The Kevin Durant trade saga finally came to an end as the superstar is now set to run it back with the Brooklyn Nets for the upcoming season. Ever since the superstar demanded a trade, fans were at the edge of their seats to see where Durant would end up.
A trade seemed inevitable once it became public that KD had even demanded a new front office as he demanded that both Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash must resign if the Nets wanted to retain him. But owner Joe Tsai extended his support and opted to stick with the current front office. While it seemed all haywire, the lack of quality offers exhausted KD’s options and now he will play for the Nets for the upcoming season.
But this isn’t the first time that a superstar has demanded a team to sack their head coach. According to former Miami Heat guard Eddie House, back in 2011, LeBron James even demanded that the Miami Heat should sack the head coach. In an appearance on the Odd Couple podcast, House reflected on KD’s situation with Nash and compared it to LeBron and coach Spo back in 2011.
“It’s different when you’re a coach. If you cannot get the superstar guy to buy into what you are doing, it is almost a failed cause.”
“On every single team I’ve played on, even the team I played on with Bron, they were this close, they wanted Spo [Spoelstra] out but Pat was like, ‘Hell, no! That’s my guy and we gonna win with him.’ It took another leader to say, ‘No, this is how it goes.’ That’s Pat Riley I’m talking about.”
The pressure will surely be on the Nets and especially Steve Nash to keep KD happy and dialed in this season. After a season where they couldn’t even win a single game in the playoffs, the Nets surely have learned their lesson and have added some more experienced players to their roster. The biggest challenge, though, in this case, would be managing the egos of the superstars.
Erik Spoelstra and Bron went on to win two championships in a row after their offseason saga. Can Nash and Durant replicate such success?
