Durant Responds to Report Suggesting He’d Rather Retire Than Play for Nets
Written by SOURCE on August 16, 2022
UPDATED 8/15/22, 5:54 p.m. ET: Kevin Durant took to social media to seemingly respond to a report from Marc Stein that cited an unnamed NBA exec who believes the 33-year-old would rather retire than continue to play for the Brooklyn Nets.
“I know most people will believe unnamed sources over me but if it’s anyone out there that’ll listen, I don’t plan on retiring anytime soon,” Durant wrote on Monday. “Shit is comical at this point.”
Durant also responded to some Twitter users after sending out his message.
Check out the tweets below.
See original story below.
Rumors surrounding Kevin Durant’s future in Brooklyn continue to dominate the NBA offseason, with a new report on Monday shedding more light on KD’s desire to part ways with the Nets.
In his latest newsletter published on Substack, NBA insider Marc Stein detailed an interaction he had during NBA Summer League with one team executive, who told the reporter that Durant “was more apt to retire than play again for the Brooklyn Nets.”
“During summer league in Las Vegas, one of the most well-connected team executives I speak to regularly insisted to me that, based on what he was hearing, Kevin Durant was more apt to retire than play again for the Brooklyn Nets,” Stein reports. “This was in early July.”
Stein continued, “Attaching the R-word to Durant still comes across as serious hyperbole, but it is certainly getting easier to envision him refusing to report to training camp.”
Stein went on to reveal that sources close to the situation are concerned that Durant, should he still be in a Nets uniform by the time training camp begins in September, will “continue trying to cause as much of a ruckus behind the scenes to try to prod the Nets into lowering their asking price at last to facilitate a deal.”
“If it wasn’t apparent by now, he really wants that trade to Phoenix or Miami or maybe even Boston or Philadelphia, no matter what it does to his reputation when he hasn’t played a single game yet under the four-year, $194 million contract extension signed in August 2021,” Stein wrote.
The news comes just a week after the Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that KD told Nets owner Joseph Tsai he will need to choose between the 12-time NBA All-Star or general manager Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash.
Tsai subsequently took to Twitter to declare that he stands behind the team’s front office and coaching staff.
“Our front office and coaching staff have my support,” Tsai wrote. “We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.
