Kevin Durant and the Nets have agreed to continue their partnership, the team announced Tuesday.
The Kevin Durant trade chatter can seemingly come to an end as Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks released a statement on Tuesday saying the team and Durant have agreed to “move forward” together.
Per the team, Durant met with Marks, team owners Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai as well as coach Steve Nash in Los Angeles on Aug. 22.
“Steve Nash and I, together with Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai, met with Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman in Los Angeles yesterday. We have agreed to move forward with our partnership. We are focusing on basketball, with one collective goal in mind: build a lasting franchise to bring a championship to Brooklyn.”
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) August 23, 2022
Durant had reportedly asked for a trade from the Nets on June 30 and talk of his landing spot had been a point of discussion throughout the offseason. On Aug. 8, reports circulated that Durant told Tsai once again that he wanted a trade and, per The Associated Press, told Tsai that he has concerns about the Nets’ direction under Nash and Marks.
“Our front office and coaching staff have my support,” Tsai tweeted Monday night. “We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.”
Durant joined the Nets via a sign-and-trade deal in the summer of 2019 and signed a contract extension with the team last offseason. He is under contract through the 2025-26 season. Last season, he averaged 29.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists while playing in 55 games — his most since the 2018-19 season — en route to earning All-NBA Second Team honors.
Durant is a 12-time All-Star, four-time scoring champion, three-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time NBA champion. He has four years and nearly $200 million remaining on his contract. He spent three seasons with Brooklyn, not playing in the first of those years while he recovered from a torn Achilles. Last summer, he helped lead the US to Olympic gold at the Tokyo Games.
The Nets returned this past season thinking title with their core of Irving, Durant and James Harden. It didn’t work out anywhere near as planned. Irving wasn’t with the team for the majority of the season, Harden ended up getting traded to Philadelphia, the Nets needed to survive the Play-In Tournament just to make the playoffs, and Brooklyn wound up getting swept in the first round by the eventual Eastern Conference champions, the Boston Celtics.
Can Kevin Durant and the Nets mend their relationship after an offseason of uncertainty?
Irving could have left the Nets this summer by opting out of his contract and becoming an unrestricted free agent. However, Irving did the opposite by opting in, which was first reported by The Athletic, to whom he said: “Normal people keep the world going, but those who dare to be different lead us into tomorrow.” I’ve made my decision to opt in. See you in the fall.”
He appeared in only 29 regular-season games this past season, largely because of his decision not to be vaccinated against COVID-19. That made him ineligible to play in most of Brooklyn’s home games, until getting an exemption to New York City’s vaccine mandate in the spring.
Irving said after the Nets were swept by Boston in the first round that he planned on remaining in Brooklyn, even talking about him and Durant managing the franchise along with Marks and Tsai.
Retaining Irving wasn’t the only move Brooklyn made in the offseason. It also re-signed center Nic Claxton, forward Kessler Edwards and guard Patty Mills and added free agents TJ Warren and Edmond Sumner. In addition, the Nets also added 3-and-D swingman Royce O’Neale in a trade with the Utah Jazz.
In a media availability session with the NBA last month, Commissioner Adam Silver said he has never been a fan of trade demands going public.
“This needs to be a two-way street,” Silver said. “Teams provide enormous security and guarantees to players and the expectation is, in return, they will meet their end of the bargain. I’m realistic that there are always conversations that are going to go on behind closed doors between players and their representatives and the teams. But we don’t like to see players requesting trades, and we don’t like to see it playing out the way it is.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.