The greatest star in the history of the Nets returned to Brooklyn on February 1. Although the former club used a 30-second short video to pay tribute to him, there were only a few cheers and a lot of boos in the stands.
Kevin Durant won a victory with his new team and received hugs from his former teammates, but it all seemed very contradictory. In the eyes of fans, Kevin Durant is a traitor, but in the eyes of players and management, he is a special existence. All this stems from the complicated relationship with KD and the Nets.
Flash forward to July 2019, and Durant chose to join the Brooklyn Nets a few weeks after rupturing his Achilles tendon. What’s remarkable is that he announced the decision on his own on Instagram before free agency officially opened, and stayed out of the spotlight for an entire season while recovering from surgery.
It wasn’t until December 22, 2020, that KD actually made his Nets debut – at the time of the global epidemic, in the almost empty Barclays Center, the only spectators were team staff and a few reporters. There were only about 150 people in the building. It was an amazing feeling, the Hall of Fame superstar making his debut in Brooklyn to sparse applause.
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This strange phenomenon seems to be a harbinger of the future of this team. During KD’s time in Brooklyn, the team’s state has been on the verge of collapse. All three stars were injured at inopportune times and there were three head coaches in three years.
James Harden forcibly joined the Nets, but forcibly left after a year. Kyrie Irving missed dozens of games for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine and was suspended for promoting an anti-Semitic movie. Durant once withdrew after requesting a trade, but when Irving requested a trade and his wish came true, KD was shaken again and joined the Phoenix Suns last February.
All told, the Nets only won one playoff series during a tumultuous period for the franchise. KD played 129 regular season games, but only 68 were played in the home arena. This led to most people not believing that KD really achieved results here.
So when Durant was asked by The Arizona Republic what he thought of Brooklyn’s short video about him, he asked, “What did I do to deserve this?”
If there’s one constant about Durant (aside from his stellar scoring and playmaking), it’s his unique insight and refreshing candor. While it’s true that he didn’t do much to earn everyone’s admiration, that doesn’t mean he considers his performance in Brooklyn to be a failure.
So Durant, after accepting the inevitable pregame film and accompanying applause, put aside his emotions and beat his former team in a 136-120 Suns victory. When it was all over, Durant was asked to look back on his difficult chapter in Brooklyn, and he responded in a very self-style way—a mix of pride, defensiveness, and self-reflection.
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“I get a lot of votes every year and make the All-Stars. A lot of jerseys with my name on them are sold. 180 Club, 30 points per game, All-NBA, MVP. Even though I get these honors, these are called successes. ? You have to know that individual success is completely different from team success. Many people like to tie the team’s performance completely to the players. You like to blame this kind of thing on one of the best players and then say this was a loss. Look at my effort, if you want to talk about me alone, just look at what I’ve done here. I think I’ve grown as a player. I think I’m on my way to mastering the game Go ahead and get better here,” Durant said.
Photo Credit: Getty Images It’s understandable, even reasonable, if Kevin Durant wants people to focus on his personal accomplishments in Brooklyn rather than the Nets’ performance. Thinking again about how his Brooklyn chapter began, with a protective right leg and his career in jeopardy.
Very few NBA players maintain their skills after Achilles tendon surgery, or perform at a dominant level again, even for a long period of time. Durant was almost 31 when it happened, and we all knew the odds were stacked against him, but he still averaged close to 27 points per game in his first season back, and even averaged close to 30 points per game the next season.
When the Nets traded him, he was averaging 29.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. His efficiency remains elite — and consistently within the touted 180-club range. As he noted, he’s been an All-Star every season and will be an All-NBA selection in 2022. Of course, he also missed nearly half the games during his contract, but that was a foreseeable result of Achilles surgery.
So what has Durant accomplished in his brief, strange time in Brooklyn? He recovered, he grew, he evolved. Although he would never say it, maybe he learned a few things about separating personal relationships from work partnerships. If Durant made one major mistake, it was that he initially tied his fate to someone as volatile as Irving.
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During Durant’s time with the Nets, there were a lot of “what ifs?” If Irving had been vaccinated and eligible to play home games, the burden on KD would have been reduced, Harden might not have left, and Kyrie might have gotten the max extension he wanted instead of hanging on with the Nets. Feeling dissatisfied at the decision. They might stay together long enough to accomplish something, rather than just hastily ending the Universe Network era with 16 games together.
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Still, this era wasn’t a complete failure for the team. Before Durant posted the shocking news on Instagram, no star of his caliber would have chosen a Rangers team forever in the shadow of Manhattan.
Durant and Kyrie’s decision together changed perceptions and expectations. Even as the Nets have endured some unimaginably exaggerated events, the players and front office are not the same as they were four years ago, and they are now at a crossroads that will determine the direction of the franchise.
The path to the end remains unclear, nearly a year has passed since the Nets were forced to dismantle one of the league’s top tandems at the trade deadline. They got good long-term returns from Durant and Irving, but the team is still in a dilemma with a lot of talent but no way to decide on the core. They’ve won just six of their last 24 games, a performance that’s not only poor and uninteresting, but also lacks any clear direction.
Do they really intend to rebuild around Mikal Bridges and have the confidence to reject all offers for him? What will they do with the value pick from the Suns? Do they really expect Ben Simmons to break through? How long will they keep top green leaf players like Dorian Finney-Smith and Nic Claxton?
Despite the awkwardness of the situation, there was at least one night where Durant was once again scoring at will in the Nets’ home court — a reminder of what the Nets briefly had, what they lost, and what they might gain.
They played a video, offered well wishes and hugs, then returned to the malaise of another lost season. That weird balance of horror is gone, but time is still running, and we’re still waiting to see how the characters in this story will write their stories.
[Special Editor Lin Changyi/Responsible Editor Xie Yiqian]
Reference for compiling this article:Kevin Durant and the Wake of a Failed Superteam
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2024-02-18 05:56:06
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