Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets are staying together, claiming they want to build a lasting relationship rather than run it back for one all-or-nothing NBA season.
Kevin Durant is staying put in Brooklyn. And the Nets aren’t just running it back – they’re staying together.
Nets general manager Sean Marks said in a statement Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) that after a face-to-face to clear the air, Durant – who’d requested a trade – and the team are “moving forward” together to chase the franchise’s first -ever championship.
A highly-placed Nets source amplified that this was not simply a case of cajoling Durant to stay for the upcoming season, to run it back and take a final, all-or-nothing shot at a title with Ben Simmons and Kyrie Irving, the laugh on a one-year deal. He inked a four-year, $198 million extension last summer that kicks in this season.
“We want to build a lasting franchise,” the source told The Post, “so this is not just about this year.”
That tete-a-tete in California – where Durant had been spotted recently working out with Irving – included all the powers-that-be in this long-running melodrama that largely held the entire NBA hostage for nearly two months: Marks and Nets coach Steve Nash – both of whom Durant had wanted fired – as well as Durant’s business partner Rich Kleiman, Nets owner Joe Tsai and wife Clara Wu Tsai.
“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,” Marks said. “We are focusing on basketball, with one collective goal in mind: build a lasting franchise to bring a championship to Brooklyn.”
The Post had reported weeks ago that Durant was trending towards being present at training camp, which starts Sept. 27. But this news not only makes it official, but also clarifies that he and the Nets plan to have a long marriage.
Durant had initially requested a trade out of Brooklyn on June 30, just days after Irving had concluded testy contract negotiations by picking up his nearly $37 million player option for this coming season.
Following Durant expressing a preference to be traded to the Miami Heat or Phoenix Suns, the Nets made it clear they didn’t want to trade him, demanding a sky-high return for the four-time scoring champion: Another All-Star, a young talent and a trove of first-round draft picks.
Back on July 12, The Post reported that Irving had every intention of staying in Brooklyn and remaining a Net; and in ensuing weeks that the team was likely to hold on to Durant.
Earlier this month, Durant had a meeting with Tsai and reiterated his desire to be traded. Sources told The Post that he then requested the firing of Nash, while The Athletic reported that he also wanted Marks removed.
But Tsai publicly backed his coach and general manager. He stood his ground, and in the end Durant came around.
It brings to mind the summer 2007 episode when the late Kobe Bryant went on the radio in Los Angeles and requested a trade from the Lakers, saying he’d rather play on Pluto. But after testing the trade market and finding nothing to approximate the all-time great, the Lakers held onto him.
Bryant went on to win the MVP the following season, with the Lakers reaching the Finals. He led them to consecutive championships the following two years.
The Nets can only hope to approach that level of success.
But Durant – a two-time Finals MVP – is coming off a season that saw him average 29.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists. He, Irving and Ben Simmons form a Big Three with a combined 22 All-Star selections, and join Joe Harris, Seth Curry and Nic Claxton in a core that now has no excuse not to contend for a title.
– The New York Post
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