The last three seasons have been very bad for the Brooklyn Nets.
Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant joined the Nets in 2019 – and James Harden in 2021 – with the idea that they would fight for the championship.
It hasn’t happened.
To show for this, the Nets have to lose two in the first round and exit the second round.
Harden is no longer with the team. Durant has requested a trade. And it ‘s unlikely that Irving plays another game for the Netsto pick up the pieces left over from a transplant that sets the organization back five seasons and exposes the system’s problems to NBA owners. May try to fix in the next collective bargaining agreement.
Irving and Durant just 57 games together , with Durant missing from 2019-20 while recovering from a torn Achilles in the 2019 final when he was with Golden State.
Irving played in only 46% of Brooklyn’s games in three seasons for a variety of reasons, including personal reasons, injuries, and refusal to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, which made him ineligible to play in most home games because of the New York Times. Mandate of the City of York.
Landing Spot:Six Possible
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DestinationsHe wanted to exit with more than one season left on his contract and received his wish, moving to Philadelphia for another player, Ben Simmons, who wanted to get out of his position with the Sixers, which included his contract. There were four seasons left.
Last season, Durant signed a four-year, $194.2 million extension with Brooklyn, with the first year of that expansion beginning in 2022–23. So before Durant even plays a game in that expansion, he wants to be out.
It’s easy to see why this bothers NBA owners.
Yes, teams have the ability to trade most players at any given time, and yes, player empowerment has been around for a while, as NBA commissioner Adam Silver noted at All-Star Weekend in February.
“I think you’re dealing with situations where you have players with a unique skill set on the planet, and it’s always going to give them an advantage, and you have teams with leverage,” Silver said. “There may be tools we can think of to create stronger incentives for players to adhere to those agreements. But I don’t think there is some silver bullet here that we are going into collective bargaining and Now we say ‘This problem has been fixed. These are humans.’
Silver walks a fine line here. He is the players’ commissioner and his relationship with the players has helped improve the game. He listens to their input. But he also works for the Bosses, a competitive group of individuals trying to win a championship.
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“As commissioners of this league, we want our players to be happy,” he said. “We want them to find themselves in situations where they feel they can be most productive. At the same time, we want to run an orderly league, and so like a lot of things in life, we have to find the proper balance there. Will happen.”
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It has been suggested that owners wish to recover money for a player already included in the contract and a trade request is honored. But who knows if the owners can create a punitive enough deterrent act for players who are signing deals worth $200 million.
Nets owner Joe Tsai understands the ever-changing nature of the league and where players want to play. But when Durant signed that extension, there was a reasonable expectation that he would play at least one season out of the deal, even in the advanced era of player empowerment.
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theThe Nets are also not flawless. He enabled Irving and pursued a quick path to success, and there are consequences).
There is also permanent collateral damage. Brooklyn ran from a solid coach in Kenny Atkinson, who had progressed in rebuilding Brooklyn before Irving and Durant decided they wanted a new coach. Steve Nash, Atkinson’s replacement, has sabotaged his first attempt at coaching in two seasons.
The Nets trade first-round draft picks to make up the Big 3 of Durant, Irving and Harden, and to date, they don’t have a first-round pick in 2024 and 2026, and have left their most favorable in 2023, 2025 and Draft selection in 2027 pick swap.
Of course, they’ll get first-round picks back in deals for Durant and Irving, if that’s how it plays out.
But it puts the Nets back where they were around 2017 when they had young players and were trying to build through the draft, sensible free-agent signing and veterans who provided direction.
Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks took the job in 2016 and six and a half years later, he’s making a full start.
Net can’t mess it up again.
