The Brooklyn Nets announced that they’re officially running it back with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
After an offseason of trade drama involving both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the Brooklyn Nets have officially announced that they are running it back with their current roster heading into the 2022-23 NBA season.
Perhaps most importantly, Durant and Kyrie are no longer on the trade block. This is something that the Nets were hoping would come to fruition all throughout the trade discussions this summer. That much was evident by Brooklyn’s extremely high asking price.
The Brooklyn Nets are done discussing trades for Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving
Now, it’s reality.
Steve Nash, Joe Tsai and Sean Marks met with Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman in Los Angeles on Monday and have decided to move forward with partnership, Nets say.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 23, 2022
It’s been quite an offseason for the Nets and for all the wrong reasons. Every time the Nets were in the headlines, it was mostly about Durant and Kyrie. However, that is not over. As their statement says, the Nets are focused on basketball and building a championship-contending team.
Looking at the basketball side of things, the Nets are actually sitting in a pretty good position. After a messy offseason, there is much to be excited about for Brooklyn heading into the season.
On paper, this is a team that could match up with nearly any other team in the league. Including title contenders. In fact, the expectation is that the Nets will be a title contender this season.
If – and that’s a big “if” – they are healthy and engaged, the Nets should be one of the most intriguing teams in the Eastern Conference. Even more so considering we don’t even know what this team’s ceiling is with a healthy Ben Simmons.
And according to recent reports, Simmons should be ready by the time training camp opens for the Nets. If that is indeed true, the Nets will have a trio of Simmons, Kyrie, and Durant leading the charge for a pretty deep team.
Considering this team was close to breaking through a couple of seasons ago when they were hobbled in the playoffs, you can’t help but be intrigued – and perhaps somewhat excited – about this team’s chances in the East this upcoming season.
Of course, there are other questions involving the Nets’ chances that go beyond just basketball. As we saw this past season, those are the real concerns.
If the Nets are going to be considered a legit championship contender this upcoming season in the East, they’ll have to quiet those concerns pretty quickly. We’ll find out if they can do that.