NBA Trades: Four teams that could make realistic offers for Kevin Durant

NBA Trades: The Cavaliers can add Durant without sacrificing its stars.

More of a long-shot in the conversation, the Cleveland Cavaliers are another team that’s spent the last five years building its way into a winning product through organic growth. The unorthodox jumbo lineup deployed last season shocked the league by making the paint a nightmare zone for anyone who dare enter. They effectively forced teams into difficult shots on defense and outmuscled them in the paint offensively, shrinking the floor and opening space for shooters.

The heart of Cleveland’s success was the trio of Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen—three humble and hard-working young stars who developed incredible chemistry despite limited time shared on the court. Garland is the battery of the machine, ensuring that power is distributed across all sectors via high-level point guard play and microwave scoring. Allen is the gasoline that ignites the team by dominating the paint on both sides, ensuring that the rest of the machine can operate as intended. Mobley is the engine that makes the machine function by taking on the toughest assignments defensively, switching onto the perimeter, scoring when the opportunity is presented and asserting his will on the glass.

In trading Durant to Cleveland, the Nets would right their wrongs and bring former players home to Brooklyn along with a haul of draft picks. They’d return a young All-Star in Allen, a win-now scoring option in Caris LeVert and a promising young talent in Isaac Okoro, who still has considerable upside despite a shaky offensive start to his career.

Of all the teams mentioned, Cleveland would likely have to give up the most picks, but it balances out since the quality of the players traded wouldn’t be as high as the other options. Rolling out a three-headed dragon of Garland, Durant and Mobley would instantly put Cleveland in the same conversation with the top teams in the Eastern Conference.