Durant: Nets ‘Did amazing by me the whole time I was there’
Kevin Durant still “wants the best for” the Nets.
In an interview with The Athletic, Durant — who forced a trade from Brooklyn to the Phoenix Suns at the trade deadline following Kyrie Irving’s unexpected trade from the Nets to the Dallasmavericks—suggested there is no bad blood between himself and the Nets front office, even though his tumultuous time in Brooklyn ended without 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 said as he returned to the court after an ankle injury on Wednesday .“certain sh—just didn’t work out. I understand that. I’m not here trying to prove that the nets was wrong, I think they did amazing by me the whole ti mei was there, not just with the trade.
“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 also reiterated that once irving’ s deal to the dallas Mavericks was complete, he was unclear what direction the Nets were headed as an organization.
“Oncei had no understanding of what direction we’ re going in, I tried to make the best decision for me,” he said.
The Nets traded Durant to the Suns for Mikal Bridges, Cam johnson, four first-round picks and swap rights to an additional future first-round pick. The Suns immediately jumped to the forefront of the Nb a championship conversation with a legitimate Big 4 of Durant, Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton.
Durant scored 16 points in 29 minutes in Phoenix’s victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday. It was his first game played since March 5 and just his fourth in a Suns jersey. He arrived in Phoenix while nursing an MCL sprain he sustained on Jan. 8 as a member of the Nets.
“I feel pretty good,” Durant said. “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 beat 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 record the day they traded for Durant. Their win over the Timber wolves on wednesday moved them six games above .500 into the Western Conference’s fourth seed. The Suns haven’ t yet clinched one of the six guaranteed playoff seeds and — with only 3.5 games separating themselves from the 10th-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder — Phoenix likely has to win out to avoid thesudden-deathplay-intournament.