Kevin Durant on Kyrie Irving, James Harden Trades: You Got to Ask Them, to Be Honest

Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant declined to speculate as to why James Harden and Kyrie Irving requested trades from the Brooklyn Nets, which then hastened his exit from the franchise.

"You got to ask them, to be honest," Durant said to The Ringer's Logan Murdock. "My job is to play, and I think I did that. Rehab, a lot of stuff was out of my control that I didn't ... I can't speak on, to be honest, but I just thought we didn't play enough minutes together. That's all."

Only the people who were there can speak to the Nets' internal dynamics, but the thing is, we already seem to understand why Brooklyn's superteam blew up in spectacular fashion.

Harden reportedly was frustrated with Irving's refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which resulted in the latter becoming a part-time player during the 2021-22 season. Harden downplayed the extent to which that was a factor. The Athletic's Joe Vardon reported how at the very least the relationship between the two had frayed.

Once Irving was gone, Harden didn't hide how he felt a level of vindication with how everything had unfolded.

"I don't want to really go into that," he said, per the New York Post's Brian Lewis. "But there's a lot of internal things that was going on, which was one of the reasons why I made my decision. And everybody talked down on me and gave me negative feedback or whatever you want to call it."

Irving's trade followed a breakdown in negotiations between him and the Nets over a long-term extension.

In January, his agent told Bleacher Report's Chris Haynes he was looking to remain in Brooklyn. A little over a week later, things had dramatically spiraled.

Speaking with reporters after his trade to the Dallas Mavericks, Irving said he had felt disrespected at times during his Brooklyn tenure.

Once Irving was gone, there wasn't much reason for Durant to stick around. Durant had already unsuccessfully requested a trade of his own in the offseason.

One day, there might be a thorough postmortem about the Nets' superteam, one that includes the three main players going on the record about all of the machinations behind the scenes.

Until then, fans can still connect the dots to see where things went off the rails.