Getty Brooklyn's Kevin Durant talks with Kyrie Irving during the first half of a game against the Phoenix Suns at Barclays Center on April 25, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
The Brooklyn Nets will be looking to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Semifinals when they take on the Milwaukee Bucks for Game 3 at the Fiserv Forum. The Nets have looked exactly like the team that everyone expected them to be after they made the blockbuster trade for 9-time All-Star James Harden in January.
For as much noise that the Nets have made on the court this season, they have made an equal amount of noise off the court. Most recently Nets’ star Kevin Durant got into a public spat with ESPN analyst Jay Williams over a story Williams told about a time where KD demanded that the analyst stop comparing him to Bucks’ star Giannis Antetokounmpo. Durant insists that the story is made up. Both Durant and his co-star Kyrie Irving have been a target of the media this year for several reasons. One former number one pick sounded off about the media’s unwavering scrutiny of the two Nets’ stars.
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Kwame Brown Sounds off on Media Scrutiny of KD & Kyrie
Former NBA number one overall draft pick Kwame Brown knows all about being under the microscope. After being drafted number one overall straight out of high school by the Washington Wizards in 2001, all the pressure was on Brown to perform. After averaging just 6.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 0.9 assists per game for his career, Brown in a sense has become the poster boy for basketball mediocracy within NBA media circles. The former top pick had some interesting comments on why he thinks Irving and Durant have begun to get picked on within the media.
“I don’t what you boys did, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, I don’t know what party you turned down, I don’t know who you done talked about, but they are talking about you every day,” Brown said of the media’s relationship with Irving and Durant per his YouTube channel. “Is that gonna be the last story of the month. I’ve heard about dates and more about s*** they said instead of how many baskets they hit. We don’t want you m************ to gossip, we want you guys to talk about what these great men do on the court.”
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Brown Talks About His Relationship With Michael Jordan
Brown was famously drafted straight out of high school by Michael Jordan when he was with the Washington Wizards front office. Brown never really succeeded in Washington, and he barely played. The former Wizard recently sounded off on why the relationship between him and MJ never really worked out.
“MJ was a 39-year-old man. I’m not saying this to bash him, but MJ is from an era where young guys didn’t play,” Brown said per Yardbarker. “Young guys had to prove themselves and earn the right to play. I was drafted in order to be traded for Elton Brand (so he could) come to the Wizards so MJ could get into the playoffs and compete for a championship.”
As the Nets continue to improve as a team on the court, the scrutiny of the media will only become greater. That is the price of being a star in New York, and as long as Irving and Durant are on the Nets, they will have to deal with it.
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