Getty/Harry How Kevin Durant (right), when he was a member of the Golden State Warriors.
Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant has officially requested a trade from the franchise. After a season that began and ended with turmoil, the All-NBA forward has decided to call it quits in Brooklyn. But Despite a 2022 season filled with more low moments than high ones, many people were surprised by Durant’s decision to demand a trade from the Nets. After signing a 4-year $198 million max contract extension last summer, most expected Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden, for that matter, to be in Brooklyn for the long haul.
But contracts have become a figure of speech in the NBA as of late, largely due to the player empowerment movement. Superstars such as Ben Simmons, Anthony Davis, and James Harden have been able to execute trades to force their way to more desirable situations despite being on max deals. But with these forced trades comes a myriad of scrutiny from outsiders.
However, Warriors forward Draymond Green says that Durant and others forcing trades to other teams get viewed negatively, because they are athletes. In any other work-related situation, it would be way less problematic.
“If Kevin Durant says, I actually don’t wanna be here anymore, I wanna go somewhere else, why does it matter? Why does that make you weak? Why does that make him – mean he’s running from something? I don’t understand that,” Green said on his self-named podcast.
“That’s the next step in his career. Again I always go back to saying if someone leaves Google to go to Apple after three or four years and then they leave Apple after two years to go to Tesla, No one is going to say that person ran.”
.@Money23Green on the double standards @KDTrey5 faces
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Green Reveals True Feelings About Durant’s Exit
Durant spent three seasons with the Warriors, and after three consecutive trips to the NBA Finals and winning two Finals MVP awards, most Warriors fans expected Durant to re-sign with the franchise long-term in 2019. But in a surprising turn of events he chose to join the Nets that summer. Green called Durant’s move a ‘slap in the face’ to the franchise.
“There’s always things you want to prove. Ultimately, when Kevin came here, the main person who has to sign off on that was Steph. So, to open your door, to open your arms and accept someone with open arms, and it goes great and it’s short-lived, it’s a slap in the face,” Green said to Vincent Goodwill of “Yahoo Sports”.
“Not necessarily a slap in the face, when someone chooses to do something else. But a slap in the face like, ‘I opened my home to you. I brought you into this. I made you a part of this. I wanted you to be a part of this until we couldn’t do it no more. Then when you wanna do something else.’ No hard feelings, no ill will, want you to do great no matter what. It’s a brotherhood.”
Durant Has Given His All to the Nets
For Durant, his trade request comes amid one of the biggest disappointments of his career. The Nets getting bounced out of the first round of the playoffs was the first time in Durant’s career that he has been swept.
KD has given the Nets just about everything they could ask for from a franchise player. Amid all the drama they have faced, whether it has been with Kyrie Irving’s vaccination status or James Harden’s trade request when he has been healthy, Durant has laced up his shoes and gone to war with Brooklyn’s four best available players.
That alone should be enough to oblige any request the star forward has made of the franchise. And their reluctance to offer his co-star Kyrie Irving a max contract extension has shown a lack of regard for their franchise player. For the sake of Nets fans, Brooklyn’s front office needs to work on reconciliation.
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