Simmons
PF: Kevin Durant
C: Nicholas Claxton
BENCH: Patty Mills, Cam Thomas, Joe Harris, T.J. Warren, Royce O’Neill, Day’Ron Sharp, Alondes Williams, Kessler Edwards
Brooklyn Nets Odds Move After Kevin Durant News
When it comes to the dynamics of the Nets’ offseason championship chances, “time is a flat circle.”
Through John Ewing of BetMGM, the Nets started the offseason with +700 to return home to the NBA Finals. After Durant’s trade request, this number increased to +2500, and then to +4000 in July.
Now everything is back to what it was before: the odds are 7/1.
Are the Brooklyn Nets favorites to win the 2022-2023 NBA Finals?
Brooklyn may have moved closer to the lead, but they are still not favorites to win next year. This honor belongs to the Boston Celtics, whose odds in most books across the country are +450. The Celtics lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games of last year’s finals.
Boston is followed by some variation of the Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks in the range +600-+700 before the Nets with 7/1.
With Durant, Irving and Simmons finally ready to tie them together, the Nets once again have the talent to be a force in the regular season and beyond. But the main thing is, like last year, if they play together. Simmons, after being traded from the 76ers, did not play in NBA games throughout the season and did not participate in any games with Brooklyn after the acquisition.
Meanwhile, Durant and Irving played together in only 17 regular-season games, according to StatMuse last season, going 11-6 overall. I still have a lot to prove as a cohesive team, and in the 2022-2023 season I will lose to the Nets again.
