3 Instant Reactions After Kevin Durant Pulls Trade Request to Remain with Nets

At long last, the Kevin Durant-Brooklyn Nets saga is over—and it's ending with a whimper.

No blockbuster trade. No subsequent Kyrie Irving trade. Nothing.

The Nets announced they reached an agreement for Durant to remain with the franchise moving forward following a meeting with the 12-time All-Star in Los Angeles:

The meeting had all of the major players in the Nets franchise, with coach Steve Nash, general manager Sean Marks and governor Joe Tsai sitting down to hash things out.

So ends a rumor-filled adventure that began in late June and provided countless stories for the talking-head airwaves to fill their summer programming.

With everything seemingly wrapped up in a nice, neat bow, let's take a look at what the detente means for the Nets and the NBA as a whole moving forward.

Durant first informed Tsai of his desire for a trade in late June. He reiterated his desire about three weeks ago in London, attempting to strong-arm the situation by demanding the Nets fire Nash and Marks if Tsai wanted the 12-time All-Star to return.

Every step of the way the Nets said no.

Tsai even took the borderline unprecedented step of publicly backing Nash and Marks on social media, making it clear in no uncertain terms he would not allow his franchise to be held hostage.

Tsai drew his line in the sand and banked on Durant caving. It took less than three weeks for the Nets governor to get exactly what he wanted.

In the modern NBA, this is a borderline unprecedented result.

Since LeBron James kicked off the so-called Player Empowerment Era with The Decision in 2010, we've seen an almost annual stream of superstars exert their influence and force trades.

Carmelo Anthony did it. Chris Paul too. And Kawhi Leonard and Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard. Paul George did it twice. James Harden did it twice in the span of 13 months.

Durant's trade request was seemingly the final straw, with Brian Lewis of the New York Post reporting NBA owners could consider a lockout during the next CBA talks to stop this trend.

Instead, Tsai showed a path that doesn't include a work stoppage: have an ownership group and a front office with a backbone. The Nets knew they had Durant under contract for four more years. No matter his strong-arming tactics, Durant had no leverage beyond retirement or a full-scale act of petulance upon his arrival at training camp—one that would only further damage Durant's perpetually dissatisfied reputation.

Ben Simmons may have been willing to take whatever public flagellation necessary to get out of Philadelphia, but he was an outlier situation. Durant made it clear he was never going to retire.

The overwhelming majority of professional athletes are not going to willingly turn down tens of millions of dollars and stay away from their team simply because they don't like where they're currently playing. It's likely some of the aforementioned situations would have had a similar outcome if other front offices had more fortitude.

Ironically, the Durant fiasco ended on the late Kobe Bryant's birthday. In 2007, Bryant created his own public circus by demanding a trade from the Lakers. The situation dragged into training camp, with reporters arriving in droves to Honolulu to cover what appeared to be the crumbling of the Lakers franchise.

The Lakers, much like the Nets 15 years later, refused to cave. Bryant gritted his teeth, played through his frustrations and then was hand-delivered an All-Star big man in Pau Gasol for his troubles months later.

Two championships followed, and Bryant retired as arguably the greatest Laker in franchise history, his act of betrayal lost to time. We could be seeing the start of a similar story playing out in Brooklyn.

Like...watching a romance scene in a movie with your parents level of awkward.

As much as the Nets want to say things were hashed out between all parties at Monday's meeting, Durant wanted Nash fired. Wanted him to lose his current livelihood. While he also wanted Marks ousted, the level of day-to-day interaction between a player and general manager is minimal.

Durant and Nash are going to see each other every day and be working in close quarters together.

To continue the whole comparison to the past thing we started with Bryant, the most obvious comparison we can make here is the relationship between Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy. In April 2012, Van Gundy confirmed a report that Howard wanted him fired—only for Howard to show up in the middle of the coach's press conference and act like nothing was wrong.

It was perhaps the most awkward situation in modern NBA history. The moment spawned several different memes that continue being used a decade later. Throw up a picture of Van Gundy sipping a Diet Pepsi, and every NBA fan will know the exact time and place you're referencing.

One key difference: The Howard-Van Gundy partnership dissolved less than two months later.

The Nets are going into the 2022-23 season with the idea of Nash remaining coach for the long term. Massive media attention was expected coming into Nets camp regardless of how this situation played out, but now every Durant-Nash interaction is going to be placed under a microscope.

Does Nash enter this season on the hot seat? Do we hear rumors of his exit with every Brooklyn mini-slump? Can Irving and Durant, both highly demonstrative players, keep their disagreements with their coach out of the public eye?

For an organization that seemed determined to avoid the constant distractions from last season, the Nets appear to be setting up a whole new set of problems come September.

Now that the dust has settled, let's make one thing clear: The Nets have the best Big Three in basketball, and it's not even particularly close.

Durant has dealt with injuries the past two seasons but has emerged as one of the rare stars every bit as good as he was before an Achilles tear. Irving is one of the greatest off-the-dribble players in NBA history and a bastion of offensive efficiency as a shooter.

Oh.

Right.

You want to talk about the other guy.

Yes, I am aware the last time we saw Ben Simmons he was passing up a wide-open dunk in a Game 7 because he was afraid to shoot free throws. Sure, he's made no improvement as a jump-shooter and seems fundamentally unwilling to even make an attempt during games. We all know you read NBA Twitter.

Here's the thing: Ben Simmons is awesome at basketball. He's a 6'11" point guard who never feels out of place leading an offense. He's the NBA's most versatile defender, capable of sticking with 1s side-to-side and more than long enough to handle most bigs on switches. By age 25, he'd made three All-Star teams and one All-NBA team. That's two more All-Star appearances and one more All-NBA team than Jaylen Brown, by the way.

Simmons never has to make an improvement as a basketball player to be a star; he already is one. He's also heading into a situation where his skill set makes sense for the first time in his career. If you were crafting an ideal third banana next to Durant and Irving, it wouldn't be another ball-dominant player like Harden; it'd be a defensive Swiss Army knife like Simmons.

Injuries are a concern after Simmons underwent a microdiscectomy procedure on his back this offseason. But if he is a carbon copy of the player he was with the Sixers, the Nets should arguably be the NBA championship favorites and might be a steal at +750 (bet $100 to win $750).