3 Acts Of Mismanagement By The Nets Leading To Their Collapse
With Kevin Durant officially requesting a trade last week, the Brooklyn Nets‘ potentially dynasty finally collapsed.
Their reign lasted exactly three years with Durant and Kyrie Irving playing a combined 44 games together.
The trade request comes after a tumultuous NBA season in Brooklyn.
Kevin Durant made the trade request directly to Nets owner Joe Tsai today, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2022
What started off as missed time from Irving due to his anti-vaccination stance turned into a trade of James Harden.
But the demise of the Nets franchise did not begin just at the start of the year.
It began all the way back in 2019 when Durant and Irving officially joined forces in Brooklyn.
These three acts of mismanagement all contributed to Brooklyn’s downfall.
3. Signed DeAndre Jordan
The groundwork was set for the new super-team of Durant and Irving right when they joined.
Both players took slight pay cuts so the Nets could sign their friend DeAndre Jordan to a four-year, $40-million deal.
At the time, it was a questionable move but was rumored to be a stipulation attached to Brooklyn landing both KD and Kyrie.
Jordan was turning 31 that year and had just averaged 11 points, 13 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game across 69 contests with the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks.
His play and athleticism were clearly declining, but the Nets took the risk to land their two stars.
Brooklyn also had a rising young talent at the center position in Jarrett Allen.
A player who had a similar role and play-style to Jordan but was nearly a decade younger.
Outside of Jordan cutting into Allen’s playing time, the signing also set a precedent: what stars want, stars get.
This precedent that stars ran the show in Brooklyn set the stage for everything else to come later.
And in hindsight was the first crack in the Nets’ armor.
2. Depleted Depth for Harden
The trade for Harden was not a bad move.
In a league that consistently sees stars win, teams always try to acquire more of them.
But the cost to acquire Harden was substantial.
Brooklyn traded away nearly all their homegrown talent that had set the culture during the 2018-19 season.
Allen, Caris LeVert, Taurean Prince, Rodions Kurucs, three first-round picks, and four first-round pick swaps were sent out in the deal.
Harden is clearly a far superior asset to any player or pick on that list, but it severely limited their pathways to add supporting talent.
The James Harden trade is a historic disaster.
The Nets traded away the rights to own their first round picks through 2028, half of them are swaps and half are theirs to keep.
They traded LeVert and Jarrett Allen, young talent they could use.
Ben Simmons and Royce O’Neale.
— Papa G (@papa_gardner11) June 30, 2022
In an ideal scenario, supporting talent would not be needed.
Harden, Durant, and Irving playing together at full strength can cover up a lot of weaknesses.
But Durant was coming off a major achilles injury, Irving had missed significant time each of the last few seasons, and Harden was dealing with hamstring trouble.
The odds of all three players remaining healthy were slim.
And that is exactly what happened – Harden could not overcome his hamstring ailment and Irving missed additional time due to injury in the playoffs.
Without tradable assets or picks, the Nets had no easy means to acquire supporting talent.
They were locked into their “Big 3” and any veterans they could bring in for the minimum.
1. Nets Changed Stance On Irving
What could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back was how the front office handled Irving.
As was mentioned previously, the idea that the stars ran the show in Brooklyn was established from Day 1.
But that seemingly changed after the COVID-19 pandemic.
New York City policy mandated all professional athletes playing in public venues be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Irving made the decision not to receive the vaccine, which made him ineligible to play in Brooklyn home games.
While he could have suited up for the team at select road games, the Nets’ front office made the decision not to let Irving participate part-time.
However, after a December outbreak amongst the team left the Nets thin on available players, they reversed course.
Irving was allowed to play part-time and practice with the team.
But fast-forward to the offseason, and the front office once again tried to shift the power dynamic.
Part 3. The Brooklyn Nets organization and Kyrie Irving cannot come to an agreement on Kyrie’s extension. Part is due to Kyrie’s availability and dependability. The Nets wants to protect themselves in the event Kyrie decides to go mia like he did in 2021.
— DopeIsJay (@DopeIsJay) June 27, 2022
They refused to offer Irving a long-term contract extension.
Reports surfaced that the hardline stance taken by the Nets began to make Durant skeptical.
After giving your stars anything they wanted for three years, why change tactics now?
Brooklyn set a dangerous precedent back in 2019 when they first brought on KD and Kyrie.
Trying to reverse course this offseason may have been the final blow to their superstar duo.