Once regarded as the golden boy of the National Basketball Association (NBA), Kevin Durant is now its most hated villain. Despite impressive career stats and accolades like two championships, twelve All-Star selections, and one Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, Durant’s most notable NBA moment is his abandoning the Oklahoma City Thunder and joining the Golden State Warriors after he and the Thunder blew a 3-1 lead to the Warriors in the 2016 Western Conference Finals.
Kevin Durant awarded Finals MVP in 2017 – Scott Amyx, Medium.
As a Warrior, Durant won two championships and received NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (FMVP) honors in both championship runs. However, internet trolls and sports media personalities often mocked and still mock Durant for not being able to win a ring without Warriors’ superstar point guard Steph Curry. To prove the haters wrong, Durant signed with the Brooklyn Nets during the 2019 off-season. Unfortunately, Durant’s antics as a Nets only worsened his villain status.
Durant essentially acted as the Nets’ general managers since his signing, micromanaging all team decisions and signings. Durant and star point guard Kyrie Irving arranged their contracts so that the Nets sign Deandre Jordan. Next, Durant vouched for NBA legend Steve Nash as head coach even though Nash had no prior coaching experience. Durant believed Nash would be a great fit because of their working relationship, so the Nets budged to their superstar’s demands. Most significantly, Durant indirectly advocated for the blockbuster James Harden trade and successfully recruited his former Thunder teammate.
The Durant-Harden-Irving “Big Three” – Scott Rafetry, Sporting News.
Unfortunately for Durant, none of these moves panned out.
The Deandre Jordan signing created unnecessary role conflicts in the Nets’ roster. The Nets already had Jarrett Allen, an up-and-coming center who served the same role as the aging and deteriorating Jordan. To preserve Jordan’s role in the rotation, the Nets traded Allen to the Cavaliers. While Jordan quit the team after two lackluster seasons, Allen blossomed into an All-Star.
Even though Steve Nash is an all-time great point guard, the same compliments cannot be extended to his coaching. Like the Jordan signing, this hire polarized the NBA community as the Nets prioritized Durant’s egotistical demands and replaced the widely-praised Atkinson with an inexperienced Nash. Fortunately for Atkinson, he won a ring with the Golden State Warriors this past season; on the other hand, Coach Nash couldn’t even lead the Nets to a single playoff victory as the Boston Celtics swept the Nets in the first-round of the playoffs.
However, the Nets dug their biggest grave with the Harden trade. In the deal, the Nets relinquished Jarrett Allen and various role players who provided valuable depth to the championship roster. Even though the prospect of two superstars and a star seemed like a secured championship, Harden, Irving, and Durant only played 16 games together. Due to this frustrating lack of cohesiveness, Harden left the Nets after less than two years, denting the Nets’ championship aspirations.
Steve Nash and Kevin Durant – Adam Zagoria, NJ.com.
Clearly, Durant’s nepotistic abuse of power backfired disastrously. However, instead of accepting his wrongs and budging to Nets’ management, Durant requested a trade and posed an ultimatum of either choosing him or Coach Nash and General Manager Sean Marks. Subsequently, this decision welcomed further criticism of his mindset as weak and his personality as selfish.
So, can Kevin Durant redeem himself with the Nets? Absolutely, he does, but these wounds won’t heal easily. Although Durant withdrew his trade request, Durant’s ultimatum certainly ruined his relationship with Coach Nash and disturbed the locker room. Moreover, the Nets’ championship dreams fade as Eastern Conference teams strengthen by the day. Therefore, if Durant seeks forgiveness from the Nets fanbase and respect from the general NBA community, he must claw his way through the drama and win an NBA championship in a Nets jersey.
10/03/2022 at 4:44 PM
You did an excellent job flavoring this post through the use of strong verbs! Anywhere I looked, I saw a variety of them. From “abandoning” to “mocked” and “micromanaging”, they certainly spiced up all aspects of your writing. From a content perspective, I liked how you analyzed KD’s role in the recent drama, and thought you did a good job at summarizing multiple years of events into a single readable post. It certainly is interesting how some players can be so good in some parts of the game, but when they try to involve themselves elsewhere, it can fail in spectacular fashion.