Report: Durant asks Nets to choose between trading him or firing Nash and Marks

Kevin Durant reiterated his trade request to the Brooklyn Nets over the weekend, informing the team’s owner Joe Tsai that he had to choose between the All-NBA star or pairing general manager Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash. corresponding Shams Charania by The Athletic.

During the face-to-face meeting, Durant told Tsai that he had no confidence in the team’s direction, Charania reported.

For Brooklyn, Durant’s dual dissatisfaction with both the coaching and the team’s vision — having worked to orient those two facets of the organization around Durant — represents a marked departure from his apparent stance when he returned to the team a year ago Team signed and agreed to a four-year, $198 million deal.

It’s also a dramatic pivot for Durant’s comments after the team was eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA playoffs. By this time, Durant was adamant that Nash was the right person for the job.

“I mean, come on,” Durant said. “Yes I think so). Steve has been dealt a crazy hand for the past two years. He’s had to deal with so many things as a head coach, as a first-time coach: trades, injuries, COVID, it’s just a lot of things that he’s had to deal with and I’m proud of his focus and his passion for us. We all evolve over the summer and see what happens.

When hiring Nash, the guideline was to find someone who could connect with Durant, leading Brooklyn to pursue a candidate who had worked with him at the Golden State. It’s not clear what changed Durant’s view of the coach, though Nash’s coaching decisions did come under fire at times in their first-round loss to the Celtics — namely, the lack of adjustments he made.

Durant has made fewer public comments about the team’s build, but the Nets themselves have been eager to hastily gather a competitor around them – sometimes to their detriment. The Nets struck out in the ultimately doomed Big 3 experiment of adding James Harden to their Durant-Kyrie Irving duo, an agreement that saw the three stars play together for just 16 games. Harden was dealt at close of trade last season against another maligned star, Ben Simmons, who was also involved in an untenable situation with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Simmons ended up not playing for the Nets due to a combination of back problems and mental health issues. According to Charania, the Nets are incredibly high on Simmons’ return to the game after recovering from back surgery and see him as the perfect complement to Durant and Irving.

Beyond that trio, the Nets attempted to round out their roster of complementary plays this offseason, trading for Royce O’Neale, bringing back Patty Mills and Nic Claxton while also signing TJ Warren. Though the moves don’t have the shine that the Nets did last summer, Charania says the team believes they’ve assembled a championship-contesting core.

Still, the moves don’t seem enough to convince Durant, who’s determined he wants a change of scenery before his 16th season.

How the Nets will handle the latest ultimatum in a saga that has occupied much of the NBA offseason remains to be seen, though it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the superstar, who has expressed his expressed dissatisfaction brings to more influence for Brooklyn in trade talks.

Since the trade request, rumors have swirled around almost every team in the league by day, but have solidified around three teams in particular: the Celtics, the Toronto Raptors and the Miami Heat. Those three, Charania reported, remain prime candidates to acquire Durant, but Tsai has “privately made it clear they will take every last asset” from any team that does business with them.

Previous reports have indicated that the Nets were steadfast in wanting Scottie Barnes from the Raptors, a possibility the team has no interest in. Similarly, in Boston, rumors that Jaylen Brown could be involved in trading scenarios never materialized.

The Nets’ rigid stance and sky-high threshold for a deal could extend the saga into the start of the season, a decision that could weigh on the rest of the Brooklyn team and their hopes of making a significant dent in the Eastern Conference . Across the league, Charania reported, others have wondered if Durant could miss training camp if trade doesn’t develop.