Three years ago, the Brooklyn Nets provided an historic boost in free agency by completing coordinated deals for Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving – deals based on the idea that the two could be more than superstars in Brooklyn. Every great player exerts some degree of (often deserved) influence, but much of the coverage in the Nets in recent seasons has characterized Durant and Irving as drivers of decisions made across the organization. Coaches were fired and replaced. The roster has been revamped to Durant and Irving’s liking, from accessories center DeAndre Jordan, who joined the team on a $40 million deal, to the Nets gutting their young core to take on James Harden for a third exchange star.
Each of these decisions can be explained by a limited mix of injuries, opportunities, and circumstances. Ultimately, however, those decisions were made for the same reason that Durant reportedly complied with his request to be traded over the weekend with an ultimatum to either postpone it or fire the team’s head coach and general manager.
On it the networks negotiated.
The train was always part of the appeal. Brooklyn formed a clear-sighted partnership with Durant and, by extension, Irving as central figures in his future. But even in 2019, there was already a difference between the two stars and their importance to the organization as a whole. Sources told ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz that the nets Irving brought in — and the baggage caravan that followed him — were “the cost of doing business” to get Durant ashore. Irving was an expense allowance from the start. He became a crucial part of the franchise because a big time player wanted to play with his friend. Perhaps that’s unkind to one of the game’s most advanced shot creators in Irving, but the difference in standing between the two Superstar teammates has only become more apparent.
In Irving’s last official press conference of the 2021-22 season, he assured the assembled media that he plans to be back with the Nets despite a tumultuous year and his disheartening end. He spoke not only of being a part of the franchise, but of “managing” it alongside Durant, team governor Joe Tsai, and general manager Sean Marks, all of whom Irving specifically named. (Specifically not mentioned: head coach Steve Nash.) It was a denial of reality — or at least a misunderstanding on the part of Kyrie about how much his reality had changed.
Irving spoke that day as if he’d stepped straight out of a 2019 time machine, completely oblivious to everything he had done (or would do, in the time-travel future tense?) to derail Brooklyn’s season. The uncanny quality of Irving’s comments came from the fact that he still seemed to believe his fundamental affinity with the team was intact. That he still had the same level of input. That he was still a custodian of the franchise even after purposely making himself unavailable for much of the season. Brooklyn made excuses and exceptions for Kyrie for months, but his relationship with the franchise changed when he decided it wasn’t in his best interest to be an active part of it.
For his part, Durant kept reappearing whenever his body would allow — to the point where public concern arose that he was doing too much to keep his compromised superteam afloat. Still one of the best players in the world last season, KD was still the voice the Nets recruited him to be. Even as he makes his demands of the organization now, Durant is still doing more or less what he was brought to Brooklyn to do: explaining his intentions and outlining exactly what he wants. Sometimes that looks like leadership. Sometimes it looks like this.
The real question is whether Durant’s trade request broke that dynamic — like Irving broke his — or just complicated it. On the one hand, the mere fact that Durant’s future with the franchise is a matter to meet and negotiate speaks volumes. There are some extremely practical reasons for the Nets to have one of the world’s greatest basketball players on their roster for as long as possible — 7-foot grounds with unthinkable touch, skill and instinct. And then there’s the reality of this player calling in clear light for his coach and general manager to be fired, causing such a furore that the team governor was forced to respond on Twitter.
“Our front office and coaching staff have my support,” Tsai said tweeted on Monday. “We will make decisions in the best interests of the Brooklyn Nets.”
As far as statements go, it’s a bit vague. It’s also noticeably non-binding. “Support” is far from a guarantee in the modern NBA, and it doesn’t take much imagination to understand how keeping Kevin Durant over a coach and an executive could still be in the franchise’s best interest. All in all, this tweet feels like an insistence from the team’s owner that times have changed, even as he meets up with Durant to discuss how to persuade him to stay.
The whole situation is a mess, but the kind of mess Brooklyn would happily sweep under the rug and ignore if it could. It’s impossible to replace Kevin Durant. Hell, it’s hard enough for Durant to get a fair return on a deal, let alone a suitor can realistically meet. Every question sounds ridiculous because Durant is a really ridiculous player. That might be the only reason he’s still a net about six weeks after requesting a trade — and perhaps the real reason KD is stirring the pot with this ultimatum in the first place. Does he really want Marks and Nash gone? Or is he just trying to send a shock through the system of webs? You can still create leverage with a foot in front of the door, especially when three years of subtle encouragement have already shown you exactly where to push.
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