The hopes were high for the Brooklyn Nets when they set out to contend for NBA championships with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Now, it appears the whole situation is on the verge of total collapse.
Durant, who is signed to a four-year, $194.2 million contract faces an uncertain future with the Nets. His co-star is in the midst of a quickly unraveling contract dispute where there is a clear lack of trust in the team to give him a full four-year max contract offer. As that happens, Irving has been leveraging his relationship with Durant to apply pressure on the Nets.
If the Nets do not ultimately end up caving to Irving’s desires, there appears to be a genuine chance he will depart. He already provided the front office with a list of six teams he’d prefer to play for via sign-and-trade if the two sides prove unable to reach an agreement on a new contract. Irving has a $36.5 million player option with a June 29 deadline.
There was a lot of insight from Logan Murdock of The Ringer during a recent podcast with Kevin O’Connor. He put together a brilliant profile on Durant called “Let It Go” back in March after traveling to Brooklyn to gather insight into the Nets’ situation after the fallout of the James Harden trade.
LATEST NBA NEWS AND TRADE RUMORS: Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant Speaks Out On Kyrie Irving’s Contract Talks
Murdock began his summary of the ongoing Kyrie Irving debacle by mentioning that Durant has not spoken with the Nets organization in weeks. While it’s unclear if the situation is at a point where Durant is approaching an exit strategy, the overall sense is of major unease.
“It didn’t have to be this way,” Murdock said. “This team … and it’s ironic. Kevin came to reconcile relationships, build relationships with his BFF’s and it’s not working out. It’s doing the exact opposite. And you juxtapose that with Golden State winning…”
“Now, you have reports that Kyrie is looking elsewhere. I made some calls. Kevin Durant has not talked to the team in weeks. I don’t think Kevin is confident in the front office right now. I don’t know if he’s at the stage of leaving but there’s a big uneasiness from not only from the Kyrie side, but the KD side as well.”
Many will point toward Irving’s choosing to not get vaccinated and his inexplicable lack of reliability as the foundation of the Nets’ problems. However, the perceived unwillingness from the front office to build a closer understanding with Irving has not gone unnoticed by Durant.
“His biggest beef is that he feels that the front office didn’t grow to understand Kyrie, whatever that means. I would push back on that when a guy leaves for two weeks at a time … Kyrie earns the lion’s share of the blame. But I think KD believes that ‘hey, you guys didn’t understand this guy. You didn’t try to figure out where he was coming from.’”
LATEST NBA NEWS AND TRADE RUMORS: Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant Speaks Out On Kyrie Irving’s Contract Talks
The Nets’ decision to part with a personal trainer and team assistant Adam Harrington has been another source of issues for Durant. Harrington was ‘very close’ to Durant. It’s yet another rocking of the proverbial boat in the overall situation.
“And here’s another thing, KOC, the Nets got rid of Adam Harrington. who’s very close to Kevin. He’s one of Kevin’s guys. And that had a big ripple effect on how Kevin feels about this right now. He’s still in this figure-it-out mode but there is some fire to that smoke that he’s kind of reevaluating where he stands with this.”
LATEST NBA NEWS AND TRADE RUMORS: Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant Speaks Out On Kyrie Irving’s Contract Talks
There is a sense that Durant is more on “Kyrie’s side” than he is on the side of the Nets front office. Durant came to Brooklyn to play with Irving, but regardless, Murdock sees the situation as being largely of Durant’s creation due to the control he’s had.
“I think in a lot of ways, he’s more on Kyrie’s side than he is on the front office’s in this one and I got to sometimes push back on this because like Kevin came to Brooklyn to play with Kyrie. His influence on this organization looms so large.”
“It’s hard to me to hear ‘aw man, the the organization this, this and that one.’ the organization could have done that. Pretty much the team the last two years to start the season were built in Kevin’s vision. So, it’s hard to wash your hands of it.”
LATEST NBA NEWS AND TRADE RUMORS: Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant Speaks Out On Kyrie Irving’s Contract Talks
Another problem has been the Nets’ decision to not allow Irving to be a ‘part-time player’ when he was ineligible to participate in home games at Barclays Center due to the New York City vaccination mandate.
“That’s just how he feels. ‘Hey man, I brought this guy in, him and Kyrie, and the front office didn’t do enough to support him at a time when we needed to support him.”
