Suns’ Kevin Durant gives little detail about Brooklyn Nets collapse
Phoenix Suns superstar Kevin Durant came to the Brooklyn Nets in the summer of 2019 looking to bring a championship to Brooklyn with the help of one of his close friends, Kyrie Irving. However, ever since this past offseason, Durant wanted out of Brooklyn because of differences that he and the Nets were having.
After voicing his displeasure about then-head coach Steve Nash, Durant had a meeting with the leadership structure of the Nets and decided to stick it out after seemingly getting reassurance from ownership and general manager Sean Marks that Brooklyn was interested in doing whatever it took to win a title. However, after a 2-5 start, Nash was fired and then-assistant coach Jacque Vaughn was appointed to interim head coach.
Shortly after Vaughn’s promotion, Irving was suspended by the Nets for tweeting a link to a film filled with anti-semitic material. Irving returned after eight games, but after that, even though Brooklyn won 18 of 20 games, it seemed that the team was never the same. That eventually led to Irving wanting out of Brooklyn after he and the Nets were unable to come to terms on a contract extension that worked for both parties.
Shortly after Irving was traded to the Dallas Mavericks, Durant requested a trade of his own after being uncertain of the direction of the organization. Durant was eventually traded to the Phoenix Suns and once that happened, the superstar experiment ended without much to show for it. Durant recently did an interview with The Ringer’s Logan Murdock, but did not want to give any details on why the experiment failed:
“‘You got to ask them, to be honest,’ Durant says when asked what went wrong in Brooklyn. ‘My job is to play, and I think I did that. Rehab, a lot of stuff was out of my control that I didn’t … I can’t speak on, to be honest, but I just thought we didn’t play enough minutes together. That’s all.'”
