When the three were on the court together, they were elite. Levert was later traded to Indiana for Victor Oladipo. This led to a blockbuster deal, where the Nets traded Harden but dealt Jarrett Allen to Cleveland and Levert to Houston. In the 2020-21 season, there were rumblings about James Harden wanting out of Houston, and more rumblings about the Nets being one of his desired destinations. Most notably, Atkinson was fired after going 28-34, being replaced by rookie head coach Steve Nash. They went 35-37 and lost to Toronto in the first round in the NBA Bubble. Meanwhile, Irving only played 20 games due to a shoulder injury. Durant was recovering from the torn Achilles he suffered in the 2019 Finals, so he did not play a single game in the 2019-20 season. The first year in the Durant-Irving era was rather uneventful on the court.

They then signed guard Kyrie Irving to team up with Durant.

They acquired star forward Kevin Durant through a sign & trade with Golden State, sending Russell to the Warriors in the deal. And although they lost in five games in the first round to Philadelphia, many people were high on the Nets going into the 2019 off-season.Įxpectations instantly got higher with their two main moves. They were one of the big surprises of that season- despite being projected as a lottery team, they won 42 games and clinched the sixth seed in the East. This led to their best year since their rebuild began in the 2018-19 season. They hired Kenny Atkinson as their head coach in 2016 and they acquired young assets such as Jarrett Allen, Caris Levert, Spencer Dinwiddie, and D’Angelo Russell. They had three straight seasons of under 3o wins but they were getting progressively better. A core that never made it to the Eastern Conference finals. They were in the midst of a lengthy rebuild after years of trying to compete with a core of Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce. In the mid-2010s, the Nets were considered one of the jokes of the NBA. The Nets had lofty expectations over the last few seasons but struggled to reach them due to injuries, roster turnover, and off-court drama. By 2023, Irving is now a Dallas Maverick and Durant’s future in Brooklyn is in question. In the 2019 offseason, the Brooklyn Nets wooed both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to sign with them.

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