Kevin Durant expounded on his trade request from the Brooklyn Nets and his ultimate decision to remain with the franchise.

"I was upset and as a family, they understood that I was upset," said Durant via Brian Lewis of the New York Post. "And some of the stuff they agree with. And so we talked about and it was over a couple of months, couple of weeks…we worked it out from there, and I’m here now."

As much as Durant wanted out, he saw the Nets as continuing to be a good option.

"I felt like we had a good team," said Durant via Nick Friedell of ESPN. "I felt like this is the place I said I wanted to be. We started to set something up in the future to be a solid team. So to be honest I thought this was still a great option, too."

In Durant's comments to the media, he also alluded to how there were a lot of inaccuracies with the reporting.

Bojan Bogdanovic has been seeking a contract extension, sources tell Marc Stein, which is believed to have cooled his trade market when the Utah Jazz looked to move him. Some teams were dissuaded from more strongly pursuing Bogdanovic.

The Detroit Pistons acquired Bogdanovic with what was a less than expected offer.

Bogdanovic is on a $19.3 million expiring contract.

The Pistons could flip Bogdanovic before the trade deadline, but they want to evaluate what they first in case they remain in play-in contention.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have agreed to trade Derrick Favors, Ty Jerome, Moe Harkless, Theo Maledon and a 2025 second round pick via Atlanta to the Houston Rockets for David Nwaba, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke and Marquese Chriss.

The Thunder acquire two trade exceptions while also dropping $10 million under the lottery tax with the transaction.

The Rockets acquire a second round pick for taking on $1 million in salary.

LeBron James signed an extension with the Los Angeles Lakers this past offseason, which represents at least a six-year commitment to the franchise. James spent only four seasons with the Miami Heat before returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers for another four-year stint. 

James has clearly built a life for himself in Los Angeles beyond basketball.

"I think he's making a decision, which by the way, he has every right to, he's making a decision like this is where I want to be at the end of my career," said Brian Windhorst on The Bill Simmons Podcast. "He was never totally comfortable in Miami. As soon as the season ended, he was out of there back to Akron. 

"Maybe even if he played in L.A. at that time of his life, that would have been the way he was. He was never comfortable there. He's comfortable in L.A. His roots are in."

The Cleveland Cavaliers have interest in trading for Jae Crowder, who has been put on the trade block by the Phoenix Suns.

The Cavaliers are in need of a 3-and-D wing that can guard small forwards and power forwards.

Four of Cleveland's starters are set in Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, but the small forward spot is a question mark.

Shams Charania previously reported that the Boston Celtics, Memphis Grizzlies, Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat could also pursue Crowder.

The Toronto Raptors are reportedly monitoring Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's situation with the Oklahoma City Thunder, sources told Josh Lewenberg of TSN.

Gilgeous-Alexander has previously played for Nick Nurse on the Canadian national team.

Gilgeous-Alexander, who is entering the first season of his new five-year extension, recently said that he believes the Thunder are "heading in the right direction."

The Oklahoma City Thunder have agreed to trade Vit Krejci to the Atlanta Hawks for Maurice Harkless and a second round pick.

The Hawks will dip below the luxury tax with the trade.

Oklahoma City used the $4.9 million Disabled Player Exception from the Chet Holmgren injury to acquire Harkless. 

When Jerami Grant was available in potential trades this offseason, he was most strongly linked with the Portland Trail Blazers and was eventually traded there. But the Milwaukee Bucks were another team that expressed interest in trading for Grant when he was made available by the Detroit Pistons.

A similar, albeit lesser player in Jae Crowder is now available on the trade market by the Phoenix Suns and could fit the profile of what the Bucks are looking for. Milwaukee previously had P.J. Tucker play that role for them when they won their championship, but they elected not to re-sign him during the 2021 offseason.

"The Bucks will look though I bet," said Zach Lowe on his podcast about Milwaukee potentially having interest in Crowder. "The Bucks were sneakily kind of sniffing around Jerami Grant in Detroit before Portland swooped in. I think they like the idea of the switchable, switchable, switchable guys."

The Blazers acquired Grant from the Pistons in a package built around a 2025 first round pick via the Bucks and No. 36 in 2022. 

The Los Angeles Lakers have two attractive trade assets available to them in their first round picks in 2027 and 2029, which they have yet to use to upgrade their roster.

"I've been told that, listen, had the Lakers been able to acquire Kyrie Irving," said Dave McMenamin on Brian Windhorst's podcast. "Or the Lakers been able to acquire Donovan Mitchell, both those players, the Lakers were willing to able to move both those picks to acquire.

"The deals available to them, they didn't feel like they could get back a player that is such a difference maker like either of those two."

The Lakers have also been linked with trade scenarios involving Buddy Hield and Myles Turner of the Indiana Pacers. 

The Brooklyn Nets decided not to trade Irving, while the Utah Jazz received far more draft capital for Mitchell from the Cleveland Cavaliers than the Lakers could trade.

Rob Pelinka confirmed that the Los Angeles Lakers are prepared to trade their first round picks in 2027 and 2029 if the right deal comes along.

LeBron James chose to extend with the Lakers in the offseason and Pelinka is prepared to fulfill their end of the bargain to maximize their odds of contending.

"Let me be abundantly clear: We have one of the great players in LeBron James to ever play the game, and he committed to us on a long-term contract, a three-year contract," Pelinka said. "So of course, we will do everything we can, picks included, to make deals to give us a chance to help LeBron get to the end. He committed to our organization. That's got to be a bilateral commitment, and it's there."