Getty Kevin Durant #35 of the Phoenix Suns.
No love is lost between former Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant, now of the Phoenix Suns, and Nets Twitter.
The outspoken Durant made that clear with his charge that Nets fans on the social media app have a habit of “making s*** up” about how things happened during his time with the organization.
This time, he responded to an assertion that he cost Brooklyn Bruce Brown.
“At some point, Nets Twitter has to stop making s–t up,” Durant tweeted on June 9, per Larry Brown Sports. “I know, I know, I’m soft for this tweet. I’ll delete soon.”
The tweet has indeed since been deleted.
Brown, 26, has said that general manager Sean Marks and the front office wanted him to stay with the team, offering a vague (at best) reference to some other force influencing no offer coming his way. He landed with the Denver Nuggets last offseason and has helped the team get one game away from the franchise’s first NBA title.
“Front office-wise, they’re great, they’re amazing,” Brown said on the ‘Dan Le Batard Show with Stugots on May 25. “I love Sean Marks, [Jeff Peterson]. But I think, locker-room-wise, it was cool, but we didn’t do much together off the court. But when James [Harden] was there, obviously it was more fun.”
Brown has one year left on his two-year, $13.2 million contract but can opt out this summer and figures to do so after his breakout regular season and performance this postseason, the latter continuing a trend he started with Brooklyn during the 2022 postseason.
The former Miami Hurricane averaged a career-best 11.5 points with 4.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.1 steals during the regular season and 12.1 points in the postseason adding 3.9 boards.
He is also still dishing out 1.9 assists operating off of stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
Kevin Durant’s Role in Nets Dysfunction
For the second year in a row, the Nets were swept out of the playoffs in the first round after coming into the season with championship aspirations. At one point, they rattled off 12 straight wins and looked like the team to beat in the Eastern Conference before Durant reinstated his trade demand following that of his friend and former teammate, Kyrie Irving.
Irving went to the Dallas Mavericks while Durant was subsequently sent to Phoenix and the Nets were left trying to piece together a feasible rotation of role players. Blame for the downfall has gone to everyone from Durant and Irving to Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden.
Brown noted Harden’s departure sapped some of the good energy out of the locker room while Harden has made no secret about why he wanted out.
It starts at the top.
“There was no structure and even superstars, they need structure. That’s what allows us to be the best players and leaders for our respective organizations,” Harden told Yaron Weitzman of Fox Sports in an interview released in March. “I just feel like…internally, things weren’t what I expected when I was trying to get traded there. I think everybody knows that.”
Harden pointed to Durant’s request as proof that he wasn’t in the wrong to push for his exit as he did. Durant has romanticized the trio’s – with Irving serving as the third component – short-lived run of just 17 games.
Irving has said his goal was always to win a championship in Brooklyn adding there is “no f****** doubt” the Nets would have won the title in 2021 had he not gotten injured.
Nets Ownership Says NBA Players are ‘Difficult’ to Manage
Nets governor Joe Tsai has been honest about his feelings on dealing with NBA players in the wake of a tumultuous season, comparing managing an NBA roster to working with actors on the set of a Hollywood production.
“And actors and actresses are human beings. They’re very, very difficult to manage,” Tsai said at the ‘BEYOND Expo 2023′ on YouTube on May 10. “Believe me, I manage a basketball team and the players are very difficult to manage. If you’re in Hollywood, it’s very, very difficult to manage people.”
Tsai has not always been in the good graces of fans but this may be one topic both sides can agree on.
