There appears to be no bad blood between the Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash and team superstar Kevin Durant despite Durant wanting to get Nash fired.
Early in the offseason, Durant asked to be traded before changing his mind and giving the team owner Joe Tsai an ultimatum. He was willing to remain in Brooklyn but wanted Nash and general manager Sean Marks fired. However, Tsai remained supportive of his coaching staff and front office, which forced Durant to change his stance and agree to return to the Nets regardless.
Nash was first to break the silence on this unusual situation, telling reporters on Tuesday that he didn’t see the ultimatum the same way everyone else saw it.
“Knowing Kevin as long as I have, it didn’t really bother me the way everyone would think,” Nash said. “That’s a part of being competitors. I wasn’t overly surprised, and I wasn’t even overly concerned.”
Nash added that the media reports didn’t tell the whole story but did not follow up on his remark. According to him, all parties have left the drama behind and are now only focusing on having success in the 2022-23 NBA season.
After another disappointing playoff exit with the Nets last season, Kevin Durant reportedly grew disillusioned about the situation in Brooklyn and made a trade request. The Nets did their due diligence and engaged in talks with several teams, but many believe the team never actually fully committed to trading away their best player.
The closest the Nets came to trading Kevin Durant was during talks with the Boston Celtics, but the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement on the package. The Celtics were willing to offer All-Star Jaylen Brown and several other assets but rejected the Nets’ request to include reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Marcus Smart, in the deal.
