Stephen A. Smith blasts Nets’ Kevin Durant for recent trade demands
The Brooklyn Nets continue to be in a tough spot as they navigate through the Kevin Durant trade request. The former league MVP asked for a trade back on June 30, but anything real has yet to really form as the Nets haven’t received the right asking price.
Durant upped the ante recently when he sat down with team governor Joe Tsai and gave him an ultimatum to either trade him or fire GM Sean Marks and coach Steve Nash. Durant does not like the direction the Nets are going in and therefore he wants a change.
Considering everything that has happened with Durant, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, and everything else in between in Brooklyn over the years, Stephen A. Smith hopped on ESPN’s First Take and blasted Durant for these demands:
Let me break this down for y’all. Kevin Durant arrives to the Brooklyn Nets in 2019. Signs 4 years $164 million. He had just torn his Achilles. They paid him $35 plus million a year just to come. Knowing he wasn’t gonna play a single game. He’s Kevin Durant. He deserves it. I would have done the same thing without hesitation because this brother’s gonna go all day every day be healthy. You don’t gotta worry about no load management, him sitting out finding excuses not to play, that’s not how he rolls. His integrity is not to be questioned in that regard, but he was paid. So you missed the first season. The second season you come back, through no fault of your own, Kyrie gets hurt. James Harden gets hurt. You almost beat Milwaukee can’t get it done. Monster performance, right? This year, you got bounced out in the first round. You got swept. You were the only team in the entire postseason, who got swept. That’s three years of basketball and all I got to show for it is one playoff series victory.
Smith then went into everything Tsai did in order to keep Durant happy:
I got Kyrie here because of you. James Harden because of you. DeAndre Jordan, DeAndre Jordan, good brother happy got his $40 million from the Nets when he did, but we know he’s past his prime, but you brought him there too. Steve Nash! No experience. Never even coached high school. Didn’t coach high school. Didn’t coach college. Didn’t coach pros, but you want to him as your head coach. I’m Joe Tsai, I’ve given you every damn thing you want it. You can give me a championship run legitimately with all of y’all on the court together. Y’all only played about 29 games together. I mean, give me a break. I haven’t gotten a return on my investment and then you commit last summer to a 4-year $198 million deal that came on top of the $164 million.
Last time I checked, $198 million, $164 million, that’s about $361 million. Okay, that’s what I paid you and all I got to show for it is one playoff victory because you want to bounce? What? Not even one day on the contract, you asked him to be traded because the contract kicks in now. You ain’t going no damn place. You’re gonna stay your (expletive) right here.
Smith makes excellent points when it comes to Durant’s trade demands. Every move the Nets have made has been in Durant’s best interest and Brooklyn has to feel a bit disrespected considering everything that has gone down with this team. The Nets should not trade him until they get the exact asking price they are looking for.
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NBA Twitter reacts to Kevin Durant's demands for Joe Tsai
