Getty Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant
The Brooklyn Nets got Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant in NBA free agency this summer.
Many thought Durant and Irving would join the Nets.
Knicks guard, Kevin Knox was vocal about Durant and Irving.
Knicks’ Kevin Knox & RJ Barrett dont care about the Brooklyn Nets & getting Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant has added fuel to the fire.
“Of course the Nets got two good superstars this summer,” he told me Monday night while on a panel discussing Puma’s Clyde Hardwood Sneaker alongside Knicks legend Walt Clyde Frazier and Knicks teammate, RJ Barrett.
“But it just fuels the fire for us.”
Many thought Durant joining the New York Knicks was a done deal.
He was surely the team’s primary target in free agency and it was believed that he and Irving were a packaged deal.
Durant had many ties to the organization. His business partner, Rich Kleiman, the co-founder and partner in Durant’s The Durant Company and Thirty Five Media, grew up a huge Knicks fan.
Durant also mentored Knicks forward, a Seattle, Washington native, when Triier was in high school and Durant was a member of the Seattle Sonics before they moved to Oklahoma and became the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Knicks assistant coach, Royal Ivey and Durant are best friends. A Harlem native, the two were Texas Longhorns teammates in college and were Oklahoma City Thunder teammates for three years in the NBA.
KD is also the godfather of Ivey’s daughter, Lyric Ella.
Durant and DeAndre Jordan are also close friends. They won Olympic gold medals. Now the two are also members of the Brooklyn Nets.
During the summer, Vegas favored the Brooklyn Nets as the favorite to nab both Durant and Irving.
Kyrie Irving’s Nets, NY Ties Could Affect Free Agency Decision – t.co/iAQYCqLHi5
“Maybe his heart is out of Golden State,” NBA writer, Steve Kyler told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast a bit before June and July’s NBA summer free agency frenzy.
Kyler broke down the psyche of Durant: “I want to be out of Golden State, I want to be in New York,” he said.
“I’m not sold that this makes a lot of sense for the New York Knicks, but I also don’t believe they’ll get Kyrie Irving which is kind of a part of that deal as well. They certainly didn’t get Anthony Davis.”
NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal tells me he likes what the Nets are doing. “Jay-Z gave them a little steam when he said he was the owner,” Shaq told Scoop B Radio.
“He’s going to be there with KD so they should make a lot of noise. Only unfortunate part for the first time in New York history the Knicks aren’t the important team. That’s kind of funny to me.”