Woj: James Harden Trade, Steve Nash Hire Part of Nets' Plan to Keep Kevin Durant

The Brooklyn Nets' decisions to hire two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash as their head coach and trade for Houston Rockets guard James Harden were in accordance with the team's plan to retain 10-time All-Star forward Kevin Durant long-term, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

NetsDaily provided a snapshot of Wojnarowski's comments, which also included that KD went to Brooklyn with the intention of making the Nets "his team" when he agreed to a deal in free agency two summers ago:

Durant strongly praised the Nash hire when he spoke with New Orleans Pelicans guard JJ Redick on The Old Man and the Three podcast.

"His insight for the game, his communication, how he communicates the game of basketball is definitely going to help me as a player develop and it's going to help the rest of the team," Durant said in part (h/t ESPN's Andrew Lopez).

"Every time I'm in the gym with him, I was always like a sponge. I'm looking forward to this man. I always feel like I'm a student of the game. Somebody who has experienced so much and played in different eras, I'm looking forward to him teaching me some more things about it as well."

Durant and Nash worked together in Golden State, when the latter was a consultant with the Warriors.

As for KD and Harden, the two were teammates together on the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2009-10 to 2011-12, and Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News noted that the two are "good friends."

Durant missed the entire 2019-20 season as he recovered from a torn Achilles suffered during the 2019 NBA Finals, when he was a member of the Warriors. He returned this year and has averaged 29.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game.

The Nets have endured an up-and-down season, entering Saturday's road matchup with the Warriors sporting a 15-12 record. Brooklyn is second in points per game but has allowed the third-most points per game on defense.

However, the Nets' stars have had little time to jell, with Durant, Kyrie Irving and Harden only playing six games together thus far for various reasons.

The seventh game with the trio will take place Saturday, though, after KD returned to the lineup following a weeklong absence because of the NBA's COVID-19 health and safety protocols.