Kevin Durant hasn’t talked to anyone from the Nets in weeks and is losing confidence in the team’s ability to handle the contract standoff with Kyrie Irving, Logan Murdock of The Ringer said on a recent podcast (hat tip to NetsDaily).
There has been growing speculation over the past week that Durant may force his way out if Brooklyn can’t re-sign Irving. Murdock said that decision isn’t inevitable, but warned that concerns about the potential “destruction” of the current roster are legitimate.
“I don’t know if he’s at the stage of leaving but there’s a big uneasiness from not only from the Kyrie side, but the KD side as well,” Murdock said.
Brooklyn was lauded as the NBA’s next super team when Durant, Irving and DeAndre Jordan decided to sign there as free agents in 2019. James Harden was added in a January 2021 deal to form a Big Three, but things haven’t gone as planned. The Nets have captured just one playoff series in that span, Harden is already gone and the other two stars appear to be in danger of leaving as well.
Murdock explained that when Durant chose Brooklyn, he had a vision of competing for titles while playing alongside his friends. Because that hasn’t happened, Durant is beginning to consider his options, especially if Irving doesn’t return.
“His biggest beef is that he feels that the front office didn’t grow to understand Kyrie, whatever that means,” Murdock said. “I would push back on that when a guy leaves for two weeks at a time … Kyrie earns the lion’s share of the blame. But I think KD believes that ‘hey, you guys didn’t understand this guy. You didn’t try to figure out where he was coming from.’”
Durant is also unhappy about the Nets’ reported parting with Adam Harrington as an assistant coach and director of development. Harrington was Durant’s shooting coach with the Thunder and is a longtime friend.
Murdock adds that Durant chose not to be involved in the Nets’ free agent recruiting process this year after having been active on that front in past offseasons.
KD put himself into this knowing Irving isn’t going exactly the most levelheaded guy. KD has nobody to blame but himself. They tried building a super team and it didn’t work.
KD has to be on the top 5 list of mentally soft players ever. Has yet to win on his own, and constantly whining.
Can you name any player that has ? As for the other stuff ur 1000% correct and talk around Boston is they should go after him hard but I really hope they don’t
Case, Hakeem and Dirk come to mind right off the bat. That 93-94 Rockets team had no business winning it and was ALL Hakeem that season. One of the most dominant seasons ever that we never talk about.
He had Clyde and I’ll give you Dirk
Drexler was 95. The second best player on the 94 team was either Otis Thorpe or Vernon Maxwell.
Maybe it’s time for you to come home to dc…
Not sure how the financials would work but could you imagine Durant and Bradley Beal? Get a nice pass-first point guard and that could be exciting.
Tatum $32m per year
Jaylen Brown $27m per year
Based on comparison
5 year deal
Harden is worth $20m per year
Irving is worth 23m per year
Please say no to them
God, you’re weird ,sillivan ♂️
Really tired of hearing about the same loop of players like Durant, kyrie and harden. Just pick somewhere and play already. So many more fun stars we should be talking about, but these three just dominate the news cycle.
It’s cuz people like you read and comment on the articles. You get that right?
Actually it’s because it’s the biggest news in the sport right now. Your dislike of household names doesn’t prevent a story from taking place.
Lakers are interested in Irving
Knicks are interested in Oladipo one year ago
“Interested “ defines as take advantage of someone
Lakers are not offering $245 million contract but $6 million only
Some guys have this gift for blowing things up wherever they go, but are just too talented for employers to resist hiring them. So goes Kyrie Irving. Interesting guy actually. I wouldn’t mind having drinks with him. But man, do NOT wish for him to be signed by your team.
Well said !!
Kyle Lowry, Tyler Herro, Max Strus, and 2-3 1st round picks for KD. Heat bring back Dragic as well…
That being said, Steve Nash has done a terrible job with using their roster, especially this post recent season. So even though they have some really interesting potential moving into next year around KD and Simmons and even Kyrie, it’s hard to trust they’ll do the right things. I will say that I think they could move Kyrie, and be ok with pieces they have on the roster. I like Cam Thomas scoring potential, and there are other guards they can either retain or add, and they have shooting around Simmons and KD, with potential to have enough defense around those shooters, depending who they bring back/actually use.
I feel like its drastic to start thinking something is going to happen here, but there has been a lot of movement the last couple of years, and I also felt like this recent draft set up for a lot more, with teams now having redundancies on their rosters, and possible tradable pieces, as well as not actually too much depth in FA, outside of potential midlevel exception players (who are extremely useful, but there arent that many options of players you might expect to leave their current teams, but I might be wrong)
I do feel kind of bad for KD, but this situation with Kyrie has been kind of ridiculous, and it takes a lot for me to say stuff about certain players. This dude has something that bothers him all the time, and there isnt anything wrong with that, but I’m not sure Kyrie even likes basketball at this point. We all understand certain situations going on in the world, and that’s definitely something that needs to be explored, but I dont see how sitting out games/leaving without saying anything multiple times, for weeks on end, is helpful, especially when you dont say the reasons you’re doing so, and it’s just left up to be magically understood or assumed what the reasoning is. How is that spreading awareness? Poi t being is does Kyrie want to play basketball? If so, I think they would keep him, and this would be over with, and you would see a team with Kyrie, KD, and Simmons on the floor with either Curry or Jarris, and probably Bruce Brown/another defender…
A tear it down nets team isn’t gonna want no part of Lowry ! If nets are tearing it down they will try to deal with raptors grizzlies and pelicans most likely
He is a tradeable piece himself, with only 2 years left on his deal, but also, they would have defense around a lot of shooting.
