The Complete Story of the Brooklyn Nets 'Super Team' Collapse
04:38 GMT 06.07.2022 (Updated: 04:40 GMT 06.07.2022)
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After being swept in the first round of the playoffs, both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant have asked to be traded out of Brooklyn. Once seen as the next inevitable sports dynasty, the Nets once again find themselves in the doldrums of the NBA.
Kevin Durant followed Kyrie Irving to Brooklyn in the summer of 2019. The pair of friends had both won championships playing next to league icons but craved to chart their own path. The dynamic duo of two of the greatest offensive talents in the history of the sport was supposed to bring glory to the Brooklyn Nets, a step-child franchise in a market dominated by an older far more beloved team. Then, out of nowhere, it all came crashing down.
The Origin of the Nets' "Superteam"
It was game 5 of the 2018-19 NBA finals and Kevin Durant, coming off a calf injury, seemed to be returning to peak form. The Golden State Warriors, Durant’s team at the time, were in the middle of their fifth straight NBA Finals appearance and were attempting to win their fourth title in five years.
Durant had joined the Warriors two seasons prior, adding himself to an already stacked roster that included Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. That trio already captured a title without Durant in 2015 and reached the finals in 2016 where they lost to LeBron James and Kyrie Irving’s Cleveland Cavaliers.
After adding Durant, the Warriors looked unstoppable, beating LeBron and the Cavs in 2017 and then sweeping them in 2018. In 2019, the Warriors added Demarcus Cousins to their roster and few thought anyone, perhaps not even the basketball gods, could stop the Warriors from walking away with the title yet again.
Durant’s calf injury did make the matchup against the Toronto Raptors a little more interesting, but, the thinking went, if Durant returned looking like himself, the series was a wrap. After all, the Raptors only had one household name on their roster in Kawhi Leonard, and as good as he was, there was no way Toronto could compete with a team that had five All-Star caliber players.
Kevin Durant made his return with the Warriors facing elimination, taking the opening tip-off. He looked like himself, quickly hitting a pair of three pointers in the first quarter. Then, early in the second quarter, as Durant attempted to dribble past Serge Ibaka his leg gave out. He dropped the ball and grabbed his left calf.
He was taken out after scoring 11 points and never returned. Golden State managed to hold on and win the game but would lose the series in six games. It was later revealed that Durant had ruptured his achilles and the injury would require surgery. Worse, he would miss the entirety of the 2019-20 season, and no one knew if Kevin Durant would ever look like Kevin Durant again.
One year ago, Kevin Durant made his heroic return in Game 5 of the NBA Finals before tearing his Achilles.
— ESPN (@espn) June 10, 2020
He had 11 points in the first quarter before the injury. pic.twitter.com/TziRJPntJ6
Durant Leaves a Dynasty to Create His Own in Brooklyn
Enter the Brooklyn Nets. Eager to replace the hapless but still popular New York Knicks as the team in New York, the Nets took some big swings in the offseason that year, signing Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan before executing a sign-and-trade with the Warriors to acquire the still-injured Durant.
Initially, the plan worked, as the Nets became the talk of the town. Better yet, they had done it while denying the Knicks, who were expected to pursue Durant prior and even after the injury, those same headlines.
Durant wouldn’t play in the 2019-20 season, and the Nets struggled without him. Irving and Jordan did manage to lead the team to a playoff berth, but after Jordan opted out of the season restart due to testing positive for COVID-19, the Nets were quickly swept in the first round by the Toronto Raptors.
That wasn’t seen as the end of the world however, because without Durant, the Nets super team was not yet complete. Durant's maiden season in Brooklyn would be shortened by COVID-19, starting in December rather than October.
The season started out promising, until arguably the third best player on the Nets, Spencer Dinwiddie, went down with a torn ACL. But then, the Nets swung another big trade and acquired six-time All-NBA guard and MVP James Harden from the Houston Rockets.
James Harden's debut with the Nets:
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 17, 2021
32 Pts
12 Reb
14 Ast
4 Stl
1 Blk
A new era in Brooklyn 👏 pic.twitter.com/KB3OVDTpo0
The Nets' "Superteam" is Finally Assembled
The Nets were seemingly complete with Harden, Durant and Irving forming a big three that put them on the fast track to a finals appearance. However, things never worked out.
First, there were reports that Harden was out of shape. His physique was frequently mocked by NBA Twitter, with pictures of Harden’s figure being over-analyzed and picked apart. Then the real problems.
Kyrie Irving suddenly, and seemingly without notice, disappeared. His leave of absence, as it was called by the team, resulted in him missing seven games over a two week span. He eventually returned, citing family issues as the reason he left, but questions about his commitment to the game of basketball began to surface.
