“This is what Kevin Durant wanted, to hoop with a friend and not have a heavy-handed coach”: Colin Cowherd takes shot at KD, Kyrie Irving, and Steve Nash, all at once

How did Kevin Durant reach from choosing to leave the Warriors and end up in a situation where he can’t even reach Conference Finals?

The Brooklyn Nets are one game away from getting eliminated in the first round of the 2022 Playoffs at the hands of the Boston Celtics. If it comes true, it would surely be an utter disaster to the expectations of players, management, and fans.

Both teams’ regular seasons went in the polar opposite directions, when the Nets were cruising through teams in the East, the Celtics were struggling to keep themselves in a Playoffs spot and the tables turned for both teams with how they ended their season.

Also read: “By the way, that LeBron James was 22 years old and in year four”: Nick Wright calls out Mark Jackson for comparing Lakers star to 33-yr-old Kevin Durant

Nets, who were at the top for months since the start of the season, finished 7th, thanks to Kyrie Irving’s vaccination status, followed by James Harden’s transfer drama and Kevin Durant’s injury. Meanwhile, the Celtics finished 3rd with a 51-31 record following an unbelievable turnaround to their season, as they struggled to be above .500 for a long time.

All this wouldn’t hurt anyone more than KD who decided to partner up with Irving while he was the centerpiece of the Warriors dynasty. Now that his Nets are 0-3 down to the Boston Celtics, he must be reliving the moment when he decided to take that massive step back in 2019.

“This is what Kevin Durant wanted, to hoop with a friend and not have a heavy-handed coach”: Colin Cowherd

After his little spat with Draymond Green in the 2018-19 regular-season game against the LA Lakers, Durant decided after the season that he’d move on and join his friend and 7x All-Star Kyrie in Brooklyn.

Both of them, after recovering from injury in the 2019-20 season would later get to play with Harden and form one of the most lethal offenses in the NBA. But injury trouble kept them from playing not even 20-games together in their first year.

The following season Irving’s vaccination status didn’t allow him to play games in New York and the Nets decided to stop him from coming even to the practice facilities for more than half the season.

And now that they finally were fit, and had more than a decent squad to fight any team in the post-season even without Ben Simmons in the lineup, they folded. And most analysts are now questioning Durant’s poor choice back in the day.

Also read: “By the way, that LeBron James was 22 years old and in year four”: Nick Wright calls out Mark Jackson for comparing Lakers star to 33-yr-old Kevin Durant