Meanwhile, in Dallas, a potential Jalen Brunson extension fell through the cracks and it became imminent that the Maverick point guard was going to hit free agency in the summer.
As the Nets had an untenable situation with Irving and Mark Cuban dealing with a strong likelihood of losing his starting point guard, swapping Irving for Brunson would have made the most sense for both teams at the 2022 deadline deal
Brunson has evolved into a superstar player with the Knicks, but pairing him with Kevin Durant would have formed a terrific Duo in Brooklyn.
Ironically, the Nets would trade Irving to Dallas and pair him with Luka Doncic in 2023 In exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith and picks.
Had Sean Marks pulled the plug on Irving earlier on a reported deal that was on the table, perhaps the Nets fortunes are much different than their current situation.
Durant seems to be a malcontent no matter where he goes, so there's no guarantee that bringing Brunson in the fold would have prevented his ultimate trade request.
At the end of the day, it's fun playing revisionist history, but there was a realistic scenario where the Nets could have made Brunson their point guard of the future, unloaded a disgruntled player, and kept Durant in the fold for the foreseeable future.
Even if the Durant still requested a trade, pairing Brunson with Mikal Bridges would put Brooklyn in a much better position as well.
As Brunson leads the Knicks on a playoff push, all Nets fans can do is play the what if game. Irving and Brunson are inching towards a conference final berth, while the Nets are pseudo-rebuild is already underway.
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