Steve Nash was sacked, Sean Marks was disheveled and Kyrie Irving has his fingerprints taken down another team with championship ambitions.
That’s three if you count.
Because of this, Kevin Durant understood that this dysfunction would not change, that this powder keg of bad ingredients would always explode, and he tried to get ahead of the group by questioning from Brooklyn.
If Durant backed away from his summer trade request just because of what happened in the first two weeks of this season, would there be any hope that his worst fears are not real?
Last but not least, players know when they are in a house on fire, even if they don’t publicly admit it. And Durant has been to the penthouse many times to know this hasn’t got a chance to turn around.
Trading him isn’t something the Nets seem to be considering, but Marks should reconsider if he truly wants to act in the best interests of the organization. Perhaps foolishly, Marks thinks Ime Udoka can save his franchise — in the same way Marks saves Udoka from the shame of Boston misconduct.
He claims he didn’t get any input from the players, but any sane man didn’t have to — Irving didn’t respect that coach (or probably anyone else), and Durant made his feelings known over the summer.
The Brooklyn Nets should take Kevin Durant to a place where his talent could be maximized. (AP Photo/Aaron Wound)
Marks had no answers for Irving after his latest mess, only that the team is consulting with the Anti-Defamation League on how to proceed and that Irving would not be speaking to the media for the next few days.
It felt like a hint that his disastrous Saturday press conference, when he was disputed about being questioned about posting tweets featuring an anti-Semitic film, would be repeated.
Even if Udoka were an excellent candidate, is this the mess you want your new guy to walk into?
“We’re looking for someone with balance, charisma and responsibility,” said Marks. “We are not a finished product. We’re not playing like we expected or where we’re supposed to be, so hope this new manager can come in here and put this group in the best possible place to thrive.”
The story goes on
In a way, it’s a perfect match between two sides, promising beginnings but internal flaws. Udoka and his brand of brutal honesty and connection to the underperforming Boston Celtics helped reverse them after Jan. 1, leading to a trip to the NBA Finals.
Anyone see a roster for the NBA Finals with these Brooklyn Nets? Nash walked the plank, perhaps too inexperienced and overwhelmed to handle all the drama in his short time.
But there are few coaches who can guide this roster through a stacked Eastern Conference, even if Durant still sits at the top of singles alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo and Stephen Curry.
He’s still uncommonly brilliant, and that basketball brilliance, it seems, deserves more prominent portrayal as a team with no present and no future. Whether it was his role choosing Nash as head coach, working alongside the destructive, distrustful Irving, or signing up with the Nets for another four years if he didn’t have to, he’s backed into a corner with no help.
“I’m certainly not proud of the situation we’re in. I’d like to turn on ESPN or the TV and not see them talking about us that way,” Marks said. “I would like to play basketball again.”
But the basketball is ugly and would shift focus to the poor product on the floor that has led to being near the bottom of all major defense categories and coming into full play in the Nets’ fourth-quarter collapse against the Bulls in the immediate episode .
It seemed like recent drama with Irving on Saturday night was the only thing keeping Nash from getting fired on Sunday, league sources told Yahoo Sports, but Irving can’t help Durant envision that New York with wins and cheers undertake to save from decay.
The Irving sabbatical is upon us. Put a clock on it. He’s due for an absence and maybe, just maybe, he’ll let the team know this time.
Or maybe not.
And that’s why the Nets should be doing the right thing here, start winning back draft picks and young players by sending Durant to a place where he can best be maxed.
The Nets let Durant agree over the summer, especially after Utah’s Danny Ainge took over the farm for Rudy Gobert, which pushed up the expected return for Durant. Neither team was willing to pay the freight considering how bad things were looking.
They look worse, but Durant could be rejuvenated in a new ZIP code and perhaps grateful he escaped the NBA’s Arkham Asylum and its version of Two-Face. He’s still productive, but he and Irving are just as bad a match on and off the pitch it seems.
Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant called for a trade this summer and then backed down, but now a trade seems like the only option. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)
Irving is a great soloist, but he can’t maximize Durant, and Durant shouldn’t need to be able to be a liaison – that was the beauty of James Harden when he was right (man, how long ago was that?) .
Irving is non-negotiable, does not conform or backs down because he sees it as a weakness and sets everything he touches on fire. He then walks away and smokes a cigarette while it burns, Angela Bassett style.
But while there seems to be more competition than ever and only Milwaukee is sporting an early championship scent, any team with champagne dreams should call Marks to see if they can acquire Durant.
And while we’re on the subject, Marks must have plenty of it, although Irving provides a decent bit of cover. The Nets are awash with 6-foot-3 guards, but they lack athleticism on the wings and legitimate size and girth on the perimeter. The Harden disaster was made worse by trading in a player in Ben Simmons who is very good at being broken – having shown none of an impact player’s flashes, no growth and now possibly no health.
So much drama has happened in a compressed amount of time, from Harden acting up to get to Brooklyn to his performing seeing Irving wasn’t going to be vaccinated. In between, there was Harden’s injury and Irving’s injury in the 2021 playoffs that left Durant all alone in that series against Milwaukee.
And he looks all alone now, not just a man without a home, but a man too good for who he is with.
The Nets don’t win games, sell tickets, or sell hope, so it’s time to end this joke of an experiment. But they won’t, they’ll dig themselves into another PR hole with this Udoka statement – because unlike Irving, he has to answer some uncomfortable questions when it’s official, and even then a large segment of fans in Brooklyn and beyond that will feel unseen.
And that’s what Marks gives Durant as he manages these precious years of Durant’s career.
Durant is now forced to guard the centers, which doesn’t seem like the ideal situation for a man who has had an Achilles injury and an MCL injury in the past four years. At Golden State, those falls felt like situational luxury, a long-armed 7-footer on a defensive juggernaut.
Now it feels like a necessity for a much older man who now has to take care of the remaining years of his prime and how to preserve them.
Durant could be blessed and cursed in equal measure. It looks like the stable one given the chaos, but when there’s too much stability and minimal drama, it needs to make some noise.
Right now, it’s time for a boom box and a megaphone before Durant wastes another night.