Commitment of Kevin is not coach’s concern
Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn said he doesn’t have any concern about Kevin Durant’s desire to remain in Brooklyn now that Kyrie Irving has been traded to the Dallas Mavericks.
Durant and Irving were a package deal when they signed fouryear contracts with Brooklyn in the summer of 2019. Yet he is the only star remaining after both Irving and
James Harden requested trades one year within each other.
Durant requested a trade over the summer, but the Nets declined to move him.
“At the end of the day, Kevin just wants to win,” Vaughn said ahead of tip-off against the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday. “That’s been our goal. He wants to win at shootaround, he wants to win any game of the week. That’s why he loves to play, and that’s why he wants to play 82 games. That will be our holy grail. We’ll continue to put a group out that wins and until there’s something for me to be concerned about, then I’ll carry on business as usual.”
Neither Durant nor Irving attended Saturday’s matchup against the Washington Wizards. Vaughn said he was uncertain whether or not Durant, who is currently nursing a sprained MCL in his right knee, would be in attendance to support his teammates on Monday against the Clippers.
The Nets have been active ahead of the Feb. 9 NBA trade deadline in an effort to bolster the roster around Durant, who could request a trade either before
Thursday or this upcoming summer if he is unsatisfied with the talent on the roster.
The Nets attempted to rope a third team into the Mavericks deal and reroute Spencer Dinwiddie and draft capital elsewhere to bring in an impact player, but ultimately, they declared the trade official 90 minutes ahead of tip-off against the Clippers. If the Nets opt to deal Dinwiddie or Dorian Finney-Smith by Thursday’s 3 P.M. deadline, they can’t package either with additional players in a deal.
Vaughn said his conversations with Durant have not been Irving-related.
“My conversation with Kev basically was based around the (Wizards) game and how our group pulled together to get a win,” he said. “He was enthusiastic about how our guys played, how Cam (Thomas) played, so our conversations really kind of geared toward that direction.”
The Nets are expected to give some form of an update on Durant’s status ahead of tip-off against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. Monday marked his 13th straight game missed with the MCL sprain, which Vaughn declined to provide a grade of severity.
Durant is averaging 29.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists for the Nets this season. Despite his injury, he was named an Eastern Conference All-Star starter over Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, but his status for the 2023 All-Star Game remains uncertain.
Injuries have kept Durant out of the All-Star Game every season since he signed in Brooklyn in 2019.