Kevin Durant staying in Brooklyn, ending month-long speculation about next destination

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5/AP) — Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets plan to stay together after all, even after the All-Star forward asked to be traded earlier this summer.

Since requesting to be traded in June, Phoenix was rumored to be his preferred destination. Other possible landing spots for Durant included the Miami Heat, Boston Celtics and others. But the Nets said Tuesday that the team’s leadership met a day earlier with Durant and business partner Rich Kleiman in Los Angeles and “agreed to move forward with our partnership,” general manager Sean Marks said in a statement.

Marks added that the goal remains to bring a championship to Brooklyn. That is certainly more likely by keeping Durant, who remains one of the best scorers in the NBA. He is set to begin a four-year extension he signed last summer, and the possibility of him being traded had been the biggest story in the NBA this summer.

Back in Phoenix, earlier this summer the Suns locked in Devin Booker for another few years. On July 6, the team’s star guard signed a four-year, $224 million supermax contract extension.

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