Getty Kevin Durant, formerly of the Golden State Warriors.
Kevin Durant’s decision to drop his trade request and stay with the Brooklyn Nets may trace its roots back to his tenure with the Golden State Warriors, one insider believes.
On August 23, Nets general manager Sean Marks announced that Durant had decided to stay with the team after having previously requested a trade.
“Steve Nash and I, together with Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai, met with Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman in Los Angeles yesterday. We have agreed to move forward with our partnership,” Marks said in a statement released on Twitter. “We are focused on basketball, with one collective goal in mind: build a lasting franchise to bring a championship to Brooklyn.”
While there may have been a number of factors that led to the decision, The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor believes that Durant’s time in Golden State may have been a major one.
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Durant Making His Own Legacy
As O’Connor noted, Durant suffers from what many see as a tainted legacy for his decision to join an already stacked Warriors team in 2016. Staying with the Nets gives Durant the chance to try for a title with a team that is decidedly his own, O’Connor wrote.
“Right or wrong, Durant’s two titles in Golden State are remembered by a large segment of the population as his riding the coattails of a Warriors team led by Steph Curry,” he wrote. Staying with the Nets is Durant’s chance to do things his way with the organization he chose.”
Kevin Durant has removed his trade request after meeting with Joe Tsai, Sean Marks and Steve Nash yesterday.
The Nets are running it back.
Sports Illustrated’s Chris Herring shares the same opinion. On the day after the Nets announced that Durant would be staying, Herring wrote that Durant would still be able to play with a superteam in Brooklyn, but at least it would be one of his own making.
“In a way, joining the Nets could have been seen as the best of both worlds,” he wrote. “In building a contender with Brooklyn, Durant wouldn’t be seen as a mere bandwagon-jumper the way he was by many with Golden State. Even alongside Irving, no one would struggle to ascertain who was most responsible for Brooklyn’s success.”
Durant Has Spoken Out on Tenure With Warriors
Durant himself seems keenly aware of his mixed legacy with Golden State. After the Warriors closed out the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the NBA Finals in June, wrapping up their fourth title in the last eight years and the second without Durant, a fan took to Twitter to claim that Durant’s legacy “just died.”
Durant quoted the tweet, noting that he had been facing criticism since joining the team. He added some congratulations to the Warriors for their title.
“I been dead since July 4th, 2016,” Durant replied, “but congrats to the dubs and my boy Steezy, a Fillmore legend, man been waitin’ his whole life for a parade on Market St.”
@ESPNNBA @stephenasmith Egregious
Durant has pushed back at other assertions that his decision to leave the Warriors would taint his legacy. Back in February, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said on NBA Today that his decision to leave Curry and a good situation with Golden State would be a stain on his career. Durant responded with a one-word reply: “egregious.”
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