It was Kevin Durant’s trade request that officially ended the Nets’ most recent window of contention.
Now that they’ve finally started a rebuild two years later, Durant has watched from afar and said he can see it heading in the right direction.
Durant brought his Suns to Barclays Center on Wednesday, where he’d combined with Kyrie Irving and James Harden to form one of the most potent Big 3’s in NBA history.
But they spectacularly flamed out, winning just a single playoff series in the parts of four seasons Durant and Irving were together.
“You see so many fans who still remember those times and appreciate it — even though we went through a lot of dysfunction, I guess you could call it, for lack of a better term. But regardless of that, a lot of people still supported and still came out, cheered loud as hell for the game of basketball and for the Nets,” Durant said. “It was here in this borough of Brooklyn, the little brother. It was always fun being a little brother and representing the little brother in the city.”
Durant famously spurned the big brother, rejected the Knicks to come to Brooklyn as a package deal with Irving in 2019.
They recruited Harden to form a Big 3 that lost to eventual champ Milwaukee in the 2021 Eastern Conference semifinals when both Harden and Irving got hurt.
Irving missed two-thirds of the next season for refusing to adhere to the city’s COVID vaccine mandates, and Harden demanded a move at the trade deadline.
After Irving did the same at the next year’s deadline, Durant finally asked out.
The Big 3 was over after just 16 appearances together, undone by a host of factors.
“Injuries, COVID, us just not getting on the court,” Durant said. “Those two were the biggest factors. People would say our attitudes, three guys’ personalities didn’t mesh well. [There were] a lot of narratives going around about each individual player — me, James and Kyrie — about our mentality as men. But once we got on the court and once we actually played together, once you saw the culture we were building, it was something the fans could get behind.
“That first year when James got here halfway through the season was some of the most incredible basketball that I’ve seen, I played in. But more so than anything — in the locker room, the bus rides, the plane rides, the hotels — that was the culture we were building. A lot of people didn’t get to see it, but I wish they could have. It was special.
“The main thing was that we just didn’t get on the court together and a lot of injuries — injuries to me, James and Kyrie played a factor. Along with COVID, that whole thing just [caused] a lot of s–t.”
Durant came into Barclays averaging a stellar 27.3 points, but he’s 36 and his Suns were just .500 (21-21).
Brooklyn was 14-30, but tops the NBA in both salary cap space this summer (an estimated $65 million) and future first-round picks (15, four of them this June).
Most of that draft haul is either directly or indirectly from the Durant trade — eight unprotected firsts, another lightly protected first and a swap.
“Definitely, I want to see this franchise do well,” Durant said of the Nets. “What is it, 12 or 13 picks that they’ve got? Assets, that’s the most important thing with a rebuilding group is the assets. The product on the floor, it might be inconsistent some games. They beat us early in the season and looked great, and then you lose to the Clippers by 40 or 50, and that might not look great.
“But when you look at the big picture, you’ve got young guys that are getting experience and playing time. You’re building assets and getting future picks. And hopefully you can draft well, put the team together well. So I think they’re walking in the right direction. I think the fans definitely want to see some great basketball on the floor, and I think it’s coming for this team.”
