When the Nets acquired James Harden less than two years ago, the intention was to create an NBA-unique Big 3 of superstars. It was to win championships and form a superteam.
But after three certain Hall of Famers left in the span of 12 turbulent months, the superteam fantasy is dead. A week after Harden’s departure a year prior, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant followed him out the door.
How did what should have been New York’s first major championship in a decade become the city’s biggest sporting letdown since the 1992 Mets, often known as The Worst Team Money Could Buy? How did things rapidly go so wrong?
Primarily because it was never truly appropriate.
“It was improper. It was obviously incorrect. “It wasn’t right,” Harden, now a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, said. “It was improper. It was incorrect. Therefore, nothing positive could result from this.”
Who specifically is responsible for this collapse?
One year ago this month, you demanded a trade; are you now more resolute? Irving, for his infrequent playing and ceaseless distractions? Or Durant for enabling his unreliable friend?
Or was it at a higher level, such as dismissed coach Steve Nash’s inability to shape the team? Or the front administration, Nets general manager Sean Marks and team owner Joe Tsai, for embracing player autonomy but empowering the wrong player?
The correct response is any and all.
While Irving’s reluctance to comply with New York City’s COVID-19 vaccine restrictions caused him to miss two-thirds of the Nets’ 2016–17 campaign, he will bear the lion’s share of the blame for the Nets’ demise. However, with a failure of this magnitude, everyone must eat humble pie.
Three years of misdeeds, a general manager of the Eastern Conference told The Post.
Numerous years of flags
These three years began in 2019 when the Nets abandoned their hard-won culture to pursue Irving and Durant. The first red signal came when DeAndre Jordan was given a four-year, $40 million contract to appease the couple.
Granted, it was not merely acceptable to do whatever it took to acquire Durant; it was essential if a title was to be won.
Defense wins games, but MVPs earn championship rings. This is why teams desire them.
30 of the 32 NBA champions since 1990-91 were headed by a former, future, or current MVP. The only exceptions were the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons and the 2018-19 Toronto Raptors, who relied on team spirit, fortunate fortune, and strong defense.
Instead of relying on chance, the Nets relied on talent. They simply relied on the wrong talent.
Back in 2019, The Post stated that Brooklyn had early reservations about transferring its franchise’s culture to the notoriously fickle Irving if it couldn’t also acquire Durant. It turns out that the Nets were not nearly scared enough.
More so with the front office than with his teammates, Irving’s relationship with the Nets worsened over time. Now in Dallas, he acknowledges he had previously planned to leave Brooklyn following the 2019-20 season.
“This has been in the works from the first year,” said Irving. Due to events occurring behind the scenes, I was unsure if I wanted to reside in Brooklyn for the foreseeable future.
Despite this, Irving and Durant continued to recruit Harden to Brooklyn. They played pickup in Los Angeles during the summer of 2020, and Harden forced a trade from Houston in January 2021 in order to play with Irving and Durant.
Due to events occurring behind the scenes, I was unsure if I wanted to reside in Brooklyn for the foreseeable future.
Kyrie Irving
However, Brooklyn’s Big 3 was more theoretical than practical, playing only 16 games together due to Durant’s knee injury, Irving’s absence from the team two seasons ago, and his refusal to receive the vaccine last season.
There were numerous things. Clearly, a great deal of dysfunction exists. There were several internal issues,” Harden remarked. “This was one of the reasons I decided to make my choice. Now, in the present, I do not appear to be the insane one. I do not appear to be a quitter or whatever the media wishes to label me.
“I was aware of the situation and determined I’m not built for this. I refuse to deal with that. I want to play basketball while enjoying myself and having fun. Today, the team has a completely new roster.”
Irving made a total of 29 appearances last season. According to sources, Harden was frustrated by his lack of availability and FaceTimed the ecommerce billionaire two days before last year’s trade deadline to express his want to leave.
“The reason I decided to leave my comfort zone — leaving Houston and doing whatever I could to get out of there — was to play with KD and Kyrie,” Harden explained. “This did not occur as frequently as I or the organization would have liked. It was something that I knew would never change.”
Harden understood he could not change the dysfunction, so he demanded a trade and changed his place.
And while negotiations between Marks and his Philadelphia counterpart Daryl Morey stalled, sources told The Post that Tsai called 76ers owner Josh Harris. However, he was not the only person speaking with the Sixers’ higher management.
