The Brooklyn Nets’ super team of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden was supposed to conquer the NBA. They believed they’d be getting a team that would compare to the 96 Bulls or the 2016 Warriors. Unfortunately, the truth was much harsher than that.
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The team wasn’t a colossal failure. Sure, they never won a title, but they came close, losing in the 2021 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. But it was all downhill after that. Irving was banned from playing in New York because of his stance on COVID-19 vaccines. KD was injured for a while, and Harden wanted out after not getting to play with his two mates.
ESPN Insider Brian Windhorst discussed how bad that time was for the team, calling it a “basketball tragedy.” He appeared on the Stephen A. Smith Show and was asked if the Nets would perform any differently with Kenny Atkinson at the helm, instead of Steve Nash.
Atkinson was the Nets’ head coach when KD joined, but his injury meant the two-time FMVP never played under him. Nash was hired the year KD returned. Stephen A. wanted to know if, in Windy’s expert opinion, the Nets would have performed better had KD been healthy under Atkinson.
“The James Harden, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving failure is what I have called a basketball tragedy. It’s not a real life tragedy, it’s not life and death, but from a basketball standpoint, those three guys getting together on the same team, in one of the major markets, should’ve produced championships, at least one. And the fact that not only did they not, but they were largely a failure because they couldn’t even play together, is a basketball tragedy.”
Windy’s main argument was that the star trio lacked playing time together.
Brooklyn Nets’ abysmal Big 3
The Nets signed Kyrie in 2019 and acquired KD shortly after. Harden would join them in January 2021. Over the one season they spent together (they broke up in 2022) the duo played only 16 games together. The reasons were plenty- injuries to Durant and Harden, Irving’s stance on the COVID vaccine, and a general lack of chemistry between the stars.
In February 2022, a little over a year after joining them, Harden wanted out. He wasn’t getting to play with Durant and Irving, and results weren’t going his way. The Brooklyn Nets’ dream lasted one year and one month. In the end, fans and experts will consider it one of the worst super teams formed.
