Kevin Durant nonetheless “wants the best for” the Nets.
In an interview with The Athletic, Durant — who pressured a commerce from Brooklyn to the Phoenix Suns on the commerce deadline following Kyrie Irving’s sudden commerce from the Nets to the Dallas Mavericks — urged there isn’t a unhealthy blood between himself and the Nets entrance workplace, despite the fact that his tumultuous time in Brooklyn ended with out a deep playoff run.
“I hated it had to go down like that. I wasn’t trying to prove the Nets is a s—ty organization. I was trying to prove that the Nets are a great organization, that they care about their players, want the best for their players,” the Suns star mentioned as he returned to the court docket after an ankle harm on Wednesday. “Certain sh— simply didn’t work out. I perceive that. I’m not right here attempting to show that the Nets was improper, I believe they did wonderful by me the entire time I used to be there, not simply with the commerce.
“Coming off the Achilles injury, get back into playing — they made sure they were there for me every step of the way. And I appreciate that for life. I feel like we’ll be tied as family members for life regardless of how it finished.”
Durant additionally reiterated that after Irving’s deal to the Dallas Mavericks was full, he was unclear what path the Nets have been headed as a corporation.
“Once I had no understanding of what direction we’re going in, I tried to make the best decision for me,” he mentioned.
The Nets traded Durant to the Suns for Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, 4 first-round picks and swap rights to an extra future first-round choose. The Suns instantly jumped to the forefront of the NBA championship dialog with a respectable Big 4 of Durant, Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton.
Durant scored 16 factors in 29 minutes in Phoenix’s victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday. It was his first recreation performed since March 5 and simply his fourth in a Suns jersey. He arrived in Phoenix whereas nursing an MCL sprain he sustained on Jan. 8 as a member of the Nets.
“I feel pretty good,” Durant mentioned. “I know we gotta bring it every night now. We got a target on our back. So it’s still somewhat … a little anxious, a little anxiety coming into each game. Just because you want to be at your best, and you know everybody is targeting us. I’m looking forward to the challenge. We all are.”
The Suns owned a 30-27 report the day they traded for Durant. Their win over the Timberwolves on Wednesday moved them six video games above .500 into the Western Conference’s fourth seed. The Suns haven’t but clinched one of many six assured playoff seeds and — with solely 3.5 video games separating themselves from the Tenth-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder — Phoenix probably has to win out to keep away from the sudden-death play-in match.
Irving’s Mavericks, alternatively, might miss the playoffs altogether.
The Mavericks have an 8-14 report since buying and selling for Irving and discover themselves eleventh within the Western Conference. Dallas has misplaced 5 of its final six and 9 of its final 12 video games.
Early returns on Irving and Luka Doncic as a duo haven’t been promising, although the Mavericks — who traded their two-most succesful remaining defenders (Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie) to Brooklyn to accumulate Irving within the first place — had points that predated the star guard’s arrival.
Irving was requested what it was wish to be traded midseason for the primary time in his profession on Wednesday.
“The big question: Why they traded for me? And what does it look like for the future? What does our future look like? That’s the big question,” he mentioned. “I think that now, just where we are in the season, and where other teams are positioned already, it kind of looks a bit like a clusterf—k to be honest, because we’re 37-40 and we’re trying to fight for the play-in game. It’s not the expectations I don’t think any of us had in that locker room.”
Then Irving addressed the query at hand.
“And me getting traded midseason… I didn’t expect to ask for a trade at that point in the season,” he mentioned. “So I wanted to finish out with Brooklyn, finish out the season that we had going, and I didn’t get a chance to do that. So some of the goals that I had previously had to be shifted.”
Irving is about to enter unrestricted free company the place he can signal with any crew that makes a proposal. The Mavericks can supply Irving a two-year, $83M extension earlier than the season is over or a four-year, $220.6M extension in free company.
The Mavericks may also supply a five-year max deal price $272M, however that’s believed to be unrealistic given Irving’s historical past of lacking video games.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com