Kyrie Irving’s decision this week to opt for the final year of his contract in Brooklyn didn’t calm Kevin Durant’s wandering mind.
Durant asked to be changed on the day the NBA free agency opened, although Irving took the $ 37 million sitting in front of him without any commercial stipulations attached. The Nets have no obligation to exchange Durant: He has four years and $ 198 million left on his contract. But now it would not be surprising to see him and Irving exchanged before the start of the training camp.
Nets owner Joseph Tsai had already reached his limit, several sources told Athletic, after years of injuries, off-court embarrassment and playoff failures were followed by leaked threats by Irving and Durant during the Brooklyn contract negotiations with Irving.
Tsai, 58, co-founder of Alibaba Group, China’s largest commercial retailer, was born in Taiwan, went to high school in New Jersey, has two degrees and four college degrees (lacrosse) from Yale and worth $ 9 billion, according to Forbes. .
As an owner, you stay out of the way of your basketball operations staff, for the most part, giving your blessing to the most important decisions, and otherwise you would understand / support / not be contrary to the general trend of player empowerment in the modern NBA.
Tsai would understand that, under normal circumstances, stars at Durant and Irving level can force exchanges a year after signing maximum extensions (Durant) or try to negotiate another maximum contract (Irving) publicly if that’s what it’s all about. Tsai has sat at a negotiating table or two throughout his career.
In this particular set of circumstances surrounding Durant, Irving, and the Nets, things got more complicated than expected. Brooklyn spent three full seasons paying the luxury tax, was unable to get out of the second round of the playoffs, fired a popular coach, changed many assets to bring another star to James Harden and then was forced to change -because he had lost all faith in Irving’s commitment to win. This led to him acquiring a player with a maximum contract who could not play physically and mentally last season (Ben Simmons), although neither Irving nor Durant were close to playing half of the Nets ’games. Add to that Irving’s refusal to receive the vaccine against COVID-19 and the cohesion of the team that affected him last season, and it’s no wonder Tsai has reached his limit.
Below is how Tsai got to the point where both could be traded.
In the summer of 2019, the Nets staged a major coup by attracting both star free agents. It was a package. Irving signed a four-year, $ 137 million contract, ending his two tumultuous seasons in Boston. Durant came on board through a signing and trade for four years and $ 165 million, even though he had broken his Achilles in the previous NBA Finals with the Warriors and would miss the entire 2019-20 season. It was a risk for any team to take on two championship and gold medal winning players who are as gifted as almost anyone else in the NBA in their respective positions.
In Year 1, with Durant out, Irving started strong but injured his shoulder. As The Athletic detailed in a previous story about Irving, he sought so many opinions on his shoulder, outside of the Nets doctors, that he delayed his return, or surgery, or both for weeks. It was a frustrating time for the franchise, but Irving is by no means the only injured star who took charge of his body by his own hands. It is the cost of doing business.
The Nets were heading to the playoffs in a season shortened by the pandemic, and Irving was out the rest of the year due to shoulder surgery, when Brooklyn fired coach Kenny Atkinson.
The following low season, with Irving and Durant healthy and preparing to play, the duo jumped on the KD podcast and downplayed the role new coach Steve Nash would play in leading the team. Irving left the team for about a week early in the 2020-21 campaign, voluntarily violating COVID-19 protocols to attend a family birthday party. While out, he was seen on a Zoom call for a local politician minutes before the Nets played a game.
At the time, Brooklyn replaced promising center Jarrett Allen, talented guard Caris LeVert, two more players and his first-round picks until 2027 for Harden. Tsai and GM Sean Marks mortgaged the entire future of the team to win now, adding Harden to the All-Star tandem that was already under contract.
For most of this season he was hurt. He played in 35 of the 72 possible matches. And when the playoffs came, Harden, and then Irving, were both injured. The Nets still nearly beat the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round, reaching Durant’s big toe to advance to the conference finals.
Then there was last season. Remember the highlights and the few. Some things to keep in mind, though, to try to understand how Tsai might be looking at his big picture with the Nets right now:
• Tsai is a strong supporter of the VOCID-19 vaccine. He has received at least four doses.
• Durant urged the organization to return to its original position and allow Irving to play and practice when eligible on the road, according to sources. Brooklyn finished second to the east on the day of Irving’s first game.
• The Nets not only got worse with Irving back on the team (dropped to the Play-In Tournament), but it was with Irving in the fold when Harden decided he would not sign for Brooklyn again and wanted to be. marketed to the 76ers. Simmons, Seth Curry and Andre Drummond came from Philadelphia, but Simmons never adapted, with a disappointment for the entire franchise.
• Almost aside, Harden declined the $ 47 million player option from his contract this week, with a commitment to the Sixers to sign a long-term deal with the team so they can add more pieces. That literally almost never happens in the NBA. Meanwhile, Brooklyn owes Simmons more than $ 100 million over the next three seasons. He hasn’t played a single minute since June 2021 and is coming off a back operation.
Most of this is directly related to Irving and Durant. Irving has played 103 of the 226 possible regular season games with Brooklyn; During, with that lost 2019-20 campaign, he can only count on 90 games.
If they’ve both played their last game with Brooklyn, it’s a safe bet that the Nets are heavily involved in exchanges that suit all parties, if only because doing so is likely to produce the highest returns.
What Tsai will not do is demand that Durant fulfill his contract in Brooklyn.
Because he has had enough.
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(Photo by Joseph Tsai: Brad Penner / USA Today)