Obviously there are teams that could put together stronger offers with certain young pieces, but some of those teams lose a lot of their appeal to adding KD by giving up those pieces. He is also mostly in there to try to match salaries
That being said, I think it’s way too early to talk about potential trades. I was just messing around lol
That return seems more on par for Kyrie than KD
Maybe if they’re trying to get fleeced…that for Kyrie, on his current deal especially, makes absolutely no sense. Not saying it’s amazingfor KD either, but its ddefinitelyat least close, whereas giving that up for Kyrie, the Nets would say yes before they even finish the sentence
WHAT roster-using problems? formerlyz said there was, then did not specify. How do so many words wander around being vague & negative.
Nash had the team playing hard for most of the year despite all the disruptions. That is what I saw, whether Nash was behind it or not.
But people like the narrative that Kyrie ruined them. Probably Nash went with players not moping, like he did with Bruce Brown. That is putting the best product on the court, not playing politics and doing experts favors and then getting getting ho-hum play he can blame players for.
I’ve said it many times over the last couple of years. Also Nash wouldnt even use Brown a good part of the year, just like he did the year prior, which is part of what I’m talking about. I’ve said I give him a bit of a pass on year 1 b/c they didnt really have the roster to win, and I never thought they had a chance, despite Kevin Durant almost single handedly doing it, but year 2 they had a versatile, deep roster, admittedly with injuries, but they never used the lineups they could have. They added defenders and playmakers around their shooters, and didnt use them. They played multiple bigs that cant shoot together, they used 3 small guards with no synergy together, and put guys in situations where if they used their defenders, they put them all together with no shooting on the floor, or had lineups with just shooters and no defense, besides Kevin Durant on an island on his own
KD signed a contract. He should honor it. Period.
Sure, but it also makes sense to trade him if you’re the Nets, the return would be massive
he’s almost 34, the return won’t be massive
So using your logic, teams shouldn’t be able to trade or buyout players….cause you know they also signed a contract. They should honor it. Period.
Sooo true!!!
Really sickening that players must be loyal to awful organisations that treat them like a piece of meat… fans must grow up & stop allowing franchises to brain wash them!
KD mad at the situation he created himself. Lol
So much of this is about Egos and fit. Some superstars, cough cough, can put their egos in the backseat and accommodate other superstars.
Some guys want it their way with no compromise whatsoever. And some guys don’t know their friends as well as they think they do.
The fact that y’all hate on Kyrie is embarrassing. The city of New York made a political decision that impacted its citizens in a negative way, he stood up for his own beliefs which is shared by most of the country. The political brainwashing is killing y’all.
What about all the other times he decided to leave that has nothing to do with what you’re talking about
The covid situation isn’t the one most people are mad about him over, the year prior he took multiple weeks off without telling anyone for mental health. I understand mental health is important but in an everyday situation you’re fired for not coming to work for weeks because you just don’t want to.
Yeah, saving people’s lives is a “political decision.” smh
Lol at “saving people’s lives”. You know everyone is mortal right?? What is anyone really “saving”?? Humans are so damn weird and ignorant/arrogant at times.
Totally. Doctors and EMTs should just find a new job. Its all pointless bro.
“The city of New York made a political decision that SAVED THOUSANDS OF LIVES.” There, fixed it for you.
Yeah its not like vaccines have been working for over 100 years. Dumb vaccines and saving people’s lives. So political.
Curious to hear your thoughts on Roe v Wade being repealed /s.
Kyrie was an idiot well before the vaccine stuff. Not that you’re even right on that point. He didn’t avoid the vaccine to protest the mandates. He did because he believes in wild conspiracy theories involving microchipping black people.
Getting your news from Facebook or being ignorant in general is what is killing this country.
Both KD and Kyrie. Have been trying to follow the Bron example. Of how to build a team around HIM. And challenge for a title. Both have found out it’s not that easy. Kyrie has never cared enough about winning. He’s all about his ego. KD is not as smart as Bron. To understand the kind of players you need to WIN. KD is a great player. For him to win on Nets. They need to move Kyrie. So it’s all about making Kyrie look trade-able again. So they can move forward. Imo KD and Ben can form best forward combo EVER. But they need a real PG to help them.
