Kevin Durant's return stirs warm feelings from Nets players, but it might be different with fans
Suns forward Kevin Durant warms up before an NBA game against the Nets at Barclays Center on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Kevin Durant’s return to Brooklyn Wednesday brings mixed feelings for Nets fans who saw both his brilliance and the unfulfilled promise after his arrival in 2019.
Will they remember the few highs in 3 1⁄2 seasons? Or will they remember his request for a trade in summer 2022, a wish eventually granted last February by sending him to the Suns.
The emotions will vary but the Nets who played with Durant are welcoming him back to Barclays Center with open arms — at least until tipoff.
“It’s always good to see him and compete against him,” Royce O’Neale said this week. “It’s going to be an exciting game for both teams and, you know, we got to do what we got to do to get a win.”
Cam Thomas considers Durant a mentor and a brother. During his first two seasons with the Nets, Thomas watched how the future Hall of Famer prepared for games and listened to tips he gave him in-game to adjust.
At shootaround, he appreciated how Durant recognized his potential and wanted to help him be more efficient as a scorer. But as for the game, he wouldn’t mind a second win after the Nets beat the Suns in Phoenix in December.
“I’ll definitely want to get a win tonight, definitely want to sweep the season series,” Thomas said. “Have a little bragging rights if we talk about it, so it’ll be good.”
Durant played 129 games with the Nets after missing the 2019-20 season with an Achilles injury. He set a franchise record averaging 29.9 points in 2021-22, the only season he played more than 40 games with the team.
Yet despite being seen as championship contenders, the Nets only won one playoff series with him and Kyrie Irving. The trade requests were the final straw for a group that underachieved in the eyes of some.
It explained why Durant said on social media that he didn’t want nor deserved a tribute video because of the lack of accomplishments during his Nets tenure.
“The game is about all the players on the court. It ain’t about me,” Durant told the Arizona Republic on Sunday. “I was there for three years, four years and we didn’t accomplish anything worth being celebrated for.”
He had a more positive tune Monday, telling reporters in Miami that his time in Brooklyn “was some of the most fun I ever had playing basketball” while praising coach Jacque Vaughn’s role in creating that environment.
“Hopefully, people can look at some of the great moments that we had there,” Durant told reporters. “I know it was like a couple of regular-season games. People who follow the Brooklyn Nets, they understood what we went through and those little moments that we had and shared as a team that the fans rallied around.
“Hopefully, they can remember that stuff.”
Ahead of the game Wednesday night, Durant was honored with a video tribute.
How Durant is remembered will depend on the individual. Besides his legendary scoring, he was the reason the Nets reached the 2021 Eastern Conference semifinals, where they lost Game 7 to the eventual champion Bucks in overtime. Durant’s potential game-winning three in regulation was later ruled a game-tying two-point shot.
It might not change some fans’ minds about how things ended, even if that trade brought them a growing star in Mikal Bridges. But for Thomas, he’ll remember how Durant mentored him and the effect it had on his career.
“It’s good that he saw my potential and wanted to help me when I was a young guy,” Thomas said. “He just wanted to help me get used to the NBA game and get a feel for everything.”
As for that tribute video? Thomas expected it to come — even if Durant didn’t want one, Thomas thinks fans should remember the good moments even among the disappointing ones.
“KD just be trolling,” Thomas said Monday. “He did a lot here, whether people want to say he did or not. He did a lot for New York.”
Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
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