Durant, Irving, Nash and Nets open up on summer of drama, ready to put past behind them

NEW YORK — How best to sum up a contract battle, a failed sign-and-trade, a franchise player’s trade request and ensuing ultimatum that the team clean house by firing the coach and GM?

In Kyrie Irving’s words: “It was a cluster—-.”

On Monday, the Nets held their media day, with general manager Sean Marks, coach Steve Nash and their star players all breaking their silence for the first time since May. The day had the potential to get wild but instead went on in a civil manner. Emotions stayed in check. Nothing was denied, and the organization turned the page on Durant’s trade request, Irving’s contract negotiations, Durant’s ultimatum that Nash and Marks be fired and Durant’s decision to return.

Irving’s answer was spot-on. In May, Marks talked about resetting the culture after a tumultuous year. Instead, it went up in flames. When the smoke cleared, everyone remained in their previous role, giving Brooklyn one of the deepest rosters in the NBA.

“Families go through things like this,” Nash said. “Go through adversity, go through disagreements. This is not new to the NBA. It has happened dozens of times; I’m sure every organization has faced that. So, you know, it’s a part of the process. It’s a part of working in this business. It’s super competitive. We’re all prideful. We all have expectations, and when we get dinged up like we did last year, you know, everyone’s disappointed. … We cleared the air and we spoke and we got on the same page.”

“Hearing Kev’s trade request, I opt in…it’s awkward. It’s very awkward.”

Kyrie Irving says his decision to come back to the Nets was “the best one for me” pic.twitter.com/LJHjIHIQBP

— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) September 26, 2022

Durant tipped off media day and walked reporters through the reasoning behind his trade request. He committed a year ago to a four-year contract extension, expecting Irving and James Harden to sign their own shortly after. That didn’t happen. Instead, what followed were vaccine mandates, heavier workloads for the rest of the roster, a team-wide COVID outbreak, the NBA’s first part-time player in 60 years, Harden’s departure in a blockbuster trade for Ben Simmons and a first-round sweep. Simmons’ back surgery in May started the offseason on a sour note. Durant’s and Irving’s issues followed.

“As the season went on, you see what happened with our season, guys in and out of the lineup, injuries, just a lot of uncertainty, which built some doubt in my mind about the next four years in my career,” Durant said. “I mean, I’m getting older, and I want to be in a place that’s stable and trying to build a championship culture. So I had some doubts about that. I voiced them to (Nets governor) Joe (Tsai), and we moved forward from there.

“But in my mind, I did like what we did, what Sean put together this summer with the team. I knew that with all the adversity that we hit, and a lot of failures that we hit as a team last year, guys are gonna be working to get better and be better and try to not make that a trend. So, you know, in the back of my mind, it was still there. And I had conversations with Steve, Joe, Clara (Tsai) and Sean. And we came to a mutual agreement that we should keep moving forward.”

Durant, who will turn 34 on Thursday, said his decision to request a trade wasn’t instinctual. He had talks with Marks and Nash throughout last season on the state of the team, the culture and the results. Among his complaints was Brooklyn’s 10-game losing streak in January and February that took place when he was nursing a knee injury. That left a part-time Irving and a discontented Harden carrying the load. By the time Durant was back, Harden was in Philadelphia with the 76ers. In the spring, Durant blamed his injury, which cost him 21 games, on changing the course of the Nets’ season.

But Monday, he shared that the way Brooklyn looked without him sowed doubt in his belief in the organization. According to Durant, good teams, such as the Warriors and Mavericks, find ways to win when their stars are hurt. He indicated too much of Brooklyn’s success hindered on his health.

“I’m like, we shouldn’t be losing some of these games that we lost, regardless of who’s on the floor,” Durant said. “So I was more so worried about how we’re approaching every day as a basketball team. And I felt like we could have fought through a lot of stuff that I felt held us back. Championship teams do that … I felt like we had enough talent to do that.

“And that’s what was the most about in my mind is that when adversity hit can we keep pushing through. I’ve been on championship teams, I’ve been on teams, I’ve been right on (the brink) of winning a championship, and they did those things. So I wanted to be a part of a group that did that. Winning and losing, I could take all that … so it’s not more so about just a result. It’s how we get to that point. And I wasn’t feeling how we were getting to that point.”

Not on the list of Durant’s grievances, at least publicly, was Irving’s contract situation. After failing to get a long-term contract from Brooklyn, the 6-foot-2 point guard opted into his $36.5 million player option for this season. Durant said he stayed out of Irving’s negotiations. “I’m not the liaison between Kyrie and the organization,” he said.

