Something has broken between Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets. Rather, between Durant and those charged with leading the team in the offices and on the floor, general manager Sean Marks and coach Steve Nash. More than a month after requesting the transfer, a time in which all the franchises discussed the possibilities of convincing the superstar to join their ranks, something is finally known about the state of the matter. According to Shams Charania, a journalist for The Athletic, Durant held a meeting with Nets owner Joe Tsai, to whom he issued an ultimatum: "either Steve Nash or me."
The Athletic reports that this face to face with the owner of the New York franchise occurred over the past weekend. According to close sources, it was a "transparent and professional" meeting. Transparency is unquestionable on the part of the player, who from the first moment made clear his discomfort with an unsustainable situation. The house of cards made up of Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving quickly fell apart due to a mix of physical issues, clashing egos and conflicts of interest. The team called to tyrannize the NBA was mocked by the Milwaukee Bucks and swept by the Boston Celtics, and Durant is fed up with the plot twists and the incompetence, from his point of view, of the coach.
Steve Nash, curiously, came to the Nets with the approval of the star of the franchise. The 2005 and 2006 MVP accepted his first position as head coach in the NBA in 2020. Before that, he had been part of the Golden State Warriors coaching team for five years, where he had already coincided with Durant in the most glorious era in the history of the Golden State Warriors. from San Francisco.
However, the responsibility of running a project the size of Brooklyn can be too much for a rookie coach. Nash hasn't been able to deal with Harden's ego and found himself dealing with Irving's situation and his refusal to get vaccinated. At no time did he have the calm and stability to build a cohesive team with a coherent game idea. At least he has the support of the owner, as he stated through his Twitter account after the meeting with the forward.
After two seasons of disappointment and failure, Durant told Tsai, according to The Athletic, that he does not trust the direction of the team. That's what pushes the 12-time All-Star and 2014 NBA MVP to want to jump ship, despite team reinforcements this summer. Royce O'Neale and T.J. Warren, Patty Mills and Nic Claxton are back and are awaiting recoveries from Ben Simmons and Joe Harris. Assuming Irving finally reaches the final year of his contract with the franchise, the Nets will continue to start out as title contenders, even without Durant.
However, the situation of the team is not simple. They can choose to follow the instructions of their flagship player and fire Marks and Nash, giving them a chance to keep him and not squander the four-year, $198 million contract extension he signed last season. The other option is to find a team powerful enough to take on an operation of historic caliber. The Boston Celtics, willing to give Jaylen Brown, are still in the lead. Also Miami Heat or Toronto Raptors are, according to Shams Charania, possible destinations. Durant remains firm in his decision to change the direction of the project or, failing that, abandon it. Two months before the start of the regular season, the NBA is still in suspense.
