Kevin Durant's decision and what it means to the Boston Celtics' Quest For Banner 18

Boston will once again be a favorite to come out of the East. But the latest on Kevin Durant and the Nets...is it really that big a game-changer in the East pecking order?

So, Kevin Durant is staying put, for now at least, with the Brooklyn Nets, after pulling his trade request off the table.

Brooklyn General Manager Sean Marks released the following:

Courtesy of Brooklyn Nets PR

There will be plenty of stories written and commentary centered around what Durant's return means to the Brooklyn Nets who also feature Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons.

What will get quickly lost in the news cycle was that in the end, the best thing for Durant and the Nets was for the perennial All-Star to drop his trade demand and stick with the franchise that up to this point, has done just about everything they have asked with the exception being to fire the head coach and GM.

More important, is what this means to the power structure in the Eastern Conference, which includes the Boston Celtics among those with top-tier status.

Durant sticking with the Nets will make Brooklyn a tough out for any team looking to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals, as the Celtics did last season.

Brooklyn has elite scoring, a difference-maker defensively and now, added incentive and motivation to show the world that they are more than just a good team with good but disgruntled talent.

As for the Celtics, Boston will remain one of the early favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference again this season.

They will be once again led by Jayson Tatum who recently revealed that he played with a fractured wrist during the NBA Finals.

Now that Durant is back in Brooklyn, Boston wing Jaylen Brown and his growing legion of fans can rest easy that he's not going anywhere, anytime soon.

The additions of Danilo Gallinari and Malcolm Brogdon to the Celtics roster addressed two of Boston's greatest offseason needs which were to add another stretch big (Gallinari) and another playmaker (Brogdon).

Training camp will likely end with the Celtics bolstering their roster with another young center or possibly a veteran wing for even more added depth.

But beyond the X's and O's, Durant's return to Brooklyn brings about more clarity to Boston's roster.

The rumors about Durant coming to Boston in exchange for a package centered around Jaylen Brown, became the talk of the summer for Celtics nation.

As the summer rolled along, the support for Brown to stay and the Celtics to stay away from Durant, only grew louder.

A survey of social media responses by betonline.ag, showed that the Northeast corridor of the country, Massachusetts especially, did not view Durant-to-Boston rumors positively.

Courtesy of www.betonline.ag

Not only does the latest KD news alleviate some of the concerns expressed by many that Boston might be considering breaking up the Js (Tatum and Brown), but it also reinforces the belief that many have in this team being good enough with the additions it has already made, to get back to the NBA Finals in 2023 and win it all this time after losing in six games to the Golden State Warriors in June.

As good as Durant is, his return does not automatically catapult the Nets ahead of the Celtics on paper or in the eyes of those in Las Vegas.

According to betonline.ag, the Celtics, at 5:1, still have the best odds of winning an NBA title this season. The news of Durant's return, not surprisingly, has improved the view of the Nets who are now 15:2 odds which trails Boston, Milwaukee (6:1); and the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors (7:1).

Before folks get too comfy with the Durant-is-back narrative, keep in mind that there's still a chance that Durant is moved. The biggest reason Durant's trade request is off the table is, to be frank, it was starting to get downright embarrassing for all involved.

Durant is a once-in-a-generation talent who even at 33 years old, is still among the top players in the NBA now and to a larger extent, among the greatest ever to play the game.

Despite his talent and ability to still play at a high level, teams were reluctant to invest significantly in a trade for his services because they had no real idea what the hell they were investing in.

It didn't help Brooklyn's efforts to get a KD deal done, after former Celtic executive Danny Ainge, now with Utah, traded Rudy Gobert to Minnesota for a package that included five players, five draft picks, and a sixth pick, a pick-swap in 2026.

The idea of getting less back in a trade for Durant, was not going to happen; at least not now.

Players tend to be on the move when they are not happy with a lack of winning or their playing time or the development of the roster around them. Durant has been in situations where all these items were checked off, and he still wanted out.

And up until Brooklyn ownership pushed back on Durant's request to have the head coach and GM fired, Nets ownership did everything he wanted which included giving Deandre Jordan a four-year, $40 million contract in 2019 when the veteran center would have been hard-pressed to get a deal that paid above the veteran's minimum at that time.

But Brooklyn did that because, at that time, it made Durant happy which is all they have ever tried to do since he arrived.

Now, he gets a chance to return the favor by leading a Brooklyn Nets team that not so long ago, he wanted to part ways with. Of all the great accomplishments in KD's basketball career, achieving that feat after all that went down and didn't go down this summer, would rank near the top of his all-time great accomplishments in the NBA.