Kevin Durant is leaving the Bay Area for Brooklyn, N.Y.
ESPN reports that he’ll no longer be playing for the Golden State Warriors and will join the Brooklyn Nets, while Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan will be playing for the Nets as well.
Durant was undoubtedly the biggest name in the NBA’s 2019 free agency, which kicked off on June 30, despite tearing his Achilles in Game 5 of this year’s finals against the Toronto Raptors.
He’ll sit out the entire 2019-2020 season to heal from the injury, but the Nets still offered him $164 million for four years.
Irving, meanwhile, will no longer play for the Boston Celtics and accepted a four-year deal for $141 million. Jordan, who played for the New York Knicks, will also sign a four-year contract with the Nets but for $40 million.
It’s safe to assume that a lot of folks thought the New York Knicks would secure Durant and Irving after they reportedly cleared up cap space.
And Knicks fans are already expressing anger over the failed the move, especially since the team only won 17 games last season. They also haven’t brought a big name player to Madison Square Garden for quite a while.
Reportedly, the Knicks didn’t offer Durant the maximum deal because of his injury and Irving, as well as Jordan, wanted to play for the Nets because they wanted to win a championship sooner than later.
“Maybe it’s an indication that bottoming out like the Knicks did last year, winning 17 games, being the worst team in the league, was not the best way to go into free agency,” NBA writer Mike Vorkunov told CBS News. “The Nets chose a different path. They were competitive, they were able to put together a team that was both interesting and still future-minded. The Knicks couldn’t offer that.”
So far Durant has kept quiet about the reported deal and so has Jordan. But Irving seemingly addressed the news and explained why he chose to leave the Celtics.
“The Journey is the Reward,” he wrote Sunday night on Instagram. “Eye only know the best for Me…Family First.”