When the three superstars were on the court together, they were the dominant force the franchise had dreamed they'd be, but due to various injuries to all three, that was a rare occurrence. However, the Nets still manage to secure the second best record in the East, and the trio entered the playoffs healthy and as the favorites to take home the title.
Everything got off to a roaring success as they won their first playoff series, but were then beaten by the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals as Irving and Harden suffered injuries. Durant put on a Herculean performance, but it wasn't enough. Few knew it at the time, but that would end up being the peak of the Nets' superteam run.
The drama-filled 2020-21 season would not hold a candle to the 2021-22 season in the sheer number of headlines the Nets created, this time for the wrong reasons.
It's been exactly one year since Kevin Durant knocked down this CLUTCH shot against the Bucks in what appeared to be a three pointer but was later ruled a two point shot due to KD's big toe being on the line 😬#NBATwitter #NetsLevelpic.twitter.com/vZ63ZFnfVw
— 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙞𝙣’ 𝙉𝘽𝘼 (@_Talkin_NBA) June 19, 2022
The Nets Begin to Fray
Kyrie Irving already had a reputation for holding questionable views. In 2018, as a member of the Boston Celtics, Irving let the world know he believes the world is flat. But while that view is eccentric, it didn’t negatively affect his ability to play basketball in the NBA. However, his views on vaccines did.
For much of last season, New York City had a vaccine mandate, requiring not only fans but also coaches, staff and players be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to attend, or in Kyrie’s case play in, games. Irving's steadfast refusal to get vaccinated prevented him from playing home games. So the Nets sat him.
Initially, they sat him for every game, but after the team underperformed, they started allowing him to play in away games. This on-again, off-again status hurt the team’s chemistry and Harden, known to shy away from drama, let it be known that he wanted out of Brooklyn.
The Nets, fearing the fallout of a disgruntled superstar, traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, and Andre Drummond before the trade deadline. The league's great offensive trio of Harden, Durant and Irving ended up only playing 16 games together over their two seasons in Brooklyn.
Simmons, while not quite the caliber of player that Harden is, was still viewed as an excellent player. But Simmons hurt his back and didn’t suit up for the Nets the entire season, as the pre-season championship favorites limped into the playoffs, having to beat the Cavaliers in the play-in game to reach the playoffs proper.
There were rumors that Simmons would come back to play in their first-round series against the Celtics, but less than 24 hours before Game 4, he was ruled out with back soreness. The Nets were swept by the Celtics in a series that neither Durant nor Irving played well in. Once again, the Nets' “super team” didn't live up to expectations.
Celtics broke the Nets. pic.twitter.com/vE8GWID6om https://t.co/42rhJRMlJ7
— James B. Terry (@terryjt1) June 30, 2022
The End of Kevin Durant in Brooklyn
Late last month, Kyrie Irving requested a trade out of Brooklyn. Nets General Manager Sean Marks granted him permission to seek a sign-and-trade with another team. Due to the financial restraints a sign-and-trade trigger, per the NBA's collective bargaining agreement, not a lot of teams were keen on pursuing Irving. Without a suitable landing spot, Irving opted into the final year of his contract with the Nets, and it looked like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving would give it at least one more go.
Then last Thursday, Durant shocked the world and asked for a trade. The request devastated Nets fans, and put a franchise that had been the talk of the league in an unenviable situation. Durant, even at 33 years old, remains one of the best players in the world. While there will be no shortage of suitors lining up for his services, it's impossible to replace a player of his caliber. Due to Durant and Irving's close friendship, it is expected that once Durant is moved, Irving will be as well.
Kevin Durant made the trade request directly to Nets owner Joe Tsai today, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2022
With both Durant and Irving set to leave Brooklyn, their “big three” is now down to one: Ben Simmons, a player who has yet to suit up for the Nets, and didn’t play at all last year. The Brooklyn superteam never came to be, they never replaced the Knicks as New York’s team, they never even made the Eastern Conference Finals.
When the Nets acquired Durant, the New York Post’s Brian Lewis said: “The Nets and the NBA power structure won’t be the same.” He was right, though not for the reasons he likely thought. If the Nets proved anything with their acquisitions of Durant, Irving, DeAndre, Harden and Simmons, it is that the NBA is not like the NBA2k video game.
Haphazardly putting together a super team of all stars worked for Miami with LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. It worked for the Lakers when they added LeBron and Anthony Davis. And it worked for Golden State when they added Durant to a team of homegrown superstars. But it didn’t work for the Nets, who once again find themselves on the back page of New York’s tabloids, only this time for a funeral rather than a coronation.
