Kevin Durant’s trade request at the end of June has given us almost two months to fill in blank pages. Every little movement behind the scenes came to talk about the intentions and desires of each of the parties involved and practically the entire NBA has passed through the carousel of rumors. That’s why when such a crucial chapter comes to an end, whatever the outcome, it’s time to take two steps back and look at the postcard in full. Although for this it is crucial not to lose the small details along the way.
How are the Nets?
Brooklyn comes out of this mess tremendously strengthened. Surely the disaster that was last season has helped Joe Tsai and Sean Marks stand firm in the face of the continual anxieties and threats of their two stars. The current Nets were born from the unilateral will of the Irving-Durant pairing and the organization embraced their wishes without considering the consequences.
That a franchise is entrusted to its stars always brings with it a certain structural chaos. As the recent cases of Clippers, Lakers or Rockets demonstrate. But everything has a limit, and the maelstrom of lurches that Brooklyn has suffered in the last two seasons is in all eyes unsustainable. When Durant asked for the trade, the Nets had all the cards in his hand to control the situation and even so there were moments when doubts arose. It shouldn’t be an achievement to keep a newly renewed player for four years, but the size of KD makes it necessary to celebrate it as such.
This does not mean that the waters have completely calmed at the mouth of the Hudson River. The figures that make up the Nets squad are so volatile that they prevent victory for stability. However, the goal of the franchise, with or without the Durant-Irving hydra on their side, was to continue to compete in the noble zone of the East — even if they didn’t make it last season — and this should ensure that goal. SHOULD.
The squad continues to have certain valleys in the inside game and, probably, the perimeter defense – later it’s time to talk about Ben Simmons -, but they have added more than interesting pieces with TJ Warren and Royce O’Neal, despite the fact that they will surely miss Bruce Brown. As for the schism between Nash and the alpha males in the locker room, nothing a good start to the season won’t fix.
Kevin Durant and the legacy
Knowing in advance how much Durant takes the opinions that are expressed about him to heart, it is hard to explain why he likes being in all the puddles so much. Perhaps it is time to believe him when he asserts that he has already reduced the social anxiety that these types of situations generate in him. Or maybe you have to think that he just has a masochistic streak within him.
Be that as it may, the last few months have been devastating in the figure of one of the best of all time. Both in public and personally. To begin with, the failure of having tried to leave a place where he will ultimately remain. He has burned every boat from control of the media environment through continuous leaks to direct coercion in the form of an ultimatum to Joe Tsai. The final denouement leaves a clear verdict: the power of the stars, although enormous, is limited. As much as your name is Kevin Durant. Which is more personal defeat than an example applicable to the rest, since there is only one KD.
Like all greats in history, Kevin Durant is concerned about his legacy. It probably bothers him especially. In this regard, seeing how in just two months they erased him from the map in one of the worst playoff series in recent memory, concluding that his old team can win without him and once again making clear the capricious nature that has been blamed on him since 2016 supposes throwing too many stones on one’s back.
The solution, as always happens in the course of the narrative tyranny that operates over elite sport today —and always—, is to win the championship this season. Or at least fight for him with the hierarchy that KD is supposed to have in all this. Which links directly to the next point.
Do we still believe in Brooklyn?
For the past two years, Brooklyn has always been given the benefit of the doubt. It didn’t matter how deep the puddle they stepped on. Talent always has another chance that is often said. But after finishing the regular season in play-in spots through individual feats and with no trace of basic collective functioning, the Celtics finally showed the world the king’s nakedness.
The logical thing would be to think that all these antecedents would cause you to think twice before placing them as immediate contenders for the simple fact of keeping the core. But I am the first to sing the mea culpa for renewing my illusions in a project whose greatest virtue is its extreme instability. I know that things have gone very badly, but things have to go very badly for a team like this not to be one of the best in the league. Now, if at the beginning of the season they fall back into the same sins, I will not be the one to continue giving them opportunities. I think.
Where does all this leave Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons?
Since it’s impossible to predict what’s going on in Irving’s head, this should be good news for him. The problems with his vaccination status are behind him and only Toronto will be a stumbling block for his firm position on the matter. Everything is that he does not have to cross paths with the Raptors in the playoffs.
On the other hand, it appears the point guard has softened his stance on the Nets since deciding to exercise his player option. Despite having criticized the direction of the franchise, the latest leaks speak of Irving having met with the Brooklyn leadership to set joint goals. He will start the next season with a new opportunity for his talent to speak more than the most radical edges of his personality. He will continue to be with his friend Durant, which is not that it has been a stabilizing factor in recent times. Of course, the Nets have already shown that they would not hesitate a second to throw him on the market if he returns to his old ways. It will be necessary to see if this happens and if in that case buyers would appear.
As for Ben Simmons, everything that is said is pure speculation. Both in its purely sporting facet and in the mental one. The most repeated speech assumes that shedding offensive responsibilities to Durant and Irving will do his self-esteem good. But personally I find it a lot to assume. It should be remembered that, at some point during his lockdown in Philly, Simmons dropped his intentions to be offensive first sword in the place where he arrived. Which could well be the desires of someone who does not know very well what he wants.
Turning to sports, rivers of ink have been spilled over what version of Simmons could be seen in a Nets uniform. The most consensual being that of placing him as an interior and pick-and-roll partner of other drivers. Something like a Draymond Green with less ball height and more verticality to the hoop. This all sounds like science fiction to me. Simmons is a player who is blamed for a zero evolution in attack since he entered the league and who will accumulate a year and a half without stepping on a court by the time the season begins. What can be expected without much doubt is that the boy returns to being the defensive monster that he was until the last minute of the tie against the Hawks that sentenced him. Immediately raising the ground in Brooklyn in a plot where they have been suffering too much.
It’s all very well to make predictions, but you have to relax your projections about who you want the player to be before you know who he is today. Both unknowns, the one about his head and the one about the version of him on the court, will only find an answer when Simmons returns to play a competitive basketball game. Until then, smoke.
One small step for the man, one giant step for the league
The resolution of the Durant case computes at the same time a victory and a defeat for all the franchises that make up the competition. On the one hand, the omnipotent Kevin Durant, one of the—two? Three?- Best players on the face of the Earth, he’s out on the market and no one has managed to get hold of him. This war in which everything ends as it began leaves wounds along the way for the Boston Celtics and their group dynamics, for Pat Riley and his ability to attract, and for all those who hope to take a step forward as only Durant can guarantee.
But, on the other hand, I think that nobody has put all the meat on the grill is part of the message that the franchises want to send to the superstars. The teams do not want to live prostrate to the will of an individual as they have been in recent years. And giving up all of the future and part of the present for Durant would have sent the wrong message.
Months before the first draft of the new agreement between the NBA and the players’ association is written, the main objective of the league and its owners will be to limit transfer requests with more than two years remaining on the player’s contract. That the KD demands have ended up unsuccessful is a small victory, but ideally for the owners—and to some extent for the overall health of the business—is that such attempts cannot even legally exist.
Finally, removing Kevin Durant from the market surely means uncorking movements that have been dormant for two months. The trades and free agency were petrified by a series of events that now appear to have been resolved. The teams that were holding back in case Durant’s flute sounded will resume their plans and things should pick up a little more pace in the NBA market. It is time to monitor Mitchell’s situation more closely and the entry of certain agents who focused their eyes on the Nets forward. But also to teams that are clearly missing a few boils in the construction of their templates.
(Cover photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
