Durant & Irving’s Nets
Three years ago, the Brooklyn Nets did the unthinkable.
They landed Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving and beat out the New York Knicks and the rest of the NBA in the process.
The minute the Durant/Irving partnership found its way to Brooklyn, the mandate was pretty simple.
Championship or bust.
Three years later, it’s a whole lot of bust for the Brooklyn Nets.
Last week, the Woj bomb dropped right before free agency. Kevin Durant wants out of Brooklyn and vocalized his desire for a trade.
The Nets all-in approach bombed in a rather epic fashion and they shouldn’t have regrets when it comes to taking the swing on both Durant and Irving.
It’s easy to second guess now, but every team in the NBA outside of Golden State at the time would have signed on the dotted line for the two superstars.
The Nets may have won out on Durant and Irving, but they also became the center of drama and dysfunction throughout the NBA.
The last three years have been a rollercoaster.
Where to begin.
There was all sorts of Kyrie Irving drama. Does he want to play basketball? Will he get the vaccine?
Kyrie dazzled at times on the court, but also missed a whole of time in the process.
The Nets were in the middle of James Harden drama. Last year they gave up a whole lot of assets to bring in the guard, a year later he quit on the team and had to be traded for Ben Simmons.
The same Ben Simmons that still has yet to play a game for the Brooklyn Nets.
Durant’s play on the court cannot be questioned. When he was on the floor suiting up for Brooklyn, he shined.
However, he failed to deliver in taking the franchise back to the promised land.
Injuries, dysfunction or not, it is comical that the Nets couldn’t find a way to an NBA Finals yet alone a Conference Finals with this collection of talent.
Kevin Durant left the Golden State Warriors with two Finals MVP trophies, but with a challenge in front of him.
Could Durant go and lead his own team to a title? Not a ready-made 73 win Golden State Warriors team.
Durant was unable to do so and decided after three years, enough is enough.
Kevin Durant got to pick his head coach. the players and got the chance to sit out a full season.
It wasn’t good enough for him.
Durant’s legacy as an all-time great player is established. There’s no knocking what he has brought to the floor for over fifteen years in the league.
However, when it comes to his tenure in Brooklyn, it’s a whole lot of unfulfilled promises.
Durant is under contract for the next 4 years, I’m not rushing a trade by any means if I’m the Brooklyn Nets.
The Nets must do right by the organization, not the demands of a disgruntled superstar.
The future is very uncertain in Brooklyn, but the pairing of Durant and Irving will go down as one of the all time great NY flops.
Imagine two all time great actors taking their talents off Broadway, expecting a Tony and failing to come close to winning a Tony after calling every single shot.
I don’t know when DiCaprio and Jonah Hill are taking a play to Brooklyn, but I hope it has better success than the basketball version that we witnessed over the last three years…
You can listen to my podcast New York, New York every Monday, Wednesday & Friday on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Geico Sportsnight following Mets postgame on SNY.
