{"id":118777,"date":"2025-01-18T15:00:23","date_gmt":"2025-01-18T20:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=118777"},"modified":"2025-01-18T15:00:23","modified_gmt":"2025-01-18T20:00:23","slug":"kevin-durant-reflects-on-time-with-nets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/18\/kevin-durant-reflects-on-time-with-nets\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Durant Reflects On His Time Playing For The Nets"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brooklyn Nets currently have a record of 14-28, and they are in the middle of a rebuild. The team is seeking their next superstar and players who will lead them to become contenders in the Eastern Conference. As they work towards building for the future, another superstar, Kevin Durant<\/a>, reflects on his time with the Nets.<\/p>\n

Kevin Durant Reflects On His Time Playing For The Nets<\/h2>\n

In July 2019, Durant joined the Nets and played with them until February 2023. In 2019, he was part of a sign-and-trade deal between the Nets and the Golden State Warriors, with Durant sent to the Nets. In return, the Warriors received D’Angelo Russell<\/a>, Shabazz Napier,<\/a> and Treveon Graham<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On a recent episode of the Out The Mud<\/em> podcast<\/a>, Durant discussed the reasons behind his decision to join the Nets, and why it was the best choice for him and his family.<\/p>\n

“I just wanted something new,” Durant said. “A smaller vibe, a different vibe \u2026 Brooklyn was [riding] with me, for sure. I liked it out there. I loved it out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durant’s tenure in Brooklyn began slowly, as he missed the 2019-20 season while recovering from a ruptured right Achilles tendon. The Nets tried to build a super team during Durant\u2018s time with them. They added Kyrie Irving<\/a> during the summer of 2019, and James Harden<\/a>\u00a0in January 2021. Unfortunately, no championship ever manifested. The trio only played 16 games together<\/a> due to injuries, and New York City\u2019s COVID-19 mandates.<\/p>\n

During his time with the Nets, Durant averaged 29.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 5.8 assists. In the 2020-21 season, he led the team to the second round of the playoffs, where their season ended in seven games.<\/p>\n

Durant Reflects On His Time With The Nets<\/h3>\n

Durant has no regrets about joining the Nets. He also sees some positives from his time playing alongside Irving and Harden.<\/p>\n

“Injuries, COVID, all that stuff played a factor,” Durant said<\/a> during the Out The Mud podcast. \u201cBut, when you turn on that film and watch us on the court together, it was some (expletive) you could teach a team, you know I’m saying? We put some good stuff on film.”<\/p>\n

Going into the 2021-22 season, Durant signed a four-year, $194 million contract extension with the Nets. However, the Nets season ended when the team lost in four games in the first round to the Boston Celtics. On June 30, 2022, Durant and his camp requested a trade from the Nets, preferring trade destinations to the Phoenix Suns and the Miami Heat. On August 24, 2022, Durant rescinded his trade request after meeting with Nets’ management.<\/p>\n

Harden was traded in 2022 to the Philadelphia 76ers. During the 2022-23 season, Durant\u2019s teammate Kyrie Irving demanded a trade out of Brooklyn and was traded to the Dallas Mavericks on February 6, 2023. Three days later, Durant was traded to the Phoenix Suns, ending his tenure in Brooklyn after four seasons.<\/p>\n

Durant’s Legacy In Brooklyn<\/h3>\n

Durant is clearly one of the all-time great players<\/a> still active in the league today. They should appreciate him for his stellar performance with the Nets. Next week, they will retire Vince Carter’s<\/a> number to honor all he did for the Nets. When Durant retires, they should give him the same recognition.<\/p>\n

As the Nets rebuild, it will be interesting to see which players they trade for and draft. However, regardless of what happens for the rest of Durant\u2019s career, Brooklyn will always hold a special place in his heart.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Brooklyn Nets currently have a record of 14-28, and they are in the middle of a rebuild. The team is seeking their next superstar and players who will lead them to become contenders in the Eastern Conference. As they work towards building for the future, another superstar, Kevin Durant, reflects on his time with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5340,"featured_media":118800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,6,62],"tags":[444,69,406,1286,3269,933],"class_list":["post-118777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nets","category-nba","tag-james-harden","tag-kevin-durant","tag-kyrie-irving","tag-shabazz-napier","tag-treveon-graham","tag-vince-carter"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5340"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118777"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118801,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118777\/revisions\/118801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}