Consider Kevin Durant among those in favor of trade requests. Heck, he made one just this past off-season. Durant showed his support for what helped orchestrate the end of the Brooklyn Nets “super team”, just a day after NBA legend Charles Barkley sounded off on the trade requests made by him and his former teammates — Kyrie Irving and James Harden.
“You can’t take my money and then say you want to divorce me in six months to a year,” Barkley told Ben Golliver of the Washington Post ahead of NBA All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City.”There’s no doubt in my mind that these guys are going to get locked out. With these owners, you can’t take all their money and treat these owners and fans like crap.”
Durant, now of the Phoenix Suns, said on Saturday that trade requests are “great for the league” despite the criticism he, Irving and Harden, among others, have faced.
“I don’t think it’s bad for the league,” Durant said via Golliver on Saturday. “Teams have been trading players and making acquisitions for a long time. Now a player can dictate where he wants to go, leave in free agency or demand a trade, it’s just part of the game now. I don’t think it’s a bad thing.”
Based on the reactions that have been made to the numerous trade demands that have shaken the core of the league over the past couple of years, it seems like Durant and his fellow NBA players may be in the minority on this one. While Barkley’s comments were brash, they are seemingly more in line with the pulse of the average NBA fan.
Barkley sounded confident that the league owners will send players a message sooner than later by the time the new CBA rolls around.