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Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets are operating it again.
In a statement released Tuesday, Nets basic supervisor Sean Marks mentioned the previous MVP and two-time NBA champion will stay with the franchise after initially requesting a commerce on June 30. (Durant’s four-year, $198 million extension kicks on this season.)
“[Coach] Steve Nash and I, along with [governors] Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai, met with Kevin Durant and Wealthy Kleiman in Los Angeles yesterday,” Marks mentioned. “We’ve agreed to maneuver ahead with our partnership. We’re specializing in basketball, with one collective aim in thoughts: construct an enduring franchise to deliver a championship to Brooklyn.”
The place does the information depart Durant, Kyrie Irving, Brooklyn and the Jap Convention? Are the Nets the brand new favorites over East juggernauts such because the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks?
And what lies forward for KD, Kyrie and Brooklyn past the 2022-23 season?
Our NBA Insiders are breaking down each angle of yet one more twist within the Durant-Nets summer time saga.
MORE: How KD’s latest decision impacts NBA Power Rankings
Table of Contents
1. What’s your greatest takeaway from KD deciding to remain in Brooklyn?
Tim Bontemps: It is a recognition of the fact of the state of affairs. Durant is beneath contract for 4 extra years. Nobody is coming near giving Brooklyn what it desires. The 2 selections Durant had had been to both play or attempt to maintain out. That is the one logical possibility for each side.
Jamal Collier: Effectively, that was a enjoyable waste of time. Although this final result has felt inevitable for some time, I am nonetheless skeptical in regards to the longevity of this partnership. Everybody could also be on the identical web page for now, however I do not suppose we’re heading towards a redemption story like Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in 2007.
Nick Friedell: The drama by no means stops with the Nets — they put Durant’s Boardroom brand on the information launch! The large query I’ve after seeing the assertion is: How lengthy will this final? That was a depressing staff to be round at instances final season, and now they’re going to be capable to rebuild their tradition as coaching camp nears? That may be a stretch.
Andrew Lopez: The market did not form up the best way anybody wished. Initially, it appeared Brooklyn may get a haul for one of many NBA’s all-time greats. As a substitute, groups weren’t even prepared to place their second-best belongings on the desk to land KD.
Bobby Marks: This isn’t stunning. The Nets had been ready for an ideal commerce package deal that by no means got here. The lingering query was whether or not Durant was going to carry out throughout coaching camp and turn out to be a distraction. That was put to mattress when each side properly ended any commerce hypothesis.
2. Fill within the clean: The largest loser within the Durant saga is _____?
Collier: Durant. We so not often see anybody strolling again a public commerce request like that. For these previous few years, throughout which one of many recreation’s nice gamers has been on the prime of his recreation, it might be good to see him compete for championships as an alternative of being mired in dysfunction. This “final result” feels prefer it’s solely organising extra drama.
Bontemps: Durant. I am positive he did not anticipate the Nets not getting the sort of presents essential to get a deal carried out. However they did not, his picture has taken successful and he did not get what he wished. The Nets, in contrast, are huge winners for merely nonetheless having him on the staff.
Marks: The Jap Convention champions. The Celtics had been having a comparatively uneventful offseason once they had been linked to Durant on the finish of July. Now, Boston has some harm management to do with Jaylen Brown.
Lopez: Jaylen Brown, Mikal Bridges and Pascal Siakam, amongst others. Various gamers heard their names dangled in commerce talks and now everybody has to behave like all the things was superb from the start. In fact, groups will act as if these gamers had been by no means truly obtainable, however having to listen to your title floated round for weeks may take a toll.
Friedell: The NBA offseason. The Nets gave an enormous jolt to a usually quiet time within the sports activities calendar. The cleaning soap opera that often surrounds this staff carried two months’ price of programming across the league. The media will miss all of the rumors and rumblings — all of which in the end led to no motion in any respect.
