Durant’s status has entire NBA watching close

Kevin Durant has not asked for a trade and the Nets have no intention of moving him before the deadline of 3 p.m. Thursday, but the star’s status in Brooklyn is the story in the NBA right now — as are the hard talks Durant is reportedly having with the franchise.

In the wake of the Nets’ trade to Dallas of Kyrie Irving — Durant’s longtime friend, who arrived in a package deal with him back in 2019 — the sidelined star has been having frank discussions with the organization regarding whether it is still a legitimate contender, according to ESPN.

“It just didn’t work out,” Irving said Tuesday in Los Angeles, where he was introduced as a member of the Mavericks a day before Dallas’ game at the Clippers. “We still remain brothers.”

The Nets’ talks are reportedly being held at the highest level, between Durant (out with a sprained right MCL) and team owner Joe Tsai and general manager Sean Marks, who both sat down with the star in Los Angeles in August and convinced him to rescind his summer trade request. Head coach Jacque Vaughn said before the Nets’ game Tuesday against the Suns that he wasn’t involved.

“I was not a part [of them]. If these conversations did happen, I was not there. So I can’t say if they happened, but I know I wasn’t there so I assume it didn’t happen,” Vaughn said. “But what I will say is, Kevin wants to win. And the last thing I told this group on the floor is the expectations don’t change.

“I want to win, I want the group in the locker room to want to win. And so if your best player has a knack for winning and wanting to win the ultimate thing, then I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. That’s what we’ll be guided by. There’s nothing wrong with stepping straight through that door and accepting that. But I want to win as a coach, and I want to coach a group who wants to win.”

After Durant sprained his MCL last season, the Nets went 5-16, including losing 11 straight, without him. That sparked his June trade request, when he listed the Suns as a preferred landing spot.

This time, the Nets had gone 5-8 since Durant suffered another MCL sprain on Jan. 8 in Miami and have acquitted themselves much better under Vaughn than they did under Steve Nash. But it’s unclear how much the trade of eight-time All-Star Irving has shaken his faith in the Nets’ ability to contend for a title.

“Definitely don’t want to speculate along those lines,” Vaughn said. “But what I can say is [that] we have a group that continues to play hard and play a brand of basketball that is appealing to teammates, appealing to the league.

“We play together, we play extremely hard, we don’t complicate things. A lot of things that Kevin stands for and has reiterated to me that [he] believes in, so I have not gotten any indication from him that that’s changed.”

An Eastern Conference GM told The Post that the Nets informed teams they don’t plan to deal Durant before the deadline, and ESPN reported they told the 34-year-old star the same thing. Still, the talks can be viewed as a sign that such a request could resurface if the Nets can’t convince Durant by the summer.

Meanwhile, the four-time scoring champ has made progress in his rehab.

“Yeah, good update from the doctor. So he’ll continue to progress his on-court activities. So, all was good, really good report,” Vaughn said. “I can say he has not done contact yet. But he’s been on the court, but has not done contact.

“I’m not sure about the physical next steps as we line it out, but he has not done contact yet. So I don’t want to say it’s a day away, two days away, four days away, but I could just tell you that he hasn’t done contact.”

Durant reportedly will not play in the NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 19 in Salt Lake City, according to TNT. But he could return shortly after the break.

“I won’t step across that line a little bit, but what I’ll say [is] the days are adding up,” Vaughn said. “He has progressed.”