Getty Robert Williams III #44 and Jaylen Brown #7 of the Boston Celtics
Chaos. The definition of which is complete disorder and confusion. A perfect description of everything happening around the Brooklyn Nets organization right now and really almost the entire time that Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant have been with the franchise. Brooklyn’s front office kind of handed a majority of control and decisions to their newly acquired stars, and now they are paying the price. After failing to live up to their championship expectations, the Nets duo is in a scenario where both players want out.
Proposed Trade Sees Nets Rebuild on the Fly
On June 30, amid the KD-Kyrie turmoil, Fox Sports’ Shannon Sharpe took to Twitter to share what he believes the Nets and Boston Celtics could do this offseason.
“Best trade for Nets might be Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Horford and 3 1st rders. Thinks Nets would want Robert Williams instead of Horford tho. Don’t see Suns doing any deal that doesn’t include Booker in return,” Sharpe tweeted.
Best trade for Nets might be Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Horford and 3 1st rders. Thinks Nets would want Robert Williams instead of Horford tho. Don’t see Suns doing any deal that doesn’t include Booker in return.
Sharpe doesn’t state who else the Nets would give up in the deal but has it as follows.
Nets Receive: Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Al Horford, and three first round picks. (unless the Nets could convince them to make Robert Williams part of the deal.
Boston Celtics Receive: Kevin Durant (?) and more?
Is this trade a real possibility? Is it just following the Skip and Shannon formula of saying outlandish things for news coverage? Who knows, but it is another deal Nets fans can imagine to get their minds off the current drama.
Nets Front Office ‘Scared’ of Irving and Durant
The Nets front office lost control of the club almost immediately when Kyrie Irving played a major role in getting head coach Kenny Atkinson fired. It was so bad that Matt Sullivan, who spent a year with behind the scenes access to the Nets was quoted saying the team was ‘scared’ of its stars.
“I just remember not being able to talk to the management, talk to the coaches, talk to anyone without them being kind of scared of these guys. Including Kenny Atkinson, who built this whole program up,” Sullivan said in an interview on the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz. “He’s kinda saying, ‘Let’s leave KD, the Maserati, in the case, and let Kyrie be Kyrie.’ But Kyrie goes behind his back and gets him fired. Kenny Atkinson is left wondering if he should fly halfway across the country and have a talk with this guy.”
The fear or inability continued for Brooklyn and culminated with Durant demanding a trade, and reports Irving wants out too after he made a mess ahead of free agency before opting into the final year of his contract.
It’s confusing. Right when it seemed the Nets were ready to run it back and test their big three of Durant, Irving, and Ben Simmons, the rug was pulled out from under us again.