Kevin Durant will remain with the Brooklyn Nets, according to the team’s general manager, Sean Marks. In a statement on Tuesday (Aug. 23), he revealed that he met with Durant and decided to continue working with him.
“[Coach] Steve Nash and I, together with [governors] Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai, met with Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman in Los Angeles yesterday,” he said. “We have agreed to move forward with our partnership. We are focusing on basketball with one collective goal in mind: Build a lasting franchise to bring a championship to Brooklyn.”
According to ESPN, Durant first requested a trade in June and reaffirmed that desire in a meeting with Joe in London earlier this month. During that meeting Durant wanted Tsai to choose between him, Nash and Marks. However, Nash and Marks will keep their jobs, and Durant’s four-year $198 million extension he signed last offseason kicks in this season.
Last month, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he never liked public trade demands. “This needs to be a two-way street,” Silver said. “Teams provide enormous security and guarantees to players, and the expectation is, in return, they will meet their end of the bargain.”
He continued, “I’m realistic that there are always conversations that are going to go on behind closed doors between players and their representatives and the teams. But we don’t like to see players requesting trades, and we don’t like to see it playing out the way it is.”
It is unclear why Durant wanted the trade in the first place. Some assume that it stems from the Nets barely reaching the playoffs. The Boston Celtics eliminated the team in four games in the first round. According to the NBA, the Nets refused to extend Kyrie Irving’s contract, a close friend of Durant. As a result, Irving had to pick up his option for the next season, the final year of his contract.
Also re-signed by the Nets were center Nic Claxton, forward Kessler Edwards, and guard Patty Mills. In addition, the team added free agents T.J. Warren and Edmond Sumner. In a trade with the Utah Jazz, the Nets acquired swingman Royce O’Neale.