Kevin Durant is an enigma. He has undeniable basketball skill and remains one of the best players in the league. Furthermore, when his career ends, he is arguably going to be remembered as one of the greatest scorers and players of all time.
However, unfortunately for KD, he has made a string of questionable decisions throughout his NBA tenure that have led to media and fan backlash. The most notable was, of course, his decision to join the Golden State Warriors – a move that was universally hated and resulted in him winning two “free” chips and two Finals MVPs.
The Kevin Durant saga didn’t end there, though. Fast-forward several years later and we now see KD having a disrupted tenure with the Brooklyn Nets. This has culminated in an incredibly interesting offseason, with various stories unfolding. We take a look at how Durant will start the 2022-23 season 0-1 due to these events below!
The Kevin Durant trade saga
We all know that Kevin Durant left the Golden State Warriors to try and win a championship with his own team, and to try and prove that he didn’t need a starting lineup of four All-Stars to do it. This resulted in him joining the Brooklyn Nets.
Things looked promising. However, since being humiliated by the Boston Celtics in the playoffs, it initially appeared that KD wanted out!
Part 1 – Requesting a trade from the Nets
The first part of this never-ending saga saw Durant requesting a trade from the Brooklyn Nets. Sports betting fans could have predicted this a mile off. Indeed, if you are into sports futures betting, Kevin Durant not wanting to play with the two questionable talents of Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons would have been a sure-fire wager. Especially when take advantage of Kansas free bets.
It was clear that KD was unhappy, and he did not see a bright future with past All-Stars who have proved that they are unreliable and may not always be able to support his talents.
After he announced he wanted out, virtually every NBA team, including the Bucks, started frantically scrabbling to see what they could offer to snag the scoring legend. We saw reports from different sources stating that the main teams interested in Durant and with serious offers were initially the Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns.
Phoenix then messed things up and instead decided to offer Deandre Ayton a big payday, which essentially took them out of the running. We then saw a shift to other teams and the main contender was, surprisingly enough, the Boston Celtics.
If this trade had happened, Celtics fans would have been outraged as it would have probably meant them having to give up two of their elite young players – most likely Jaylen Brown and DPOY Marcus Smart. However, as you will see below, this never materialized.
Part 2 – Publicly stating that he wanted the GM and coach fired
After weeks of minor rumors and inaction, things took a bizarre twist. This is something we didn’t expect, but it was rumored that KD had basically told the Nets that in order for him to stay, he wanted them to get rid of GM Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash!
This move was obviously met with immense criticism and people could not understand why Durant chose to do this – it was Irving and Durant who pushed for Steve Nash to be bought in as coach in the first place! Furthermore, Marks has always been supportive of Durant and allowed him to dictate how things went at the Nets.
Part 3 – Staying with the Nets and eating humble pie
This wasn’t the end of the strange Kevin Durant trade saga, however. In the last week, KD has publicly announced that he has ended his trade demands and has agreed to move forward with the Brooklyn Nets. This was the result of a meeting with Steve Nash, Joe Tsai, Clara Wu Tsai and Durant’s agent, Rich Kleiman.
They discussed things and apparently agreed that the main aim was basketball, and that they all wanted to back a long-term contender in the Nets.
What an ending! This now shuts everyone up, closes the trade rumors and allows both the Nets and every interested team to move forward and consider other options.
Why he loses out
So why did this whole saga prove detrimental for Durant? Firstly, the initial trade request was seen as a poor choice – he’d only tried to stick things out with the Nets for two seasons and was already wanting out. After doing so much to get there and bring the squad together in the first place, this was seen as a copout.
Secondly, publicly stating that you want the GM and head coach fired is NEVER a good move. This damaged KD’s reputation for sure. Thirdly, to then backtrack on what you have said and agree to “move forward” is just hilarious.
Many speculate that this isn’t what Durant ideally wanted. Instead, he has backtracked out of necessity because no NBA team wanted to take him on and pay the hefty trade package the Nets were demanding. Therefore, he starts the 2022-23 season 0-1.
To sum things up, KD asked for a trade, no one wanted him, and now he has to humble himself and stay with the franchise he has spent the offseason trying to leave!
