Getty Kevin Durant #7 of the Brooklyn Nets
Kevin Durant met with Brooklyn Nets governor Joe Tsai over the weekend in London, and in the meeting, the superstar forward ‘reiterated’ his preference to be dealt from the franchise. He did, however, give Tsai an ultimatum that for him to stay, it would require the team to move on from general manager Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash. The news of Durant’s hopes to be dealt was first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic.
“In a meeting with Nets owner Joe Tsai, Kevin Durant reiterated his trade request and informed Tsai that Tsai needs to choose between Durant or the pairing of general manager Sean Marks and coach Steve Nash, sources say,” Charania shared in a tweet.
Kevin Durant Claps Back at Backlash
Before the news that Durant was still wanting to be traded from the Nets fans were already calling the Superstar out for looking to take the easy way out.
“Car wouldn’t start this morning, get to work late and our internet is down. Lol. I love this sh*t. Unlike @KDTrey5 I actually enjoy taking the hardest road… it’s basically just problem solving practice.” the fan shared.
Back in the day, humble brags were a big thing on Twitter, and it became a trend to call people out for them. The tweet to Durant from this fan was an odd brag about nothing good, but it was the chance to take a shot at KD following his trade request.
Durant had a pointed reply for the fan tweeting, “U enjoy having a sh*tty car and getting to work and not being able to connect to the internet?”
Kevin Durant has been criticized for taking the easy way out or being a “cupcake” since leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors in 2016. After looking for a reason out of Brooklyn, those criticisms have returned.
Is Durant the Person to be Upset With?
With the Durant and Kyrie Irving era and the criticism that Durant is getting, there is a bigger picture to consider. Durant came to Brooklyn because he wanted to play with Kyrie Irving. Soon after getting to Brooklyn, Irving forced Kenny Atkinson out as the Nets coach, and Steve Nash ultimately was hired and now is one of the individuals Durant wants out of Brooklyn.
Durant’s frustration with the Nets escalated when he saw how the Nets handled the Kyrie Irving contract negotiations, according to one NBA insider. On the Ringer NBA’s podcast ‘The Mismatch,’ Logan Murdock shared what sources told him led to Durant’s trade request.
“I made some calls. Kevin Durant has not talked to the team in weeks. I don’t think Kevin is confident in the front office right now. I don’t know if he’s at the stage of leaving, but there’s a big uneasiness from not only from the Kyrie side but the KD side as well…
“His biggest beef is that he feels that the front office didn’t grow to understand Kyrie, whatever that means. I would push back on that when a guy leaves for two weeks at a time … Kyrie earns the lion’s share of the blame. But I think KD believes that ‘hey, you guys didn’t understand this guy. You didn’t try to figure out where he was coming from.’
“The Nets got rid of Adam Harrington, whose very close to Kevin. He’s one of Kevin’s guys. And that had a big ripple effect on how Kevin feels about this right now. He’s still in this figure-it-out mode, but there is some fire to that smoke that he’s kind of reevaluating where he stands with this.”
All of this and where the Nets are at and the mess they are in starts with Kyrie Irving and the Nets’ unwillingness to bring him back long-term. Should fans be upset with Durant, maybe? Should anger be pointed at the front office? That’s fair. What about Kyrie Irving? That’s a place where some anger can definitely lie.