In the end, after almost two months of drama and speculation, Kevin Durant is staying with the Brooklyn Nets. We saw plenty of twists and turns in this saga, and while it seemed like both sides had reached a point of no return after Durant’s ultimatum to fire GM Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash, nothing happened in the end.
It was announced yesterday that all the parties that were involved in this situation met and decided to move forward together, to finally put an end to this saga. Quite a few viewed it in a positive light, as a star player had, for once, not gotten his wish to be traded after we have seen so many of them force their way out from their teams. The Nets dug their feet to the ground and refused to bow down to KD’s demands, and their stance has been rewarded. A big reason why they were able to do that was because Durant had four years left on his contract and an NBA fan posted a hilarious video of KD’s agent Rich Kleiman letting him know as much after the trade request failed.
https://twitter.com/TommyBeer/status/1562098631628431360
Durant might have been able to force their hand if he only had a year or two left on his deal, but it was always going to be difficult with the Nets having him under contract for four years. It wasn’t like the Anthony Davis situation where he requested a trade in 2019, as the Pelicans, in that case, had to give in, or else he would have walked for free in 2020.
All Durant can do now is focus on what he does best, which is play basketball. The championship odds for the Nets improved significantly once the news broke, as they do have a very talented roster. Durant now also gets a chance to right the wrongs from this past postseason in which he got swept, and if he is fully committed, you can expect him to achieve this.