3. The place do the Nets rank within the East heading into this season?
Lopez: Even with a part-time Kyrie Irving, Durant enjoying 55 video games, James Harden getting dealt from Brooklyn and Ben Simmons not suiting up in any respect, the Nets nonetheless received 44 video games final season and reached the primary spherical of the playoffs. A wholesome mixture of Irving, Durant and Simmons ought to be price just a few extra wins, actually sufficient to problem for home-court benefit within the playoffs.
Friedell: Assuming well being for his or her key gamers — and most significantly, a drama-free run within the common season, I believe the Nets sit in third proper now. I do not imagine they’re higher than the Bucks and Celtics — and I’ve critical questions as to how lengthy this may final earlier than the following inside blowup — however with Durant, Irving and Simmons, they’ve a core in place that has the power to get higher collectively over time.
Bontemps: Both third or fourth, behind Milwaukee and Boston and on par with Philadelphia. Might the Nets win the East? It is not unattainable. However there are too many inquiries to put them above the 2 rock-solid contenders on the prime of the convention.
Collier: I am nonetheless placing Brooklyn a tier beneath the 4 convention semifinalists — Boston, Milwaukee, Miami and Philly — as a result of I do not imagine the Nets could have a traditional 12 months with KD, Kyrie and Ben Simmons on the ground. In the event that they do, they’re contenders.
Marks: On paper, the Nets ought to be within the prime three within the East. Nevertheless, paper doesn’t imply something on the subject of regular-season video games, and Brooklyn ought to be on the surface of the highest 4. The Nets are an excessive amount of of a wild card with Durant, Ben Simmons and soon-to-be free agent Kyrie Irving to belief them as convention favorites.
4. Truth or fiction: KD will spend all 4 years of his remaining contract as a Web
Lopez: Truth. It feels just like the Kobe Bryant state of affairs in Los Angeles in 2007. The commerce request is finally rescinded, and everybody tries to maneuver on. If change does come to Brooklyn, it looks like it comes elsewhere on the roster (or the teaching employees) earlier than Durant does get moved.
Bontemps: I will say truth, however who is aware of how this may play out. Given all of the drama in Brooklyn over the previous few weeks — and years — it’s silly to make any agency calls both means on how this may play out between now and 2026, when Durant’s contract will expire.
Marks: Fiction. What occurs if adversity strikes this season and Brooklyn struggles? Will we even know if Durant shall be in a Nets uniform come subsequent offseason?
Friedell: Fiction. How may anybody imagine after what has occurred that KD shall be there for 4 extra years? The larger query within the quick time period is whether or not he shall be there the entire 2022-23 season, or will one thing else happen that may change his thoughts once more?
Collier: Fiction. I would not even take that wager confidently should you’ve mentioned for 4 months.
5. Truth or fiction: Kyrie Irving shall be with the Nets after the 2023 commerce deadline.
Marks: Truth. Except issues actually implode, Irving shall be with Brooklyn in mid-February. The large query is whether or not the Nets reward Irving with a four-year, $209 million extension earlier than the season ends.
Bontemps: Truth. With Durant on the roster, Irving is not going wherever this season. There was loads of noise about Irving’s standing again in June — bear in mind when the “will he or will not he” was nearly Kyrie? — however now he and Durant, in idea, are locked in for this season.
Collier: Fiction. As soon as one goes, I imagine the opposite will comply with. I am not within the enterprise of ever predicting the place Kyrie shall be at any given time.
Lopez: Fiction: Due to Brooklyn’s lack of draft picks, it may wheel and cope with gamers to attempt to enhance the roster. If Irving has his eyes set on leaving Brooklyn, does not it make some sense to get one thing for him to enhance the present state of affairs?
Friedell: Who is aware of? Making an attempt to chart Irving’s skilled course at this level is a idiot’s errand. If I needed to wager at this time, I’d guess “truth” solely due to the Durant information, however all the things can change right away.
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