Getty Kevin Durant
The Phoenix Suns will face Kevin Durant‘s former team, the Brooklyn Nets, on January 28. This will be the first time Durant has played in Brooklyn since the Nets traded him to the Suns before the NBA Trade Deadline. Before the two teams face off, Durant made on request via his X account.
When Locked on Nets’ Adam Armbrecht stated that it’s likely that the Nets will give Durant a tribute video, Durant himself objected.
“Please don’t, the night will be better without it,” Durant wrote.
@AdamArmbrecht @BillyReinhardt Please don’t, the night will be better without it
The X account “NetsFrequent” mocked Durant in response, saying that Durant “requested more trades than playoff series won during his time (in Brooklyn). Why would we give him a tribute video(?)”
Durant ultimately agreed while responding to “NetsFrequent,” writing, “Seems like me and nets frequent on the same page.”
@NetsFrequent @AdamArmbrecht @BillyReinhardt Seems like me and nets frequent on the same page.
Durant signed with the Nets in 2019, where he missed the entire 2019-20 season while recovering from tearing his Achilles tendon. The Nets went the furthest with Durant the following season, where they went to Game 7 against the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2021 Eastern Conference Semifinals before they were eliminated. The Boston Celtics swept the Nets in the first round the following year.
Durant never played in the playoffs again for the Nets after that.
Kevin Durant Calls Kyrie Irving ‘Most Skilled Ever’
Despite things not working out with the Nets, Durant still views Kyrie Irving very highly. In an exclusive interview with DallasBasketball.com’s Grant Afseth, Durant made a bold claim about Irving.
“I think he’s the most skilled ever to play the game,” Durant told Afseth in a January 25 story. “I think that there’s nothing he can’t do with a basketball. So, it doesn’t matter what setting it is. He could do the same thing regardless if he’s playing Team USA, NBA, NBA Finals, Playoffs, Streetball, or Rec Ball. He can do it. He can play his game anywhere. That’s just a testament to how great he is and how hard he works.”
Durant and Irving teamed up in free agency to play for the Nets in 2019. Despite the talent the two possessed as a duo alone, the Nets only had one playoff series victory to show for it during that time. That was the case despite the Nets adding James Harden in 2021.
Kevin Durant Believes He Should Be Considered Among Greatest
Kevin Durant believes he should be in the discussion for the greatest player of all-time. He revealed that he believes that he is not in that conversation is because of his choosing to join the Golden State Warriors.
“Because I went to the Warriors,” Durant said while talking with The Arizona Republic’s Duane Rankin on January 21. “Why shouldn’t I be in that? That’s the question you should ask. Why not? What haven’t I done?”
Durant leading the Suns to their first title as a franchise could definitely help his legacy there. The fact remains that he joined a team that had won a title and came off a 73-win season before he joined them. His tenure with the Nets did not help his legacy much at all.