If the Nets don’t end up trading Kevin Durant — and if Steve Nash remains the team’s head coach for the 2022-23 season — is it possible to imagine a world in which they could peacefully coexist after KD issued his now infamous ultimatum to owner Joe Tsai?
In a face-to-face meeting in London with Tsai, Durant told the owner either to trade him or to fire Nash and GM Sean Marks, according to The Athletic. Tsai then responded almost immediately via Twitter, saying Marks and Nash “have my support.”
It’s hard to imagine that Durant and Nash could coexist after that, but former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy believes it’s possible.
“[Durant] just seems to love basketball and I’ve never seen him shortcut in a game or give less than his best to the game…so if they do bring him back I think these things can be worked out,” Van Gundy said on Sirius XM Radio with Frank Isola and Mitch Lawrence.
“I know it seems like it’s so dramatic right now and how could they ever speak again? And how could Sean Marks and Durant [coexist]…I don’t think it would be that big a problem. I think it would be an awkward couple of days and then you win three in a row because I think if [Ben] Simmons comes back, [Joe] Harris comes back, [Kyrie] Irving is in a right space and is able to play and Durant comes back, they’ve got a really good team. And so winning helps camouflage any bad feelings and so I don’t think it will be as bad for as long as people might suspect on the outside.”
Still, a lot of questions will loom over the Nets at least until training camp, and probably beyond. Remember, Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons are still under contract.
The Celtics are considered the favorites to land Durant in a trade centered around Jaylen Brown, although Boston is reportedly unwilling to include Marcus Smart as the second key player in a deal that would also involve draft picks.
“The Boston Celtics are a leading team for Kevin Durant when you look at the pieces that they have,” Shams Charania of The Athletic said on the Pat McAfee Show.
Still, other NBA insiders like Brian Windhorst and Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson believe Durant is now less likely to be traded.
“Kevin Durant … in my view has very much limited his options,” Windhorst said Wednesday on ESPN.
He added that he thinks it’s “likely” that Durant is still on the roster come training camp, but questioned whether Durant would actually show up to training camp.
Robinson, meanwhile, tweeted“Boston is not going to make the deal.”
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He also said on Spotify that Durant ultimately wants his business manager, Rich Kleiman, to be installed as the next Nets GM.
“I believe Kevin Durant is trying to create a CEO takeover where Rich Kleiman is elevated to a position of power inside the Brooklyn Nets front office,” he said.
There is also speculation about whether Nash will simply walk away from the job ahead of the season, knowing that he is not wanted by Durant even though Durant openly endorsed him following the team’s loss to Boston in the first round of the playoffs, only to change his mind four months later.
“Yeah, Steve’s been dealt a crazy hand the last two years. He’s had to deal with so much stuff as the head coach, a first-time coach: trades, injuries, COVID, it’s just a lot of stuff he’s had to deal with and I’m proud of how he’s focused and his passion for us ,” he said in April. “We all continue to develop over the summer and see what happens.”
This much seems certain: the drama around the Nets will continue for some time.
Van Gundy, for his part, thinks the NBA might actually like all the drama that comes with players sitting out or asking to be traded.
“I wonder if the league is really upset with it, or they actually like the news cycle that in the NBA there’s always something going on,” he said.
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his website at ZAGSBLOG.com.