Having famous person expertise is the one surefire strategy to win a championship within the N.B.A. It has been almost 20 years since a workforce received a championship with out not less than one famous person participant, and normally it takes two.
So when Kyrie Irving, a virtuoso at level guard, and Kevin Durant, one of many smoothest scorers within the sport, selected the Nets in free company through the summer season of 2019, they appeared to be sprinkling onto the Nets the form of pixie mud needed to show a workforce into an actual title contender. And so, for the previous three and a half years, the Nets firmly set their sights on a championship that, they believed, the arrivals of Irving and Durant had put inside attain.
However as a substitute of taking incremental steps towards that objective, the Nets discovered that their path featured limitless detours. They spent this period coping with one distraction after one other. They tried desperately to take advantage of having two gamers as gifted as Durant and Irving, giving up draft picks and promising younger gamers to accumulate a 3rd famous person and create one of many best collections of expertise ever seen within the league. They modified coaches and even disciplinary philosophies in an try and make this work.
For the previous few months, the Nets appeared to have discovered some semblance of stability. They had been successful video games, Irving appeared to be in a very good place, and even Durant’s knee damage, whereas detrimental, wasn’t catastrophic.
However then their fragile peace fell aside once more.
Irving requested a commerce final week, and on Sunday the Nets agreed to a deal that may ship him to the Dallas Mavericks. By way of the deal, announced Monday night, the Nets will obtain two gamers, a distant first-round draft decide and a number of second-round picks. They by no means actually acquired to benefit from the fruits of such a giant free-agency rating, and now their future is unsure. In some ways, although, the workforce lived a murky in-between life, even with the 2 superstars who got here to them 4 years in the past.
Solely three weeks in the past, Irving was lauding the Nets’ cohesion. Reporters had requested him what would preserve the Nets from struggling after Durant’s damage the best way they did final yr when Durant was out.
“I’m persistently within the lineup, that helps,” Irving stated. He stated the workforce didn’t have anybody who was “midway in” and added: “And there’s only a main deal with the large image right here.”
Irving appeared to be taking a shot at James Harden, who spent a couple of yr with the Nets earlier than asking for a commerce.
The Nets acquired Harden from Houston by means of a four-team commerce in January 2021 as a part of their efforts to make the Durant and Irving experiment work. They gave up a king’s ransom to do it: The package deal included three first-round picks, 4 decide swaps and Jarrett Allen, a proficient younger heart who has discovered success, together with an All-Star choice, in Cleveland.
At first, the commerce appeared like a no brainer. They had been all perennial All-Stars. Durant and Harden had received the league’s Most Beneficial Participant Award. Durant and Irving had received championships. Who might beat this workforce? At the least one article declared that they is perhaps the best basketball workforce ever assembled.
They took the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks to seven video games within the convention semifinals in 2021 and appeared poised for domination within the 2021-22 season.
However Irving barely performed within the 2021-22 season due to his choice to not be vaccinated in opposition to the coronavirus. Harden appeared irritated with Irving’s inconsistent availability, and as soon as joked that he would inoculate Irving himself.
However in an interview with FoxSports.com in December, Harden talked about two different causes that made his time in Brooklyn tough: He was by no means totally wholesome, and he struggled with the group.
“It was simply, there was no construction,” Harden stated. “And even superstars, they want construction. That’s what permits us to be one of the best gamers and leaders for our respective organizations.”
The Nets traded Harden in February 2022, and acquired again Ben Simmons, who, in his 37 video games for the Nets, has struggled to contribute.
After dropping to the Celtics in 2022, Irving overestimated his energy throughout the group.
“After I say I’m right here with Kev, I feel that actually entails us managing this franchise collectively alongside Joe and Sean,” Irving stated, referring to the workforce proprietor Joe Tsai and Normal Supervisor Sean Marks.
Marks was requested later if the Nets had been dedicated to Irving.
“We’re searching for guys that need to are available in right here and be a part of one thing larger than themselves, play selfless, play workforce basketball, and be obtainable,” Marks stated. “That goes not just for Kyrie however for everyone right here.”
The chaos was all an excessive amount of for Durant, who requested for a commerce in June and was given permission to hunt one, however couldn’t discover one to which the Nets would agree. He returned to the Nets, prepared to maneuver on.
The place Durant stands now’s unsure. He anticipated to be competing for championships. It’s doable that after he’s wholesome he’ll lead the Nets to a powerful end this season. However it’s additionally truthful to surprise, as groups across the league certainly are, if Durant will strive once more to be traded.
If the Nets let it occur this time, it’s going to totally finish one other star-laden period that by no means actually acquired off the bottom.