Durant was more worried about the Nets’ habits, which he felt were “getting swept under the rug because we’re injured or these guys aren’t around.” It’s not the first time Durant has been concerned about Brooklyn’s habits either. In the March 2020 team meeting that came the week of Kenny Atkinson’s departure, Durant said the Nets weren’t building championship habits in his eyes. Two years later, Durant’s comments indicate he’s yet to change his mind.

Irving, who counts Durant as his best friend, said he “honored” and “understood” Durant’s trade request and wanted what was best for Durant. Yet, Irving, who is comfortable with being uncomfortable, admitted the situation got awkward in his eyes and added “there was a level of uncertainty in this building” when Durant made his ask. Irving said he stayed out of the dispute, declining to re-recruit Durant and change his mind, just like Irving persuaded Durant to join him in Brooklyn in 2019.

Durant said he understood why the Nets didn’t trade him and wasn’t disappointed by it. He’s aware of how hard a deal would be for a player of his caliber. Marks said he did his due diligence and felt close to a deal at times, but “it’s pretty difficult to get like for like.” After Durant made peace with the organization in August, Marks said multiple general managers called him to say “we wouldn’t have traded him either.”

Despite never making a trade request, Irving appeared closer to leaving than Durant. The New Jersey native was linked to the Lakers throughout the summer after seeking a sign-and-trade to get the long-term contract he desired. He came up short. There was speculation that Irving could take a massive pay cut and sign for the midlevel exception or the veteran’s minimum, and he didn’t deny it. Irving felt like his vaccination status and fluctuating attendance in recent years impacted his market.

“There were options — but not many,” Irving said. “I’ll tell you that. Because again this stigma, whether or not I want to play, whether or not I’m going to be committed to the team — which I thought was really unfair at times but also the timing was ideal to be able to put that on me because I wasn’t available.”

Irving’s refusal to get the vaccine last season limited him to just 29 games, just nine more than his first year in Brooklyn, when a right shoulder impingement ended his season early. Between those two seasons, he played 54 out of 72 regular-season games in the NBA’s abbreviated 2020-21 season. Irving played more than Durant or Harden that season in a year full of injuries and attrition for the Nets. The result was the first 50-40-90 season of his career. That performance is why Durant hasn’t lost faith in Irving’s reliability and commitment to the team.

“You can say he was more reliable than (Harden and I) that first year,” Durant said. “Last year if it wasn’t for the vaccine he would have played. There’s not a vaccine mandate this year. The year I played with him before, he was very reliable, so once the mandate was gone, I figured he’s going to be here every day.”

In the middle of all of this was Simmons, who was rehabbing from back surgery, wondering if he’d ever get to play with Durant and Irving. Simmons said he was preparing to play in Brooklyn’s first-round series against Boston in April before his back pain accelerated “pretty quickly.” He said he woke up the morning of Game 4 on the floor, unable to move, with circulation issues in his glutes, calf, foot — all signs of dropfoot, which coincide with back issues.

Simmons, along with Joe Harris and Edmond Sumner, whom the Nets signed in July and rehabbed his Achilles, are all clear to practice on Tuesday. Seth Curry, who like Harris is coming off ankle surgery, and T.J. Warren (foot) are not cleared. Simmons said he didn’t worry about either Durant’s or Irving’s disputes because both were out of his control. And as he noted, Simmons had his rehab and mental health to worry about anyway.

With both issues resolved, Durant, Irving and Simmons recently took the court together for the first time, albeit in Brooklyn’s offseason pickup runs. How have the early returns looked? “Incredible,” Simmons said.

Nash said he expects Simmons to guard teams’ top players, handle the ball a lot and playmake — a sign that the Nets are giving him a full load early on despite his 18-month layoff.

Even with the drama, Durant and Marks didn’t indicate that it hurt the organization, public relations aside. Durant pointed to Brooklyn’s ability to land Markieff Morris and Warren, who were courted by multiple contenders and chose the Nets while Durant wanted out. Marks said his players are his best offseason recruiters. When his best recruiter wanted out, Marks still found a way to get the commitments he wanted.

Marks built the roster this season betting on Durant, Irving and Simmons to all return. It became reality. Now Marks and Nash look to turn the calls for their jobs into justifications for their return. The Nets have been considered one of the greatest hypothetical teams ever assembled. Going into Tuesday’s camp opener, they are once again. The Nets’ biggest foe in recent years has been off-court drama. Durant has moved on from his trade request, and Nash has noticed.

“He’s coming in and been amazing in our gym,” Nash said of Durant. “And I think he’s putting in a tremendous amount of work this summer, as have we. So everyone’s done their part. Now it’s time for everyone to get on the floor tomorrow and come together.”

After a summer of drama, it’s a big relief for the Nets.

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(Photo: Dustin Satloff / Getty Images)