The Brooklyn Nets put together a video game-like team with Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving. But their dream path to an NBA championship was full of hurdles, starting for their own characters.
Durant, albeit a great leader on the court, was unable to carry the team due to multiple injuries. Irving's decision not to take the vaccine and go on a one-man crusade against mandates prevented him from playing most of the season, and Harden eventually bailed on them.
Now that Harden is gone and ready to play for the Philadelphia 76ers, it seems like things never actually took off during his days in Brooklyn, up to the point where Durant didn't even think he was hurt at all.
NBA Rumors: Kevin Durant Was Skeptical Of James Harden's Hamstring Injury
"For weeks he had grown weary of Harden’s purported commitment to the franchise. When Harden first took to the bench with right hamstring tightness, Durant was among the Brooklyn figures who were skeptical of the injury’s severity," said Fischer. "By Thursday morning, Durant dialed Nets general manager Sean Marks, sources said."
Kevin Durant And James Harden Had A 'Cold War'
Durant and Harden had reportedly grown apart since the start of the season. Eventually, Harden's 'freelancing attitude' led KD to reach out to Nets GM Sean Marks and give him the green light to move on from The Beard:
"With Irving inactive, and a greater workload heaped onto Harden and Durant, a strain formed between the Nets’ two active alphas," wrote Fischer. "'Kevin and James had a cold war going for the last several months that made everyone miserable,' one person with knowledge of the situation said. Come December, word started to percolate around the NBA about a mounting disconnect between Harden and Durant, which was buoyed by Irving’s absence. Meanwhile, Joel Embiid was reclaiming his MVP-caliber dominance from a season ago."
"When Durant made that fateful call to Marks, the Nets front office didn’t know what Morey and the Sixers would offer," the report added. "Brooklyn hoped to acquire another young piece, and the Nets gauged rival teams’ valuations of Thybulle, sources told B/R, as Brooklyn and Philadelphia hammered out the particulars of draft pick compensation that met the Nets’ asking price without including Thybulle."
It's a shame to realize that the Nets could've been a dynasty and rule the league for years to come. But on the other hand, it's not like multiple people didn't foresee this scenario, as we're talking about three huge egos in one locker room.
