Getty Brooklyn's Kevin Durant dunks against Golden State's Kelly Oubre Jr. during their game at Barclays Center on December 22, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
Among Kevin Durant’s many successes — the MVP award, the All-Star Game appearances, the gold medals — his efforts as a recruiter don’t necessarily rank toward the top.
But they’ve been important nonetheless.
They were big for Team USA in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics, when Durant helped lobby for certain players as the squad was filling out its roster.
And they were no doubt helpful in luring big-name free agents like Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge to Brooklyn last season.
As it turns out, Durant supported the idea of the Nets adding another marquee free agent this offseason: former Golden State Warriors standout Kelly Oubre.
Durant was among the members of the Nets organization who supported and had interest in the idea of adding Oubre, according to a report on Friday from SNY’s Ian Begley.
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Nets Didn’t Have Much of a Shot in Oubre Sweepstakes
Oubre wound up signing with the Hornets on a two-year, $25 million deal. With a top-heavy roster that is loaded with stars and big contracts, the Nets simply couldn’t match that type of deal in their pursuit of Oubre.
The Los Angeles Lakers, Los Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks, Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks also were among the teams that conveyed offers to the 25-year-old Oubre during free agency, per Begley, who cited Oubre’s agent, Torrel Harris of Unique Sports Management.
Oubre, the No. 15 overall pick in 2015 and a small forward, averaged 15.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.6 3-pointers, 1.0 steals and 0.8 blocks in 30.7 minutes over the span of 55 games (50 starts) for Golden State last season. Adding that level of production to an already stellar roster in Brooklyn would have further improved their odds of making a championship run.
Alas, Durant didn’t get his wish this time.
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Nets Value Durant’s Input
No, Durant is not in charge of roster construction in Brooklyn. That’s general manager Sean Marks’ job.
But as arguably the best player in the world, Durant’s thoughts on such matters hold significant weight. The opinions of fellow Nets superstars Kyrie Irving and James Harden also matter. Marks explained as much during a media session on Wednesday.
“Those three are incredibly talented without a doubt,” Marks said, per NBA.com. “We’re very fortunate to have those guys on the roster and also participating in — and we talk about this a lot — participating in the roster build. There’s no surprises for them. They knew what we were doing as we go through the first three, four, five days of free agency. And it’s not just those guys. We involve a lot of the players in these decisions because with their up-close and personal playing against these guys, who am I to tell them who can’t play and who’s better? I’ve gotta take their opinions and I enjoy those conversations, honest conversations. We don’t always agree, but at the same time, I think it’s great to have those conversations.”
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