The proverbial bucket of ice water dumped on Nets fans on Monday could not be more unwelcome even during this hellish heat wave.
Just as the Brooklyn faithful started to gather confidence that Kevin Durant might actually take the court in a Nets uniform this season, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that the superstar forward reiterated his trade request from June 30 in a meeting with owner Joseph Tsai over the weekend in London. Charania reported that KD gave Tsai an ultimatum: Either General Manager Sean Marks and Head Coach Steve Nash go, or I go.
Given the public outing of this demand, it’s hard to imagine that Tsai would choose the former. Whereas some fans might concur with KD’s assessment that the Marks/Nash duo bore a significant chunk of blame for Brooklyn’s massive underachievement last season that ended with the ignominy of a four-game sweep to Boston in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, Tsai doesn’t seem the type to cower at the point of a figurative gun and throw them under the bus.
That Durant is allegedly still miffed over the organization’s “treatment” of his buddy Kyrie Irving would seem to further motivate Tsai to side with his management team. Irving, of course, sabotaged the team’s mission when he nonsensically refused to be injected with the COVID-19 vaccine in advance of last season in violation of New York City’s mandate for performing athletes. After the season, the Nets refused to offer the superstar guard a guaranteed max contract extension, forcing him to exercise his player option for the 2022-23 season.
Durant, who is signed for the next four seasons for approximately $194 million, reportedly “does not have faith” in the team’s direction. That’s strange, since so many of the team’s moves, including hiring Nash two years ago over more qualified candidates, were done with at least his blessing. Does anyone believe that Marks would have surrendered the farm to acquire another superstar in James Harden from Houston if KD didn’t give the trade a thumbs up? Others reported that Durant also didn’t take kindly the axing of assistant coach Adam Harrington, who has acted as KD’s shooting coach and personal trainer going back to their days together in Oklahoma City.
The reasons no longer matter, because the bottom line is that Durant decided it was going to be his turn to stick it to Brooklyn, since the report’s leak logically stems from his side of the equation. The extended consequence is that the rest of the league is now all too aware that whatever leverage the Nets thought they may have had in trade negotiations has evaporated.
Before Monday’s report, Marks could easily dismiss offers he deemed insufficient in the hopes of running out the clock, because it was thought that KD might decide to play through his discontent—with the slim possibility that he would grow to accept his situation. That no longer seems tenable. We’re instead likely going to be looking at an Anthony Davis inverse, where the former Pelican big man was held out of action through the end of the 2018-19 season until he could be traded to the Lakers. Only this time the Nets pain from the absence of their transcendent star would be most acute at the season’s start should Durant remain on their roster.
As such, there could very well be pressure on Marks to take the best deal on the table in the next two months, even if it falls short of KD’s true worth. Irving could also be headed for an exit, despite his recent attempts to appear accepting of his status as a player on an expiring contract.
What will likely be left is a return to the 2015-17 era, when those Nets, with few marketable players and devoid of draft picks, had no choice but to mine for hidden gems while rebuilding from scratch.
It’s hard to believe that it was less than 14 months ago when Brooklyn came within a Durant toenail of eliminating eventual champion Milwaukee in the second round of the playoffs. Nets fans were living in dream world then; it’s incredible how quickly it 180’d into a nightmare.
Everyone is at fault, with Durant near the top of the list. It's Sean Marks' responsibility. Tsai will give him a chance to fix his errors and firing Nash ain't an option. In September, the Nets can acquire two Centers from the Pacers. If we wait until then, Durant and Irving can be traded to assemble this roster:
(PGs) Seth Curry/ Derrick White/ Patty Mills
(SGs) Jaylen/ Joe Harris/ Royce O'Neale
(SFs)Grant Williams/ TJ Warren, Kessler
(PFs) Ben Simmons/ Nicholas Claxton
(Cs) Myles Turner/ Daniel Theis/ Day'Ron
This will NOT be a return to 2015-17. We will win more games than Durant and Irving did this season, AND we will compete. With some internal development, mostly from Nash and Ben, we may exceed expectations