Getty Kevin Durant #7 of the Brooklyn Nets.
Superstar forward Kevin Durant and ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins have a history together from their time as teammates on the Oklahoma City Thunder. On February 9, Durant had some harsh words for Perkins after he accused him and former Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving of making “all the decisions” for the Nets since their arrival in 2019.
“Player Empowerment? KD and Kyrie made all the decisions over there,” Perkins wrote on February 9 (H/T @NBACentral).
Durant didn’t mince words in his NSFW response.
“N***** like Perk make a living lying. Have some honor homie,” he fired back.
KD fires back at Kendrick Perkins:
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Kevin Durant Traded to Phoenix Suns
In the middle of the night, the Nets shook up the NBA landscape and traded Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns for a haul that included Cam Johnson, Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder, and four first round picks.
ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, who was the first to report the news noted that the Suns were initially eyeing a deadline deal for Atlanta Hawks forward John Collins, but after a late-night call to the Nets, the two sides had agreed on a deal that has shifted the balance of power in the Western Conference.
“Talks had progressed and stalled, and the Suns appeared to be pivoting toward a three-way deal that might’ve landed them Atlanta’s John Collins sometime Thursday morning, sources said. On the direction of his new owner, Mat Ishbia, general manager James Jones texted Nets GM Sean Marks sometime after 11 p.m. ET — and it wouldn’t be long until Ishbia and Nets owner Joe Tsai had cobbled together the final elements of the blockbuster trade,” Wojnarowski writes.
“The deal delivers Durant to the desert to partner with Devin Booker, Chris Paul, and Deandre Ayton — and ends the great superstar experiment in Brooklyn. Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden all arrived to conquer the NBA together, and they all left on the muscle of trade requests. They played a total of 16 games together.”
Steve Nash, Players ‘Didn’t Connect’ During Nets Tenure
If you told a Nets fan two months ago that both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving would be traded before Ben Simmons at the deadline they would have probably bet everything they owned you were wrong. Especially after the firing of head coach Steve Nash.
After head coach Jacque Vaughn took over the Nets went on a 12-game win streak and were threatening to overtake the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Under his leadership, there was a culture change and the Nets were a well-oiled machine. NBA insider Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson on Bally Sports said that Nash was a big reason behind the friction in Brooklyn’s locker room.
“Now as it relates to Ben Simmons, he came to Brooklyn because Harden wanted out and I’d be remiss if I didn’t again include why one of the main reasons why Harden asked out of Brooklyn was because of the relationship with Steve Nash — a lot of guys on that team; not just Harden and just Ky. A lot of guys did not connect with Steve Nash,” Robinson said on the Under the Hood podcast.
“I spoke to somebody who was a Net for the last couple of years (I won’t name names) but I said to them, ‘Yo. They miss you in Brooklyn.’ and that particular former player said to me, “Well I don’t miss them! S–t, I’m living my best life where I am!”
The Nets era was filled with more turmoil than success. After putting together an All-Star front of James Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Durant, arguably one of the greatest collections of talent on one roster, they played less than 20 games together and won just one playoff series.