I still don’t believe there is a better player available to them than Brown. Any other team that could offer someone better than Brown wouldn’t be left with enough for Durant to want to go there to compete for a championship.
The picks from wherever he goes will probably not be lottery picks for as long as he’s there. Durant would elevate any team he goes to. He’d make a good team a contender. He’d make a contender the favorite. But he’s not looking to make a fringe playoff team a 4-seed.
If Nets are going all in on a rebuild, I don’t know how they send Durant to the team of his choosing and get more than Brown, White, and picks.
Ingram?
Interesting question, Ingram or Brown, who has more value? I suspect that Brown has more value right now, I personally value Brown a little higher than Ingram. He was a key part of a finals team and that tends to produce some recency bias. He has more physicality than Ingram. But at worst, Ingram is right there with Brown. If BKN would take Brown, I suspect they would be happy with Ingram also. NOP has all their picks (or swaps for better picks) plus one from LAL and a couple from MIL. They could put a good package together if they wanted to. It would make some sense. Durant and Williamson fit together better in my opinion than Durant and Tatum.
Plus they have McCollum and would still have a pretty nice collection of picks because of all the extra picks they own. I think Brown may have the slight edge because he is a better defender, but Ingram has proven to be a much better distributor and has actually performed as a #1 offensive option, so I think you have a better idea that he can better be the focal point of an offense. And I do think the rest of the package that New Orleans could offer would be better because of all the picks they have, plus guys like Herb Jones and Jaxson Hayes make a good deal of sense as rebuilding pieces
These are the picks that New Orleans owns (including all of their own, except 25)
23 - swap rights with Lakers
24 - swap rights with Bucks
24 or 25 - Lakers
25 - Bucks
26 - swap rights with Bucks
27 - Bucks
If you are the Nets, what would you prefer
Ingram, Jones, Hayes, Lewis and then let's say any 4 of the 1st's they have
or
Boston's best offer of
Brown, Smart, Grant, 25 1st, 27 1st, 29 1st
It is an interesting experiment, but I do think because of New Orleans, Boston will have to include Smart and at least 2 1st's to eclipse an offer from the Pelicans. And I know to date the Pelicans haven't put Ingram on the table, but if the Nets came to them with a proposal of what I have above, I think the Pelicans would do it as they'd be a tough team with Graham, McCollum, Durant, Williamson, and Valanciunas as a starting 5 with vets like Nance, Snell, and Temple, and some young guys like Liddell and Murphy and still having enough 1st's to add someone else if they needed to.