In the aftermath of a harsh and brutal campaign, Kevin Durant decided he had enough of the Nets and wanted to try something new. He sent in his trade request to team owner Joe Tsai and watched as chaos ensued all across the league.
But with the summer nearly over now, Durant has been forced to rescind his trade demand (for now), and it appears as if both superstars are set to return for another season with the Nets.
In response to the latest events, NBA Insider David Aldridge updated his offseason ratings, putting the Nets at 17th after managing to keep the core together.
With the caveat that no one should be surprised if, at any point during next season, GM Sean Marks or coach Steve Nash get cashiered, or Durant winds up with a new address, for now an uneasy truce has squashed his trade request. Brooklyn can at least begin the season hoping that it can bring it’s disparate (originally autocorrected to “desperate,” which might be more accurate) parties together. It’s hard to see that happening, given the strong personalities involved. We all know KD and Kyrie blaze their own paths, but majority owner Joseph Tsai is no shrinking flower himself. And Tsai basically shut down any notion that the Nets would give Durant away, if at all, for pennies on the dollar. So, I can’t just pretend like the last six weeks didn’t happen, and that there hasn’t been at least some damage to very important internal relationships.
Can Nash coach Durant or Irving hard, knowing one three-game losing streak will likely have him on the hottest of seats? Would the Nets turn on a dime if they did find a team willing to meet their asking price for Durant? As noted in my pre-Kumbaya assessment of Brooklyn’s offseason, the Nets didn’t do bad in roster reconstruction, adding Warren and O’Neale. But Warren’s recent injury history complicates some of that enthusiasm. And, as previously noted, Simmons and Harris each missed all of the 21-22 season, and Curry has had to rehab this summer. So no matter their level of fitness, they’ll need some time to shake off the rust. For all these reasons, I can’t say the Nets had a top 10 offseason. But knowing they have at least minimal buy-in going into the season from their two superstars has to move them up from their previous positioning.
At the start of the summer, nobody was sure if the Nets would end up keeping KD and Kyrie. In light of all the drama they caused, many were convinced that a trade was inevitable and that they would have to resort to a complete rebuild around Ben Simmons and picks.
For now, the Nets have managed to avoid that by adding firm on Durant and refusing to give up on trying to make it work with him. They deserve credit for avoiding collapse, even if they just delayed the inevitable.
