Kevin Durant’s biggest mistake was tying himself to Kyrie Irving

Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images

Kevin Durant made the wrong decision tying his career to Kyrie Irving.

The new NBA season is not even one month into its existence, but it already feels like the Brooklyn Nets are beyond saving. The Nets are off to a 2-6 start and have already fired their head coach, but that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg sinking this ship. In reality, the issues that helped the Nets go from NBA title favorites to first round sweep fodder last season are still very much alive even if the conditions have changed.

Those issues start with the two superstars that decided to takeover the franchise and lay everything else to waste. The Nets should have figured Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were not a suitable decision-making apparatus the moment they pressured the franchise into playing DeAndre Jordan over Jarrett Allen. That promoting a washed up pal over a young future All-Star is one of their smaller transgressions since arriving in Brooklyn is all you need to know about the Nets’ downfall.

The organization is now in complete disarray after Irving tweeted a link to a video with heavily antisemitic themes last week. After double and tripling-down in increasingly antagonistic media sessions and refusing to apologize, the Nets suspended Irving without pay for at least five games on Thursday evening. Hours later, Irving issued an apology on Instagram. He’ll need to meet “objective remedial measures” before he’s reinstated, whatever that means.

There’s a story here about the Nets being of the verge of a true disaster. Brooklyn left itself no margin for error when they traded three first round draft picks and four future first round pick swaps to the Houston Rockets for James Harden. Harden of course forced his way out of town after just over one year mostly because he was dismayed Irving wouldn’t get the Covid vaccine — the infamous controversy he caused last season. Ultimately, the Nets are a recently relocated franchise that plays in a typically half-empty arena. They have no real history or culture or sustainable connections to the fanbase — that’s a kind way of saying the Brooklyn Nets don’t mean anything to anyone.

Really, this is about Kevin Durant. Durant is arguably one of the 10 best players in league history. At the time he chose to sign with the Nets, he was considered the best player in the world despite having to rehab a torn Achilles. Durant had the entire NBA in the palm of his hand. He could have had anything he wanted. He chose Kyrie Irving.

Irving already had a history of being the NBA’s most unreliable superstar after disassociating in both Cleveland and Boston when Durant decided to hitch the final years of his prime to his former Olympic teammate. Former SB Nation writer Kristian Winfield tried to warn you the week the two superstars signed. I keep coming back to Durant’s loyal friendship with Irving this week, because it’s put Durant in positions he never should have been in. On Friday, Durant was rightfully criticized for his weak response to how the Nets handled Irving’s promotion of antisemitism.

Durant was dragged so thoroughly he felt the need to clarify his thoughts on the situation less than an hour later.

Yes, Durant’s response to the question about how the Nets handled the Kyrie situation was terrible. It is not hard to say that promoting antisemitism and spreading disinformation is bad. It is also just completely ridiculous that Kevin Durant of all people found himself a situation where he needs to disavow antisemitism. This only happened because of his loyalty to Irving.

Say what you will about KD, but the man is clearly a solid friend. He stuck with Irving through his incoherent anti-vax stance that legitimately ruined a team with title aspirations. He stuck with Irving after Harden demanded out because of Irving’s behavior. He was so loyal to his pal that Brooklyn’s refusal to give Kyrie a max contract extension — looking like a pretty good decision now! — caused KD to demand a trade over the summer …. at least until he realized he had to no leverage with four years left on his contract.

Durant’s defining quality is that he simply loves basketball. He’s been to girls AAU tournaments, broke down film with high school stars, and has deep knowledge on the history of the game. “Ball is life” has been Durant’s mantra since he first rose to prominence as an elite prospect out of the D.C. area. Unfortunately, he hand-picked a situation where he can’t just hoop. Now he’s in a position where he needs to give decisive answers rejecting his best friend’s dangerous personal beliefs.

NBA fans lost their shit when Durant decided to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors. In hindsight, it was a pretty sensible decision: he wanted to win a championship, and the league’s best team had the cap space to sign him. Durant got to show his talent on the game’s biggest stages, winning two Finals MVPs as he secured his two rings. Yeah, maybe those Warriors were “unfair” to fans of other teams, but they were probably really fun to play with!

That is, of course, until the noise around Durant taking the easy way out to got too loud to ignore. He had to leave and prove he could do it somewhere else, with another superstar that wasn’t even better than him like Stephen Curry has been. By choosing Irving, Durant decided to do his championship chase on Hard Mode. Irving already had some truly wild false personal beliefs that he wasn’t afraid to share. He was a nightmare for the Celtics. Yes, Irving’s scoring and dribbling bag is incredibly awesome to witness, but he’s simply not reliable enough on (think: defense) or off the court to tether your career to.

All the while, Durant simply feels like the most unfulfilled all-time great in NBA history. Anyone who has watched his career knows how good he is, yet the Warriors winning another title without him last season certainly was a rough look for his legacy. Durant could have had anything he wanted at the time he chose Brooklyn. He chose Kyrie. Now 34 years old and stuck on a team with zero championship aspirations, Durant’s personal journey in the NBA is taking a dark and depressing detour.

You can pick your friends but not your family. KD would have been wise to keep his friendship with Kyrie off the court, only. His decision to join forces with this era’s most chaotic star is going to be a massive blight when assessing the long-term view of his amazing career. He might not have an easy way out of Brooklyn with three more years left on his deal after this one, but the sooner he can find a new home and new co-star, the better.