sport news NBA Trade Deadline 2023: Nets 'now willing to deal Kevin Durant after sending ... trends now

With only a day until the NBA's trade deadline, the Brooklyn Nets have reportedly done an about-face on Kevin Durant, and are now willing to deal the injured superstar.

Teams began inquiring about Durant's status after the Nets agreed to send disgruntled point guard Kyrie Irving to Dallas, according to ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, who mentioned Boston as one of the interested teams.

Now, Smith's ESPN colleague Brian Windhorst is reporting that the Nets are willing to move Durant, but are more likely to do so in the off-season, when teams will have more salary cap flexibility.

'Now that Kyrie has been traded, maybe the Nets' position on not trading Durant as it really was kind of last summer may change,' said Brian Windhorst. 'That is an interesting development that has happened over the last 48 hours since the Kyrie trade from people that I've talked to.'

Durant, who is out with a sprained knee, requested a trade out of Brooklyn prior to the season. However, he rescinded that demand after sitting down with owner Joseph Tsai, general manager Sean Marks and then-coach Steve Nash to hammer out his issues with the Nets. Nash has since been fired and the Nets responded by going 30-17 under his replacement, Jacque Vaughn.

The potential for a Durant trade does not necessarily preclude the Nets from adding top-level talent ahead of Thursday's 3pm EST deadline.

Windhorst also reported that the Nets have shown interest in pairing Durant with Toronto Raptors stars OG Anunoby or Pascal Siakam. Other rumors have mentioned the Nets' potential interest in Toronto guard Fred VanVleet.

'There's definitely trade discussions happening between the Raptors and teams about their players,' Windhorst said on ESPN. 'And definitely concepts going back and forth. That is absolutely true. I've talked to several teams who have talked to me about this.

'At the same time,

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