Durant not dwelling on "What Ifs" of his Nets run with Irving, Harden

KD is not looking back to his tumultuous and failed past as a Net with Kai, and Harden.

© Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Behind the best efforts made by the Brooklyn Nets in welcoming Kevin Durant's return last Wednesday night is a massive “What-If” imposed for both the franchise and its fanbase.

2019 started it all. As both Durant and Kyrie Irving joined forces and placed themselves at their side, the Nets were immediately pegged as a title-contending heavyweight. And the blockbuster acquisition of James Harden two years later just fortified their odds for that elusive championship as a frightening superteam.

But all of their sky-high aspirations and hopes to win it all got gradually crushed to dust. The KD-Irving era turned out to be a furious roller coaster ride, their superteam experiment with Harden was devastatingly a short-lived experience in which they all played for just 16 games altogether, and the franchise transformed as the league's prime subject of intrigue and controversy in the past few seasons mainly due to injuries and off-court shenanigans.

No more “What-Ifs”

2022 served as the concluding point of this lopsided partnership. After trading Irving to the Dallas Mavericks, Durant proceeded to become the last straw as his departure and shipping to the Phoenix Suns marked the ending of a disastrous era.

What transpired throughout the process and eventual downfall of their reigns in Brooklyn has been exhausting to ponder for KD, and he intends to reject any idea to reflect in any kind of “What-If” about his time with co-stars Irving and Harden.

“No. That’s just a pointless exercise to think about what could’ve been. What happened? That’s what I thought about. … We didn’t have enough time together,” KD said. “That’s just it."

“Guys had to go their separate ways. We tried our hardest to salvage everything and bring everything together. … But at the end of the day, I enjoyed coming to work, being a part of this community, and playing and representing Brooklyn. Regardless of what went on or was said or how I felt, I still came to work."

A Nets legacy that is up for debate

As they move in separate ways, Durant still has a strong regard for Brooklyn and the time he had as the franchise's frontman. He'll always sing such praise on how the fans stuck with him since Day 1.

But he tends to keep his mouth shut if the discussion is his legacy as a Net.

“I want you to figure out what it is on your own,” he said. “It’s your own experience when you come to watch us play. I’m not here to sway anybody’s experience or manipulate how they think or feel about the game. Whatever you take from it, you take from it. It’s on me to just go out there and do me.”

Nets reject Rockets' trade attempts to acquire Mikal Bridges