Kevin Durant asked the Nets for a trade in the summer of 2022 because he believed there was too much chaos to ever compete for a title, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Durant was looking for an opportunity to win more rings when he left the Warriors as a free agent in 2019, and he thought he found it when he teamed up with Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn. However, the following three-and-a-half years were marked more by injuries, coaching changes and off-court news rather than significant wins.
“In Brooklyn? Yeah, it just wasn’t no consistency, no continuity on who we were as a team,” Durant said. “And when you want to win a championship, you’ve got to build an identity from Day 1, and it was just a lot of circumstances that were out of the players’ control that got in the way of us building our continuity. That’s just the business of basketball. That’s just the NBA in general. But we all got better as individual players, and we learned a lot from that experience — everybody from executives to players — and we can go about our NBA experience with more knowledge now.”
Durant sat out his first season with the Nets as a result of a ruptured Achilles he suffered in the 2019 playoffs, and the rest of his time there was marked by organizational instability. Players grew unhappy with head coach Kenny Atkinson, who was replaced by Steve Nash. Durant eventually called for Nash to be fired, and another coaching change came last November when the front office parted with Nash and gave the job to Jacque Vaughn.
Roster moves were frequent as well, with the highlight being the acquisition of James Harden from Houston in a 2021 blockbuster trade. However, Durant, Irving and Harden only played 16 games together before the trio was broken up when Harden was shipped to Philadelphia in February of 2022. His replacement, Ben Simmons, only saw 441 minutes in 24 games with Durant and Irving before they were both traded nine months ago.
“It’s always about next-man-up mentality in this league,” Durant said, recalling the adversity in Brooklyn. “Guys get hurt, guys not in the lineup. You get paid to be a pro for a reason. Guys have got to step up and just play the games. … You see the character of a team when you’re mixing lineups and got to fight through adversity like that.”
Durant’s first trade request wasn’t heeded right away, and he played most of last season with the Nets. Management didn’t relent until the Suns agreed to include Miles Bridges in their offer shortly before the deadline.
Although he had to wait, Durant is happy to be in Phoenix where he’s part of a new Big Three with Devin Booker and Bradley Beal — although much like in Brooklyn, injuries have prevented them all from playing together. He said he never gave any thought to holding out at the start of last season to try to force Brooklyn into making a deal.
“I did try [to move earlier], they just refused to get rid of me,” Durant said. “I tried, but time ran out. I wasn’t going to miss no games because of this whole thing. So once the season rolled around, I was just like, whatever happens, it happens, and I just get ready for the season. So it worked out perfect timing, the way it’s supposed to.”
same could be said for the product in PHX durant is a waste man!
“That were out of of the players’ control”
Durant drinks the same stupid juice as Irving and Harden I see.
There was no continuity because the players were allowed to run the team. The Nets never should’ve broken up their promising core or fired Atkinson.
You can argue that BRK has been trying to build a winner with 4 of the most emotionally immature players in recent history: Irving, Durant, Harden, and Simmons.
They should play giles
“In Brooklyn? Yeah, it just wasn’t no consistency, no continuity on who we were as a team,” Durant said. “And when you want to win a championship, you’ve got to build an identity from Day 1, and it was just a lot of circumstances that were out of the players’ control that got in the way of us building our continuity. “
This is the BS divas sell ……
KD is a great offensive player. Future HOFer
Let me get that out the way ok …..
Only he’s been chasing Bron since he saw him go to Heat and play GMBron. KD has been trying to prove he can do it too. Build a team around me and I will win. Well he didn’t get any credit in GS. Cause that team was already in place. So he picked the Nets and conspired with Kyrie (another Bron wannabe) to build a winner there. Get that NY limelight and show the world.
Well how that go ????
Harden doesn’t come to Nets. Without KDs approval. SoOooo he might want to show he can do it Bron style. But he doesn’t have the cojones to accept the responsibility of its outcome. And now he’s passing the blame to the Nets. Typical divaBiiih
Not a hater, never been. But I could never root for a player who doesn’t accept responsibility for his failures. Worse instead of fixing them. He runs away ……. and blames others.
Harden. Kyrie, Harden …… three of a kind.
Don’t ever want to see them win.
KD, Harden, Kyrie ……
The average KD comment. Blame others for the lack of success…
Thunder: Russ can’t shoot.
Warriors: I want to be the star player.
Nets: I don’t need a coach.
Suns: No consistency
Sure, Russ, KI, and Harden are not consistent, but neither is Durant. Address your own flaws before correcting others.
KD needs to look in the mirror and ask himself why is that? In 3.5 years he asked for 3 different coaches. He brought along players he wanted to play with. Deflecting isn’t going to give him what he wants.