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LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 18: Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant warm up at the 67th NBA All-Star Game: Team LeBron Vs. Team Stephen at Staples Center on February 18, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
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LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 18: Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant warm up at the 67th NBA All-Star Game: Team LeBron Vs. Team Stephen at Staples Center on February 18, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
Kevin Durant is finally back in the NBA. The former two-time Finals MVP has been out with an Achilles injury sustained in the 2019 NBA Finals. KD is now ready to go again with a new team, the Brooklyn Nets.
Durant signed with the Brooklyn Nets in 2019. He and his best friend Kyrie Irving decided to join forces in a new team. KD left Golden State due to off-the-court issues with Warriors player Draymond Green but also to help prove that he could win an NBA championship without the Warriors.
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DENVER, CO – OCTOBER 21: Draymond Green (23) of the Golden State Warriors and Kevin Durant (35) question the referee after a defensive foul call against Green during the first half on Sunday, October 21, 2018. The Denver Nuggets hosted the Golden State Warriors at the Pepsi Center in Denver. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
Durant joined the Warriors in 2016 after losing to them in the 2016 Western Conference Finals. Durant was criticized for ‘ring-chasing’. He joined the Warriors after their 73-9 season, which made them the winningest team in NBA history. The addition of Kevin Durant to the Warriors made them practically unbeatable. The team went back-to-back, winning NBA championships in 2017 and 2018 at the expense of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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Durant won two Finals MVP and was the best player in the league at the time. But he was never given credit for the Warriors’ championship success. Because the Warriors won an NBA championship without him, Durant was never seen as the key. The perception was that Durant needed the Warriors to win.
Nets’ GM on Kevin Durant and his recovery
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Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant attend Philadelphia 76ers v Brooklyn Nets game at Barclays Center on December 15, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by James Devaney/Getty Images)
Durant will want to dispel that perception by proving that he can win without the Warriors. With Kyrie Irving and a young roster around him, Durant has the tools to win big with the Brooklyn Nets. But the big question mark is surrounding KD’s health. However, it appears as though he has fully recovered.
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Nets’ GM Sean Marks spoke to the New York Post about Durant and Irving’s health going into the new season. Marks said that both are healthy and motivated to bring success to Brooklyn. He said:
“They’ve been back in our gym now for a couple days. And being around, the feedback from our performance team and how they’ve looked, their preparing has been terrific, They’re hungry. It goes back to what these guys set out to accomplish a year ago when they said ‘I want to come to Brooklyn. I want to be a part of this. I want to build something sustainable and do something special.’”
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Marks noted that the Nets are excited to see what Kevin Durant will do in Nets jersey and said, “They’re putting themselves in a great place to succeed. … It’s been nothing short of remarkable to watch Kevin’s development and the way he’s attacked his rehabilitation over the course of the last year. We’re all champing at the bit and very excited to see him out here, see the entire group out there.”
It will be exciting to see how Kevin Durant will play when the new NBA season begins on December 22. Durant will be raring to go, after being almost 18 months away from the basketball court.
