3 reasons a Kevin Durant trade would affect the Cavs

3 reasons a Durant trade would affect Cavs: Eliminate an opponent

Last season, the Brooklyn Nets finished with the seventh seed and took one of the Eastern Conference playoff berths. They locked theirs up, in fact, by beating the Cavaliers in the Play-In Tournament and went on to face the Boston Celtics. The Cavs lost again to the Atlanta Hawk and as a result missed the playoffs entirely.

If the Nets trade Kevin Durant, they immediately fall from a tier of teams expected to make the playoffs to a tier of teams who are not, freeing up a spot for a team like the Cavs to seize. It’s possible a team made up of Kyrie Irving, Ben Simmons and, say, Jaylen Brown or OG Anunoby still makes the playoffs, but they take a major step down. Given Irving’s mercurial nature and Simmons’ year off, it’s a major question mark as to how good they will be.

There are a few teams in the East who, barring catastrophic injury, will make the playoffs next season. The Milwaukee Bucks, Miami Heat and Boston Celtics look like postseason locks, and the Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors likely are too. That leaves three spots for the rest of the field, including teams like the Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks and Washington Wizards.

If the Nets and Durant take one of those spots, it’s that much more complication. If they instead are broken up into a rebuilding team, there is more breathing room in a competitive eastern Conference