As he prepares for the new season, the Nets star would like to move past the trade request that dominated summer headlines.
Nets star Kevin Durant is already sick of answering questions regarding his offseason trade request from Brooklyn that was eventually rescinded in favor of him staying with the franchise.
“Can we move on past that at some point?” Durant asked reporters on Friday.
“I know it’s an interesting story. I know that it took up most of the offseason and drama sells, I get that. But I didn’t miss any games, I didn’t miss any practices. I’m still here, so hopefully we can move past that,” he said.
Reports circulated earlier this summer following Durant’s trade request that he wouldn’t return to the franchise unless general manager Sean Marks and coach Steve Nash were fired. When asked about if inaccuracies were reported during the offseason, Durant didn’t hold back.
“There’s a lot of s–t that was inaccurate,” Durant said. “But it’s like I don’t want to go through it right now. We don’t got that much time right now,” he added.
Durant ultimately chose to rescind his trade request and is happy that he made the decision to remain in Brooklyn.
“I felt like we had a good team. I felt like this is the place I said I wanted to be. We started to set something up in the future to be a solid team, so to be honest I thought this was still a great option too. I didn’t want it to get in the way of the games being played. I still love my teammates. Still love playing in the Barclays.”
The Nets will feature a “Big 3” of Durant, Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons when they open the season next month. Simmons, who was acquired from Philadelphia as part of the James Harden trade last season, has yet to play a game with the Nets due to rehabilitation of his back and personal reasons.
The Nets are still one of the most talented teams in the East. If they can remain healthy and put it all together, they should be taken seriously as a contender to come out of the East and make a push for a title this season.
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