Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant Have Wrecked the NBA
On June 30 of this year, Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant completed his timeline of disastrous decisions, only exceeded by those of his supposedly close friend and teammate, Kyrie Irving. Durant had demanded a trade, although he had been rewarded by Nets owner Joe Tsai with a four-year, $198 million dollar extension.
Now, it’s August and no GMs or owners in the NBA want to gut their teams to obtain a hypersensitive, aging superstar with an angry Achilles who left the back-to-back champion Golden State Warriors in 2019 on a whim. The Nets may be purposely asking for more than any team can give: Rumors abound they want two starters, three bench players and 17 draft picks through 2032.
Durant upped his already incomprehensible nuclear-tipped demands by meeting Tsai in London and telling him to execute the trade or fire the coach and the general manager, the latter a demand no one in his right mind would make, unless Kim Jong Un played power forward in the National Basketball Association.
But Tsai had already bent over backwards and danced the limbo on hot coals — admittedly not what billionaires ordinarily do. Tsai met KD’s demands to bring in James Harden who found the Durant-Irving vibe as welcoming as burned Brussel sprouts. Tsai ditched talented, cost effective big man Jarrett Allen for KD’s pal, the aging, dwindling Deandre Jordan and Tsai brought in as Nets coach the Hall of Famer Steve Nash, who Durant asked for, but now wants to see coaching for the Siberian Icicles basketball team.
It all makes tragic, warped sense, like a monologue from a serial killer character when captured at the end of a movie. Durant is BFFs with crafty point guard and otherwise mentally unbalanced Kyrie Irving. A lot of the NBA pundits claimed that KD-Kyrie would be champs before their first season started. I guess they figured that just because Irving doesn’t believe in vaccinations for COVID-19 that have saved millions and millions from death and he thinks that NASA photography of the Earth being round must have been done with Photoshop, that doesn’t mean the Nets won’t succeed.
Wrong. The best players in the world play in the NBA, and most of them will never win the Larry O’Brien. Iso-ball doesn’t win championships. Team work does. Team culture does. What Kyrie Irving brought to the Nets, after leaving Boston (enabling them to almost win the chip), was mad scientist chemistry, rubbing his sticky hands together, mumbling, “I’m going to win the Finals. Me and KD. Nobody else. In fact, we don’t need coaches or GMs. Bwa-ha-ha!”
I’m sick of commentators who preface Durant and Irving discussions with “He’s an amazing talent but…” The two-headed Nets monsters have disrespected ownership, their fellow players, the fans and the laws of science with their inane pronouncements.
Kyrie Irving has expedited a major crisis with his scorched flat earth policy: “I do what I want. Me first. You don’t like it? Back up the Brinksmanship armored truck, pay me and I’ll go elsewhere. Rinse and repeat.”
Durant has become a prickly, prima donna pod person like Irving. Durant seems intent on disintegrating the Collective Bargaining Agreement for the NBA…unless Tsai — and I generally don’t root for billionaires — stands firm and says, “You signed a contract and we’re all sick of marquee players who have no loyalty.”
If Tsai gives in and fires anybody, he’ll set a horrifying precedent. Because Durant and/or Irving or some other dribbling egotist with a head the size of a weather balloon and a brain the size of a peanut will break his future contract…because, well, because that’s none of your business.
