How Kevin Durant Rescinding Nets Trade Request Affects Chicago Bulls

After a summer of drama, Kevin Durant made up with the Brooklyn Nets, at least for now. With no trade in sight, Durant pulled his demand and will return to the Nets for the 2022-23 season. This also ends the rumors of Kyrie Irving going to the Los Angeles Lakers for the time being.

The Chicago Bulls were never in the running for Durant. The Bulls weren’t ever reported as a preferred destination and weren’t ever reported as a team with legitimate interest. Perhaps they put in a due diligence call at some point, like literally every team should have, but nothing was ever going to happen this offseason.

That doesn’t mean Durant’s decision doesn’t impact Chicago. The Nets seemed to be on the verge of a blowup this summer, with any Durant trade likely sending him to a team already better than the Bulls. But this group sticking together in Brooklyn gives Chicago just another talented team to deal with in the race for the playoffs in the Eastern Conference.

For all the questions and concerns about a Nets Big Three featuring Durant, Irving and Ben Simmons, they are ridiculously talented and could wind up being one of the best teams in the East if things go right. According to DraftKings, Brooklyn is now projected for 51.5 wins, which is third in the East behind only the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks.

Meanwhile, the Bulls are projected at 43.5 wins, which is the eighth-most in the East and just ahead of the 42.5 wins projected for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Chicago finishing eighth would put them on the road in the first game of the play-in tournament. Finishing No. 9 or No. 10 would require two play-in wins to reach the playoffs.

These projections aren’t gospel, of course, and who knows what happens over the course of the season. As much talent as they have, the Nets could still easily blow up again. There’s a lot of pressure on head coach Steve Nash after how things have played out the last two seasons, including a recent ultimatum from Durant asking for Nash and general manager Sean Marks to be fired.

There’s also the volatility of these Nets stars. Durant is still one of the best players in the world, but he has had issues staying healthy in recent years. Irving is known as much for his unreliability and mercurial nature as he is for his impressive talent. Simmons didn’t play last season, underwent back surgery in May and continues to work through mental health issues.

Brooklyn could be a championship contender or a team that looks totally different by the end of the season. If things go south, Nash is probably gone, Durant could ask out again and Irving’s exit would seem like a sure thing ahead of his 2023 free agency. There are just so many variables here.

The Bulls have some volatility of their own, as we saw last season when they went from first place 60 games in to the sixth seed by the end. Lonzo Ball’s questionable health will play a major factor in how things play out for Chicago, as will internal development after a relatively quiet offseason that included, ironically, two signings of players who ended 2021-22 as key Nets players. That would be Andre Drummond and Goran Dragic, with the former starting all four playoff games against the Celtics and the latter playing a significant bench role.

The Bulls and Nets will be just two parts of a fascinating Eastern Conference in the 2022-23 season. After so many years of being clearly the lesser conference, 2021-22 brought about much more competition. This upcoming campaign should be more of the same as a number of teams duke it out for playoff spots, and we’ll see if this Nets drama rears its ugly head again at any point.