THE DURANT QUESTION

The Raptors’ best shot at one of the league’s elite players starts with rookie of the year Barnes

Every NBA team not called the Brooklyn Nets should be checking its drawer of assets right now to see what they might offer in a trade package for Kevin Durant.

And that includes the Raptors. The league was jolted midday Thursday when reports surfaced that Durant wants out of Brooklyn after three tumultuous seasons, creating an absolute frenzy just hours before the free-agent market opened.

Now, it’s impossible to guess what Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks and owner Joe Tsai would want in return for a generational talent such as Durant, but every team — Toronto included — should be looking for ways to create a package the Nets can’t turn down.

Durant is a 33-year-old former MVP, an NBA champion, one of the top five players in the game today and would certainly be on a list of the best players of all time. He immediately makes whatever team he’s on a legitimate championship contender.

It may be pie-in-the-sky thinking that Toronto would have a shot, but there are packages that vice-chair Masai Ujiri and general manager Bobby Webster could put together that might cause Brooklyn to at least pay attention.

The centrepiece would have to be NBA rookie of the year Scottie Barnes. If the Nets want to talk seriously, Ujiri and Webster should engage.

Yes, Barnes had a delightful first season. He’s a versatile player who seems to embody where the game is going, but trading promising talent for proven ability always makes the most sense.

There are two main reasons why teams acquire good young players: to develop them into better players, or move them in exchange for proven entities.

Barnes may be great, but Durant is great, and the chance to grab the brass ring now is far better than hoping you can grab it in two or three years.

The rest of a Raptors package would most certainly have to include two other very good players from among OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet.

Toss in five or six draft picks or pick swaps — that’s the kind of haul the Nets will want — and it would be an unprecedented transaction.

That makes sense, because Durant is an unprecedented prize.

Barnes, Anunoby, a couple of supplemental players and as many draft picks as the Nets want might be a good starting point.

Now, 28 other teams should be lining up their best offers, and it will be a free-for-all until a Durant deal is done, but the Raptors must get in on the bidding.

That the same fans who have steadfastly believed for years that the only way to consistently compete for a championship is with a true generational star are now balking at even trying to trade for Durant, because they’re in love with the 20-year-old Barnes who has one very good year on his resumé, is as baffling as it is laughable.

This is Kevin Durant we’re talking about.

A guy who played in an NBA Finals with Oklahoma City, a twotime NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors and two-time NBA Finals most valuable player, the best and most dominant player on whichever star-studded United States Olympic team he’s been on.

To not make the call or test the waters would be a dereliction of duty.

Make the call, Masai. Put everything on the table. Try to seize the moment.