During his highly successful career, Kevin Durant has had to deal with the criticism that he hasn’t been a leader or the “bus driver,” as Charles Barkley calls it. When he went to the Brooklyn Nets in 2019 after three seasons with the Golden State Warriors, many believed he would bring a championship to Brooklyn as part of a Big Three combination that included Kyrie Irving and James Harden.
However, after four seasons in New York, Durant left for greener pastures in Phoenix and recently answered questions about why he wanted the trade.
Straight Outta Brooklyn
“In Brooklyn? Yeah, it just wasn’t no consistency, no continuity on who we were as a team,” Durant said to the New York Post. “And when you want to win a championship, you’ve got to build an identity from Day 1, and it was just a lot of circumstances that were out of the players’ control that got in the way of us building our continuity.
“That’s just the business of basketball. That’s just the NBA in general. But we all got better as individual players, and we learned a lot from that experience — everybody from executives to players — and we can go about our NBA experience with more knowledge now.”
Already a two-time NBA champion, Durant spent three and half seasons in Kings County under the shadow of Madison Square Garden, the hope for the Barclays Center, and the frustration of New York sports fans starving for a basketball championship. Still, amid the failed expectations, Durant found a lesson in the opportunity.
“Just how to work with people,” Durant continued. “Just how to play in New York City, how to deal with injuries and lineup changes and coaching changes and all that stuff. You’ve got to keep playing; keep leading.
“It was a class on a lot of different things, these last few years. If you didn’t take anything away from it, that’s just shame on you because it was so many deep lessons in this time here,” he added.
Perfect Storm
From Durant sitting out the season with the Nets with a ruptured Achilles, the team was dealt many other blows, from Kyrie Irving’s stance on the COVID-19 vaccine, which kept him out of the game, and the Barclays Center during the pandemic, to a revolving door of coaches. When Harden was shipped to Philadelphia in February 2022, his replacement, Ben Simmons, saw little time with Durant and Irving before they were traded.
With only sixteen games played with the Big Three of Durant, Irving, and Harden, the inconsistency made Durant seek another opportunity. Nets GM Sean Marks and owner Joe Tsai made the trade when the Suns agreed to include small forward Mikal Bridges, and Durant moved to the desert.
“I did try [to move earlier], they just refused to get rid of me,” Durant said. “I tried, but time ran out. I wasn’t going to miss no games because of this whole thing. So once the season rolled around, I was just like, whatever happens, it happens, and I just get ready for the season. So it worked out perfect timing, the way it’s supposed to.”
Now, with six consecutive wins and another Big Three in teammates Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant is finally seeing the dream realized for another solid run for the championship.
