Kevin Durant Reveals His and Kyrie Irving’s Role in Picking the Brooklyn Nets Coach

Kevin Durant won back-to-back two titles with the Warriors but failed to win the third and moved to the Brooklyn Nets in free agency. However, his torn Achilles clouded the entire season, and he is yet to make his debut in the Nets jersey. But the almost 32-year-old already has a lot of influence in the Nets organization.

This past week, NBA trade rumors suggested that the Nets were keen on signing KD’s choice, Jrue Holiday in the coming off-season. This only goes to show how much the 10-time NBA All-star’s suggestions are valued.

Kevin Durant puts a full-stop to all the unproven claims

One other headline claimed that Kevin allegedly had the final say in coach Steve Nash’s hiring. Nash, the two-time NBA MVP, has zero coaching experience so far. He is set to take the place of interim coach Jacque Vaughn, who will then take on the role of the Assistant Coach. So it was obvious for the media to question the hiring and connect KD’s say in the final decision. However, KD recently said in an interview: 

“First of all, I didn’t pick the Nets coach. We’ve got people in place that do that. I just supported it: Me and Kyrie [Irving].” He later added, “We’re always on the same page. He’s just a hooper. It doesn’t matter.”

Kyrie has been of the most consistent players in the league of late. He is presently practicing in Los Angeles and will be eager to make a strong comeback as soon as the next season starts under the newly hired coach. 

Why were questions raised on the decision of the Brooklyn Nets organization?

Vaughn coached a team that lacked biggies like Durant and Kyrie Irving (who played just 20 games this season). All he had was Joe Harris and Caris LeVert. Even then, they were 5-3 in the seeding games and managed to defeat a team like the Milwaukee Bucks. Chances were strong that either Vaughn would be promoted or the Nets would give Tyronn Lue (assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers) the responsibility of being the head coach. However, perhaps the fact that Steve Nash had a glorious career as a player and that he was a part-time consultant for players development where Durant gave his three years to GSW, overpowered other options. 

Nash was also reportedly on the radar of the Phoenix Suns, but the Nets won the bet. It remains to be seen how well Nash brings out the best of the Nets to win big next season.