Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant teamed up to sign with the Brooklyn Nets and rule the NBA. That never happened, and the Nets made the headlines more often for off-court drama than from their actual play.
Their once-promising and potentially great pairing will go down as one of the most infamous and biggest failures in professional sports history. They could’ve dominated the league at will for years, yet they barely managed to stay on the court together.
But more than that, it seems like their on-court failure may have led to some off-court issues as well. According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, they barely acknowledged each other in the Phoenix Suns‘ win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Kevin Durant And Kyrie Irving Have ‘Disconnected,’ Claims Brian Windhorst
“The complete lack of emotion from Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant,” Windhorst said on ESPN. “If you didn’t know any better, you’d just kind of wandered in and, like, were college fans, didn’t know anything about the NBA, and I was trying to tell you that there was this enormous breakup to change the landscape in the NBA that rocked both teams, because those two guys played together for four years, he wouldn’t believe me.”
“They didn’t even look at each other,” Windhorst continued. “There were times they walked past each other, like, during timeout situations, not, like, in the middle of the game when they’re competing, wouldn’t even turn their heads. So, I think we got our answer there about just where that relationship is and how it ended in Brooklyn.”
Durant pretty much admitted that he was blindsided by Irving’s sudden trade request, so this doesn’t strike as a surprise. He always had Kyrie’s back and got nothing in return, so there’s no wonder why they may no longer be on speaking terms.