Why the Brooklyn Nets are the Biggest Failure in NBA History
After finishing 2018-2019 with a playoff berth behind their young core of D'Angelo Russell, Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert, and Spencer Dinwiddie, the Brooklyn Nets tested free agency in the summer of 2019. Seeing that there was a possibility of getting superstar point guard Kyrie Irving and superstar small forward Kevin Durant, the Brooklyn Nets were the team in New York to sign the two stars. On June 30th, 2019, Kyrie signed a 4-year 136.5 million dollar contract with the Nets leaving the Boston Celtics and Kevin Durant signed a 4-year 164.2 million dollar contract with the team, in a sign-in trade for D'Angelo Russell to go to the Warriors. After the two stars signed with the team, there were countless decisions that they made that got them to where they are in the present day. First, they got the front office to fire their head coach Kenny Atkinson and replaced him with Steve Nash who was a Hall of Fame point guard but had no coaching experience. Durant and Irving would infamously claim that they do not need a head coach after the signing and said they could coach the team which was bold to say to least. In addition to hiring Nash, the two stars forced the front office to trade young pieces in Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert and Taurean Prince along with several drafts picks for superstar shooting guard James Harden. They also would add Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge in the middle of the 2021 season after they got bought out from their previous teams. LaMarcus Aldridge, unfortunately, needed to retire mid-season due to a heart condition, and the big three only playing 16 total games together Despite this many people believed the Brooklyn Nets should have been favorites to win the championship in 2021 and compete for more championships after that.
Fast forward to the present day and the Brooklyn Nets have failed to not only win a championship but to even make the conference finals in the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving era. The team dealt with injuries to James Harden and Kyrie Irving in the second round of the 2021 postseason and they were given a pass for losing to the Milwaukee Bucks in 7 games. However, in the 2022 season, everything fell apart for the Nets relatively quickly. Due to Kyrie not getting the vaccine and Kevin Durant suffering an injury that would keep him sidelined for a while it became apparent that James Harden wanted out. The team would move Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers for a player in Ben Simmons who wanted to get traded after his poor performance in the 2021 postseason which resulted in criticism from his own teammates, coach, front office, and fans of the team. Despite numerous claims that he was ready to play, Ben Simmons never suited up for a single game for the Nets after he was traded to the team. The Nets would go on an 11-game losing streak in the month of February and lost 15 of the 19 games which dropped them from a top seed to being a play-in team. This all culminated after the Nets were favored to win the championship in the preseason odds but instead, they would beat the Cavaliers in the playing tournament before being swept by the Boston Celtics in the First round. What makes this even more humiliating is that despite being favored in this series with the 7th seed, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving would perform so poorly compared to the expectations set for them before the series. In 44 minutes per game, Kevin Durant averaged 26.3 points but shot 38.6% from the field 33.3% from three, and turned the ball over 5.3 times per game. Kyrie Irving also had arguably the worst series of his playoff career as in 42.5 minutes per game he averaged 21.3 points on 44.4% from the field and outside of game 1 averaged 15.3 points 37.2% from the field and 18.2% from three.
After this year's postseason, the offseason began and more drama started to surface around the team, especially with their two stars in Durant and Irving. After negotiating with the team Kyrie opted into his 36.5 million dollar player option which will make him a free agent the season after. This occurred after Kyrie was promised to receive a max extension after the team cleared contracts to free up cap space to sign Kyrie Irving. This did not boil over too well for Kevin Durant as he requested a trade from the Nets one year after he had extended his contract with the Nets for 4 years 198 million dollars after the 2021 season. Considering the expectations people set for the Nets and after everything that transpired, it is safe to say that the Brooklyn Nets are arguably the biggest failure in NBA history.