Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn said he has no concerns about Kevin Durant’s desire to stay in Brooklyn now that Kyrie Irving has been traded to the Dallas Mavericks.
Durant and Irving were an overall deal when they signed four-year contracts with Brooklyn in the summer of 2019. Still, he’s the only star remaining after Irving and James Harden asked for one-year trades the one into the other.
Durant requested a trade over the summer, but the Nets refused to move him.
“At the end of the day, Kevin just wants to win,” Vaughn said before the whistleblower against the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday. “That was our goal. He wants to win the shootaround, he wants to win any game of the week. That’s why he likes to play, and that’s why he wants to play 82 games. This will be our Holy Grail. We will continue to release a winning band and until there is something that concerns me, then I will carry on as usual.
Neither Durant nor Irving attended Saturday’s game against the Washington Wizards. Vaughn said he wasn’t sure Durant, who is currently nursing an MCL sprain in his right knee, would be there to support his teammates Monday against the Clippers.
The Nets have been active ahead of the Feb. 9 NBA trade deadline in an effort to bolster the roster around Durant, who could seek a trade before Thursday or this summer if he’s unhappy with Durant’s talent. the list.
The Nets tried to commit a third team to the Mavericks deal and redirect Spencer Dinwiddie and recruit capital elsewhere to bring in an impact player, but ultimately they told the trade official 90 Minutes before the denunciation against the Clippers. If the Nets choose to deal Dinwiddie or Dorian Finney-Smith by Thursday’s 3 p.m. deadline, they also can’t fit additional players into a deal.
Vaughn said his conversations with Durant were unrelated to Irving.
“My conversation with Kev was basically based on the [Wizards] game and how our group pulled together to get the win,” he said. “He was excited about the way our guys were playing, how Cam [Thomas] played, so our conversations were really pointing in that direction.
The Nets are expected to give some form of update on Durant’s status ahead of the whistleblower against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. Monday marked his 13th consecutive missed game with the MCL sprain, which Vaughn declined to provide a seriousness rating.
Durant is averaging 29.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists for the Nets this season. Despite his injury, he was named the Eastern Conference All-Star starter over Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, but his status for the 2023 All-Star Game remains uncertain.
Injuries have kept Durant out of the All-Star Game every season since signing from Brooklyn in 2019.
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