Kevin Durant has opened up on his trade request saga with the Brooklyn Nets after their blowout 32-point defeat to the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday.
It has been an extremely dramatic couple of months for the Brooklyn Nets. It all started when Kevin Durant handed in a trade request to owner Joe Tsai, exasperated about the lack of support soon after the Nets traded James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers. However, the Nets were eventually able to keep Durant after an agreement was reached to help him stay for the season. It would be fair to say that has not really worked out for the Nets.
Even though Kevin Durant has been in great form as an individual, the Nets have barely clicked as a team – and the controversy off the court has not helped. Courtesy of Kyrie Irving’s anti-Semitism controversy and the sacking of coach Steve Nash, Durant finds himself wholly responsible for the Nets’ fortunes. That has not helped Durant completely as he finds himself unable to drag the Nets to different heights.
It was proved when despite Durant’s 27-point heroics, the Nets succumbed to a 153-121 blowout defeat at the hands of the Sacramento Kings – and Durant finally chose to speak about his trade request at the beginning of the season in an explosive interview with Bleacher Report.
Durant revisited the off-season as he spoke out his reasons for handing in a trade request.
“It wasn’t difficult at all to request a trade because it was about ball. I went to them and was like, ‘Yo, I don’t like how we are preparing. I don’t like shootarounds. I like practices. I need more. I want to work on more s**t. Hold me accountable. Get on my ass in film if that’s going to help you get on everybody else’s head. I want to do more closeouts. I want to work on more shell drills at practice.”
“This was the type of s**t I was coming at them with. It wasn’t like, ‘Yo, y’all need to make sure everybody around me can make my life easier.’ Hell nah, I want to make everybody else’s life easier. Ask Steve Nash, you can go call him right now. I would say, ‘Yo, I need more closeout drills. We need to practice more.’ That’s what I was on.”
Durant went on to say that even despite the lack of wins and the controversies, Durant is enjoying a season where he is averaging 30.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game.
More News:
• “He’s a top-two, top-three player” – Kevin Durant has high praise for LA Lakers star LeBron James
• (Watch) Russell Westbrook gets one over on Kevin Durant with incredible block