Kevin Durant Reflects on Nets Tenure, Says Everything Went 'to S--t' Around Team

Kevin Durant provided a succinct assessment of the Brooklyn Nets' failed superteam experiment with him, Kyrie Irving and James Harden.

The 15-time All-Star said on the Mind the Game podcast that "everything around us was going to s--t." The conversation begins around the 38:02 mark in the newest episode, which dropped Tuesday.

Durant cited what other teams around the NBA were doing to improve, which had an impact on Brooklyn, along with complicating factors for the Nets like trying to integrate Ben Simmons into the lineup to start the 2022-23 season.

Mind the Game co-host Steve Nash, who coached Brooklyn across three seasons, lamented that he "didn't get to coach as much as I wanted to."

Durant chimed in to say that "we didn't get the full Steve Nash like I wanted."

Superteams don't implode more spectacularly than the Nets. They were only afforded one playoff run with the trio of Durant, Irving and Harden together before things spiraled.

Irving's refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine meant he missed the first 35 games of the 2021-22 season. When he returned to the court, he was then only available for away games.

Harden grew disaffected and got traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in February 2022. He and Irving reportedly weren't on the same page, while Durant had challenged Harden whether he had been in peak playing shape.

Then came KD's trade request during the 2022 offseason. While he remained in Brooklyn on opening night, that only prolonged the inevitable. Both Durant and Irving were gone by the 2023 trade deadline.

Durant said on Mind the Game his first year of playing in Brooklyn — he missed all of 2019-20 while recovering from an Achilles injury — was the "some of the most fun ball I've had playing my whole life."

Unfortunately for he and the Nets, life never got as good as that 2021 trip to the Eastern Conference semifinals.