Despite having one of the best players in the world on their team, the Brooklyn Nets have not played up to expectations this season. In fact, through their first 15 games, the Nets have struggled to find any consistency amid another string of controversies.
Through it all, Kevin Durant is doing his best to keep his head down and keep a straight face. But sometimes, even KD can’t help but get himself a little more involved.
In a recent exclusive with Chris Haynes, for example, Durant stirred up a lot of noise when he made the following remarks about his teammates:
“Look at our starting lineup. Edmond Sumner, Royce O’Neale, Joe Harris, [Nic] Claxton and me. It’s not disrespect, but what are you expecting from that group? Durant asked B/R. “You expect us to win because I’m out there. So if you’re watching from that lens, you’re expecting us to play well because No. 7 is out there.
Initially, many fans and experts took it as Durant taking a shot at his teammates and essentially admitting they weren’t good enough to win.
Kevin Durant Makes Follow-Up Statement To Clarify His Comments
Durant has since clarified that statement, providing some much-needed clarity on the situation in a chat with Eddie Gonzalez.
“I should’ve explained myself better to Chris Haynes, but it wasn’t – it wasn’t like this. That wasn’t my intentions when I was saying it,” said Durant. “I was more so saying, look yo, I was trying to protect my teammates from the expectations from everybody else. Like yo relax a little bit, let us work this out until everything gets right, but look at how we’re playing right now. [We have] 30 point wins, 40 point wins, and games where we keep the opposing team under 100 points, but then when we lose and give up 150 points to the lakers for one game, everyone, is like ‘oh shit the sky is falling down.’”
“And its just like yo, do you see the progression of our team and what we doin’ and how guys are steppin’ up and trying to do more? So when they actually end those rows of gettin’ back to “this what we need you here for”, then Edmond gon’ be better, Royce gon’ be better, Clax gon’ be better, I’m gon’ be better, Joe goin -and oh I forgot about Joe. I ain’t say Joe. Joe coming off a whole year not playing and now basically been playing the 3 for us. He been having to guard bigger guys, he been goin down to the rim a little bit, droppin stuff off, and just expanding his game. So everybody expanding their game throughout this time, so there’s going to be ups and downs through our team, and I was just [trying to say], don’t expect us to be perfect every night or great every night. It’s gonna be times when we playing incredible basketball and the next game we might not be able to hit sh*t. So like, that was my whole thing and I definitely could have worded it better.”
It remains to be seen how the Nets will finish this season, but they have some help on the way. For the first time in weeks, Kyrie Irving will suit up for the Nets tonight. Between his return and the slow resurgence of Ben Simmons (who dropped a season-high 15 points), the Nets could be in for a nice stretch of basketball.
The biggest factor, though, will be if Kyrie, and the rest of the team, can avoid any more distractions this season. If so, the Nets will have everything they need to compete for the title this year — and they’ll be all out of excuses if they fail to get it done.
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