Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving decided to make monumental shifts to the NBA landscape by teaming up together on the Brooklyn Nets in 2020.
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The decision wasn’t made instantaneously, there were months of decision making and thought process that led to the two pairing up and forming the beginnings of the vaunted big three they have now.
Supposedly, it all started with a vegan burger and some kale salad. Durant and Irving were still on their old teams, when the two met up in Irving’s Boston mansion.
Kyrie Irving Would Court Kevin Durant At His 7 Bedroom Mansion In Boston Over Vegan Burger And Kale Salad
The Warriors were scheduled to play the Boston Celtics back in a January game in 2019. Before the game, Irving would invite Durant over to his place to show a little hospitality to the Warriors superstar.
However, there were definitely ulterior motives on the table. Irving wasn’t particularly happy with what was going on in Boston, and Durant had started to feel the pressure of leaving Golden State as well.
Brooklyn was a city that appealed to both of them. For one, it could afford the two superstars. It gave Kyrie a chance to go home and let Durant start afresh.
Both superstars wanted control over their situation. Andre Iguodala had told Durant that he didn’t need to answer to anyone:
“At this point, f— everybody. That’s including management, anybody — from this team to that team, fans, whoever. Do whatever makes you happy, man, and don’t feel like you’re letting anybody down with any decision that you make.”
That night Durant would follow Kyrie’s lead exactly. It even involved him trying a vegan burger for the first time. Afterwards, Durant would say:
“I could f— with this”
The two would later play around with a Nerf basketball and even tried being teammates together in NBA 2K. When they saw the kind of potential they had together, teaming up was always on the horizon. From there, they could manipulate the team to their liking to potentially draw in a third star.
And lo and behold, James Harden joined Brooklyn this last year in a blockbuster deal with the Nets. Irving and Durant got everything they ever dreamt of when they met that fateful night. Who knew how much power a vegan burger and a side of kale salad could hold?
KD would later recall about the meeting:
“He didn’t like what his situation was and me either in Golden State. And it was just like, ‘Hey, man, let’s just see how this would work. Let’s try it out.’ And DJ wanted to play with us to be that center for us that can kinda hold it down, and play for something, really — play for a team that’s going somewhere, not just keep moving around and bouncing around to leave.”
