The Beginning
The hope that the Nets would win a championship came immediately after Kevin Durant’s and Kyrie Irving’s signing back in 2019. The whole sports world was eager to witness how these two cults of personalities would pair together on the court when the NBA was changing.
The Lakers found their way to trade for Anthony Davis; the Clippers assembled the duo of PG and Kawahi. Things were ready to take the next step in the NBA’s growth. As time passed, the Nets realized that making a move for James Harden could’ve been the missing piece to the championship they were looking for.
Acquiring James Harden
After Owner Joe Tsai was ready to move everything he could to make the deal happen, the NBA had one of the most superstar-dominated trips in NBA history. Two of the best scorers of the 2010’s era and former Oklahoma City teammates, James Harden and Kevin Durant, were back on the same team. Everybody felt that the Nets were that team.
At this point, everything was not what it seemed and went downhill.
The Start of The End
The 2021 Playoffs were ready for the favorite Nets to go all the way. Riddled with injuries of Harden and Kyrie, Durants amazing playoff performance against the Bucks was not enough to get through.
Irving’s stance on not getting the Covid-19 vaccine led to a huge controversy as he could not play in NBA games due to New York laws. Irving couldn’t even play in Brooklyn for home games but only certain away games.
James Harden found an early exit to Philadelphia later that season in exchange for the controversial Ben Simmons, who had not played a minute of basketball that season.
The 2022 playoffs saw a sweep by the Celtics in the first round and caused a further spiral of dilemma in Brooklyn.
The 2022 Season Mess
Prior to the start of the season, breaking news of Kevin Durant requesting a trade out of the Nets took the sports wild by storm. Teams like the Celtics, Heat, and Suns were the closest emerging suitors to pull the trigger. However, Durant decided to stay with the Nets.
The beginning of 2022 season started with the firing of coach Steve Nash. As the season went on, Irving’s controversial sharing of the anti-semite Amazon documentary made matters far worse. Irving, after everything, could not be trusted due to his unpredictable behavior.
In the last few days, the NBA has been shaken up. Kyrie demanded an exit from Brooklyn as there were talks about unhappiness with his future contract extension. Kyrie was dealt to the Dallas Mavericks.
In this aftermath, the blockbuster trade of Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns has been made official. Officially closing the chapter into the extremely messy Brooklyn Nets saga since 2019.
The End of an Era
The trio, among some of the best players of the 2010’s era all on the same team, failed to compromise to find success. Only playing 16 games together in that time, the trio disappointed expectations. Out of the many teams in NBA history that failed to win a championship, this will be the most unsuccessful of the lot.
