Kevin Durant Reportedly Forced Warriors to Add 1st Round Pick in Sign-and-Trade With Nets

If you have any doubts regarding whether or not Kevin Durant is all-in with the Brooklyn Nets, look no further than this report.

Yuuuup yup https://t.co/WklxXlAK9g pic.twitter.com/wegKa7v41W
— sam esfandiari (@samesfandiari) July 11, 2019

So, for Durant to sign off on a move to Brooklyn, he required that Golden State included a first rounder, too? If that ain't endearing yourself to your new fan base, I don't know what is.

KD “initially balked” at being traded for D-Lo straight up in Nets deal because he didn’t think it was fair, leveraged Warriors into including a first-round pick, per @WindhorstESPN pic.twitter.com/tnc0Cddu9t
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 11, 2019

Now, to be fair, the pick is heavily protected. If the Warriors first rounder falls in the top-20 of next year's NBA Draft, it stays with Golden State, and the Nets will instead receive a 2025 second rounder. As it says in the report, it's one of the "most unusual pick protections the NBA has seen recently," but considering this is the Warriors that we're talking about, odds are that the Nets will receive the first rounder anyway.

Welcome to the No. 7 club, @KDTrey5 ⚡ pic.twitter.com/abJHjpvMOu
— B/R Football (@brfootball) July 8, 2019

Durant joined the Nets on a sign-and-trade that saw All-Star point guard D'Angelo Russell head in the other direction. Despite needing to spend 2019-20 rehabbing an Achilles injury he suffered in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, he'll make Brooklyn an immediate contender in 2020-21 when he teams up with Kyrie Irving and Co.