Best case scenario is sign Kyrie to a fair contract. With language that he must play so many gms every yr. Then move him as soon as possible.
umm….. that’s the whole issue. Apparently, Kyrie isn’t a team player and being stubborn settling for less???
Kyrie doesn’t agree that language that he must play so many gms every yr is fair.
That’s why the drama continues.
Against Celtics this year playoffs
Curry 1.32 points per shot attempt
Durant 0.67 point per shot attempt
Current Nets won’t beat Warriors
You can narrow Durant (and Irving’s) landing spots to whatever states have legal recreational marijuana
You can narrow down my landing spots in the same way.
“when Durant chose Brooklyn, he had a vision of competing for titles while playing alongside his friends.”
Aww, that’s adorable.
@Orien
Isn’t it? I mean, would that not apply to us all in a perfect world? Love what you do for a living, make tons of money doing it and be able to play alongside ppl you genuinely like and can call your brother?
You both make great points. But the reality is I really don’t make friends at work especially if I’m in management. Often doesn’t flow well.
The very excellent work atmospheres though, have that kind of “we’re all buddies” thing but it’s super tough to find.
Quickie example. I really don’t think Steph hangs out with Klay at all. And then Green really does his own thing aside from the other two also. They love and respect each other and may hang out occasionally, but I would say they don’t see each other all summer long. They’re not pals, they’re co-workers.
@gm
Some of these guys have known each other since they were teens in AU basketball, traveling on the road together. They both played in the Olympics together in 2016. I can see some becoming legit friends
“and be able to play alongside ppl you genuinely like and can call your brother?”
Dude, yes that would be nice. Not even close to the reality. His “brothers ” DGAF. Hence my comment.
NBA stars are so demanding, KD should win a championship away from GS before he gains my respect as a person to listen to
Really disappointed in the lack of loyalty and character being shown by these two. Kyrie is my favorite player to watch. I’m vaccinated but respect his choice not. But his other choices? Dude read the room. You have missed a ton of games. It’s ok to leave some money on the table..
KD… they issued you your contacts knowing you were going to miss the entire first season!!! It was your idea to bring in Kyrie. you signed off on Harden. The Nets did right by you. Do better.
Who is going to give the Nets young assets and/or multiple 1st round picks? Only OKC has some of that but would they sacrifice all that capital?
70% of the league will. The other 30 % don’t have the draft picks to trade or young assets
Maybe KD needs to find new friends. His mess.
I’ve said this about KD before he is a great player but a terrible leader. He and Kyrie firmly planted themselves as co-managers of the Nets in order to bring a championship to BRK. Many us had a field day with the possibilities when that was published. Surprise, surprise BRK is currently FUBAR.
Now that the team is breaking down KD has firmly placed blame on the “management” not understanding KI. Why wasn’t comanager KD advising BRK on how to handle his friend KI? Isn’t that what a good manager should do?
If KD is a team’s leader they will not win a championship. He does not have that skill set. That will be part of his legacy.
The fact is I think he DID clue Management in on how to handle Kyrie. That was this past season that we all saw. He played a little, he sat out a little, came back for the playoffs and there you have it.
Now it’s decision time on what to do moving forward. Do the Nets like what they saw or do they want to do it differently with different players?
But yes I agree with you. Overall did not go well. Probably not what was expected to say the least.
Hey KD, we got a pretty good team going out here in D-Town bro. We could use a HOFer to lead these kids to the promise land! Nice way to end a career leading Cunningham, Ivey, Duran, Bey and others. Not a bad situation to walk in to.
Detroit will still lose most games awhile. Durant is win-now. Spurs have a head start.
Vooch, Williams, Coby White for KD works in trade machine.
He’s a selfish piece of work……..Harder and harder to watch the NBA every year , mainly from people like him. gee , how could he EVER have thought that playing with Kyrie might possibly go wrong!!!!!!!!
KD thought he had the makings of a super team in Brooklyn, but was betrayed not by management but by egos. Harden wanted out. Kyrie has his various issues. Durant can lose confidence in management all he wants but the truth is, they can’t get blood from a stone….and more than anything else, he was conned by two guys who just weren’t “all in” with the super team concept
KD to the Pelicans for Zion + picks or KD to the Thunder for Chet Holgreen and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are the only trades that make sense
Key word is “reportedly”. Murdock’s podcast is full of him saying “I think”.
When was the last time Murdock talked to KD?
KD has no leverage here. He’s not only signed long term (like Simmons), but that term (unlike with Simmons) represents the balance of his career. To date, Tsai has forced Marks to accommodate everything KD wants; but what KD needs to understand is that this accommodation was done to keep him happy on the team. He won’t be accommodated the same way if his request is to leave. They’ll trade him, sure, but on their terms, with no immediacy.
Oh wait, princess is unhappy with management. Can someone pass the Kleenex ?
Funny how players want to be part of “management” decisions until it’s time to blame management.
This is the downside to the NBA being such a players’ league.