Kevin Durant’s Brooklyn Nets tenure was a complete rollercoaster of emotions—on-court performance, and off-court drama. He is no doubt one of the most talented Nets to ever put on the uniform, and if a couple of bounces, toes on the line, or injury breaks go their way, fans might be talking about KD as the greatest Net to ever do it. That story, though, was not to be.
When Durant joined the Nets in 2019 and paired with Kyrie Irving, the expectations were enormous. When Brooklyn added James Harden to the mix, those high expectations became astronomical. They were a super-team, the clear championship favorite, and one of the most potent offensive teams to ever grace the hardwood. However, the Brooklyn "Big Three" would play only one season together before Harden requested a trade, Irving ran afoul of vaccine mandates, and KD wanted out of the mess, leaving the Nets with the classic sports question: what could have been?
The would-be greatest Net ever
So what were fans left with when the smoke cleared? Durant was an All-Star every season he was with the Nets, finished in the top 10 in MVP voting, and was a Second Team All-NBA honoree in 2021-2022, never averaging fewer than 26.9 points per game. He very nearly propelled an injured Nets team past the Milwaukee Bucks into the Eastern Conference Finals, and with it likely would have changed the entire course of the NBA in the following years.
Instead, as he so eloquently put it, "But my big *ss foot stepped on the line,” and the Nets were eliminated by the eventual champion Bucks in overtime of 2021's infamous Game 7. Before the next season began, Harden was traded, followed by KD and Irving at the next trade deadline (February 2023). Durant ended his Nets tenure with averages of 29.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 1.2 blocks on 53.5 percent shooting from the field and 40 percent on his three-pointers.
While the Nets never won the title so many people predicted they would, Durant choosing Brooklyn as his destination of choice to build a superteam brought these Nets prominence and an “it” factor they hadn’t had in decades, possibly ever. It cemented the Nets as a franchise with star power, and a place where guys want to play. Perhaps that groundwork will pave the way for the ultimate prize so many have been pining for ever since the ink dried on KD’s contract: an NBA championship.