Quiet Kevin
Durant has been overly loyal, never publicly criticizing Irving’s unavailability. And he insists he has stayed out of Brooklyn’s business and stayed in his lane. However, he is only silent behind the scenes.
Marks once quipped, “I’m not KD’s boss.” “We are in this together.”
Durant attempted to dismiss Nash during the summer. And when the Nets fired the inexperienced coach early in the current season, Durant reportedly wanted the organization to sign Ime Udoka (who had been dismissed by Boston a month previously for inappropriate behavior of female employees). Several high-ranking women in BSE, the Nets’ parent company, were dissatisfied with the pursuit of Udoka.
And sources informed The Post that Durant engaged personally with the 76ers’ executive management during the Harden-Ben Simmons trade negotiations.
Kevin Durant spoke with 76ers management during trade talks involving James Harden and Ben Simmons.
Charles Wenzelberg
Despite the fact that Harden’s time in Brooklyn had clearly run its course, many in the NBA believe the trade return is problematic.
“It wasn’t the first Harden deal that was problematic; it was the second,” stated the general manager of the Eastern Conference. Bringing Simmons back was the killer.
Simmons is clearly struggling and has been benched despite having one of the most onerous contracts in the league. Brooklyn may have selected the wrong trade partner for Harden, or at least the incorrect pieces.
The Sixers were shopping Simmons and had discussions with the Kings regarding Tyree Haliburton. However, when they demanded De’Aaron Fox as well, negotiations broke down. Haliburton was traded to Indiana, where the 22-year-old had recently won his first All-Star selection. The executive identified this as a missed opportunity for Brooklyn and suggested that a three-way agreement involving the Kings would have been preferable.
“If I were the Nets, I would have preferred Haliburton,” the general manager stated. Simmons’ contract could be the worst in the NBA.
Simmons, who is only halfway through a five-year, $177 million contract, did not play last season and has performed poorly this year. He has lost his starting position and had his playing time drastically reduced.
“Had I been the Nets, I would have preferred Haliburton. Simmons’ contract could be the worst in the NBA.
Eastern Conference General Manager
With Harden sold and Simmons failing to produce like a star, Durant was left in a fluid situation with only the unreliable Irving as a running mate.
This fluid turned out to be gas, and Irving lit it with a match.
Feeling insulted by the Nets, who briefly barred him from away games last season while he was unvaccinated and suspended him this season for supporting an anti-Semitic film, Irving rejected a three-year contract with final season protections. He and his agent Shetellia Riley Irving waited till his strong performance provided them leverage.
Irving demanded a trade on February 3, and two days later he was moved.
“When things begin to change and you’re not given transparency and honesty from the front office or the people around you, I don’t know what kind of individual would feel comfortable or secure in such an environment,” said Irving.
Exit from an error
From that moment forward, the Durant move became inevitable.
Durant demanded a transfer during the summer, but Tsai and Marks encouraged him to remain. He informed the Nets on Monday, the day following the Irving trade, that he was no longer interested in being the lone remaining superstar. He and agent Rich Kleiman informed Marks of his desire to go to Phoenix.
In the summer of 2016, Suns owner Robert Sarver declined to include Mikal Bridges in trade proposals for Kevin Durant. According to ESPN, incoming owner Mat Ishbia, who had been trained by Tsai, expedited his takeover and rubber-stamped the agreement. And drove a spike through the title window of the Nets.
“I’m simply relieved that he escaped,” remarked Irving.
Brooklyn received Durant and Irving in exchange for Bridges, Cam Johnson, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Dorian Finney-Smith, as well as five first-round picks, another first-round swap, and four second-round picks.
Multiple clubs, according to sources cited by The Post, offered two firsts for Finney-Smith, while Memphis’ offer of four firsts for Bridges was reportedly rebuffed.
The Nets has assets, but neither neither playmakers nor closers.
Sixers head coach Doc Rivers — the recipient of one of those closers — compared them to his 2018-19 Clippers squad that finished 48-34, a year after Jordan-Chris Paul-Blake Griffin-J.J. Redick’s final disintegration.
“They remind me of my Clippers team when we lost everyone and yet made the playoffs,” Rivers remarked. “We always laughed up to the final minute and a half. And this is when closers draw near.”
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