Kevin Durant returns to Brooklyn: ‘Pointless’ to ponder what-ifs

NEW YORK — Kevin Durant made his return to Barclays Heart, his house for the higher a part of 4 seasons, on Wednesday night time and mentioned he hasn’t thought of how his tenure with the Brooklyn Nets may have performed out otherwise and that he, Kyrie Irving and James Harden merely “did not have sufficient time collectively.”

“No,” Durant mentioned matter-of-factly after posting 33 factors, 8 assists and 5 rebounds within the Phoenix Suns’ 136-120 win over Brooklyn. “I imply, that is only a pointless train, in my view, to consider what may have been.

“What occurred. That is what I thought of: what truly occurred. The truth of it.”

“We did not have sufficient time collectively. That is simply it,” he continued. “Guys needed to go their separate methods. We tried our hardest to, you realize, salvage all the pieces and all the pieces collectively. We had three or 4 totally different groups [from] after I signed right here till after I left. However on the finish of the day, I loved coming to work, taking part in for, being part of this group and taking part in, representing Brooklyn; no matter what went on, what was mentioned or how I felt, I nonetheless got here to work.”

In so some ways, Durant’s return was a reminder of what may have been.

Even after a ton of accidents, Wednesday’s outing marked the seventeenth recreation Durant has performed alongside Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, his Suns co-stars, this season. Throughout the whole lot of their time collectively in Brooklyn, Durant, Irving and Harden performed a complete of 16 video games collectively. They received one playoff sequence (though Durant was a toe on the 3-point line at Barclays towards the Milwaukee Bucks within the Japanese Convention semifinals away from successful a second one) earlier than first Harden then Irving and in the end Durant himself requested to be traded away from the Nets.

However when requested about how he felt about that cease of his profession as in comparison with his first two — the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder, with whom he reached one NBA Finals and the Western Convention finals three different instances; and the Golden State Warriors, with whom he received two titles and reached the Finals a 3rd time in three seasons — he pushed again on the concept his time with the Nets was a failure in any method.

“I like to take a look at success as just like the people, what you do as a person and how one can convey that as a crew, as a person,” Durant mentioned. “I imply, I used to be an All-Star yearly. I used to be the main vote-getter yearly in All-Star video games. Offered loads of jerseys. [Averaged] 50-40-90, averaged 30, [made] All-NBA. … I imply, was that profitable? what I imply?”

“However crew success is a special factor,” he defined. “However you’d wish to put the crew, how the crew does, you’d wish to put that on among the finest gamers and name it a failure. However you take a look at the work, if you wish to discuss me individually, you may simply take a look at the work that I put in right here. I feel I’ve grown as a participant.

“I am on my approach to mastering the sport. I feel coming right here helped me, pushed me far nearer to that. So that is what I attempt to take from my time right here.”

The Nets performed a tribute video earlier than Durant was launched to begin the sport — although he had requested on social media earlier this week for there to not be one.

He then was greeted by a mixture of cheers and boos — barely extra cheers — earlier than he was given the introduction that was used for his three-plus seasons in Brooklyn.

And whereas Durant mentioned it “is what it’s” when it got here to the tribute, he went out of his approach to say how a lot he loved his time in Brooklyn and that he appreciated the best way the group handled him.

“That wasn’t going to cease me from simply doing my job regardless,” Durant mentioned of the video.

“However there’s class folks right here. They respect everyone who donned the jersey. I do not care if it is for a 10-day, and that reveals an important group. You’ll be able to respect everyone who stepped foot and put their blood, sweat and tears into your group. So, I respect that.”

What’s unimaginable to not respect is Durant’s expertise, which was on full show Wednesday night time. One of many biggest pure scorers the game has ever seen, Durant completed the sport 10-for-16 from the ground and 11-for-12 from the free throw line, getting wherever he needed from begin to end whereas resigning the Nets to a thirteenth loss of their previous 18 video games, relationship again to final month’s controversial tilt towards the Bucks that noticed Brooklyn get fined $100,000 for violating the league’s participant participation coverage.

For Durant, the Nets are up to now. What’s forward is what each he and the Suns hope is a deep playoff run this spring. And, he mentioned, he’s optimistic about what this group can accomplish after enduring a sluggish begin amid accidents to every of their three stars.

“We had been simply floating from two to 3 video games below .500 and .500 for a lot of the yr,” Durant mentioned. “[Now] we glance up, we’re 28-20 with a very good alternative to be 10 video games over .500 with our subsequent two video games on the street. So, we’re going house on the 50-game mark, hopefully we will be 30-20, and I like the place we’re. It is a grind all through the entire season, particularly with the brand new group, new teaching workers, new crew, guys out and in the lineup. You bought to construct some continuity, and I feel we’re on our approach to that.”