After starting his third season with the Nets, Kevin Durant has once again decided to call it quits. In his latest interview with Bleacher Report, Kevin Durant was quoted saying, “Look at our starting lineup. Edmond Sumner, Royce O’Neale, Joe Harris, Nic Claxton and me. It’s not disrespect, but what are you expecting from that group? Durant asked of B/R. “You expect us to win because I’m out there. So if you’re watching from that lens, you’re expecting us to play well because No. 7 is out there. Press” this is not only disrespectful towards his teammates but also towards the front office, which has done everything it can to make him happy. They agreed to demote Jacque Vaughn, who did a great job bringing the Nets back to contention, just because Durant was friends with Steve Nash. While Nash is one of the greatest point guards of all time, his coaching abilities were lackluster, and Kyrie’s statement, “they don’t even need a coach,” didn’t help.
Once again, Durant was given a “say” on the trade for James Harden, and he thought that getting rid of talent for an aging player who was overweight was a good idea. These were not his only mistake because even if you don’t think he signed off on those decisions he still clearly had no impact on his teammates and aside from being the leader on the scoring board he doesn’t seem to be the leader in the dressing room. When you look at the impact Kobe, Jordan and Lebron had on other players it shows you that even if you are superstar that doesn’t make you a leader.
Instead of tweeting and creating fake accounts to mock the press if he had taken that time to talk to his teammates Kyrie, Harden and now Ben Simmons and led by example perhaps they would have taken it seriously. Whenever controversy is in the air all KD says is “I just want to play Basketball” but he then does things that contradict his statements while on twitter.
Kevin Durant is a fantastic player and no one should criticize him when he’s on the court, but when you are a leader and the highest-paid player on the roster there are responsibilities that you obtain. Mocking your teammates saying how could I win with these guys shows you lack of maturity. If he had taken his role as a leader seriously and helped his teammates focus on basketball instead of partying and sending out antisemitic tropes then perhaps the Nets might have two banners hanging in the Barclays Center, but instead he does the opposite of what he says and spends his days on twitter creating fake accounts and focusing on everything else but playing basketball.
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