Kevin Durant just made a big decision when it comes to his career in the NBA. On Tuesday, Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks announced that Durant will stay with the team and will not be traded this year. Durant initially asked for a trade on June 30 but will now continue to play with the team on his four-year, $198 million contract extension he signed last year, which kicks in during the 2022-23 season.
“[Coach] Steve Nash and I, together with [governors] Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai, met with Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman in Los Angeles yesterday,” Marks said in a statement. “We have agreed to move forward with our partnership. We are focusing on basketball, with one collective goal in mind: build a lasting franchise to bring a championship to Brooklyn.”
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Durant joined the Nets in 2019 via a sign-and-trade deal. He is under contract with the team through the 2025-26 season and will be joined by Kyrie Irving who announced he has opted into the final year of his contract. Irving played in 29 games last season after choosing not to get the COVID-19 vaccine. He was looking to be traded as well before he decided to play one more season with the Nets.
Durant and Irving were expected to help the Nets win a championship. However, the team lost in the second round of the playoffs in 2021 and lost in the first round this year. Both Durant and Irving dealt with season-ending injuries in 2020. However, the 2022-23 season looks promising for the Nets with Durant and Irving returning and the addition of Ben Simmons who was traded to the team last year but has not played a game for the Nets yet. In May, Simmons underwent a microdiscectomy procedure.
Durant, 33, was selected No. 2 overall by the Seattle SuperSonics in the 2007 NBA Draft. The team then relocated to Oklahoma City during the 2008-09 season and changed its name to the Thunder. Durant won Rookie of the Year in 2008 and would then become one of the NBA’s top superstars. He left the Thunder in 2016 to sign with the Golden State Warriors where he won two NBA Championships. In his career, Durant has been named an all-star 12 times, selected to the All-NBA Team 10 times, won the NBA Finals MVP award twice and won the NBA MVP award in 2014.
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