After watching the Nets' first-round showdown with the Boston Celtics in the playoffs, we will feel that their strength has fallen behind the league's top teams, in this series, except for Irving and Durant, the Nets do not have any alignment advantage, the depth of this team is a big problem, and the defensive ability is also very weak, the defensive player with the league average is already the best on the team, and Durant has shown fatigue for the first time in his career, he is not as unstoppable as the outside world thinks. What the future holds for this team is a good question, but before we get into that, let's take a look at the current situation that led to them.
The Nets didn't have any stars four years ago, but under Kenny Atkinson, the team played very interestingly and energetically, with a 42-40 record that season and a successful playoff, when the young Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert and Joe Harris were a very pleasing civilian team.
That same summer, the Nets made their first big move, signing Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and in the middle of Irving and Durant's first season with the Nets, meritorious head coach Atkinson was fired. We later learned that Irving and Durant more or less pushed the team's decision to change the coach at that time, and the Nets involved their two best players not only in the game, but after the storm of the change of coach, the team's paper strength is still quite strong, and both of their stars have reached their peak and seem to be destined to win the championship.
That summer, the Nets hired Steve Nash as the head coach of the team, Nash was blamelessly great in his playing years, but hiring someone without any coaching experience to steer the team was definitely a stupid team, after all, the outside world, including themselves, believed that they could win the championship, which put a lot of pressure on Nash.
That season, the Nets made a trade that every team would make, hollowing out half of the team and trading Jarrett Allen, Torrian Prince, Caris Leuvier and Rudyne Courouss and three future draft picks for James Harden. Allen later became an All-Star after switching to the Cavaliers, but more importantly, he and LeVert were both young and promising. The Nets lost all depth and became a three-man team that year the Nets lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Irving was injured, and Harden played with an injury, but he was in no form.
This year, the Nets encountered another farce in which Irving refused to be vaccinated against covid-19, and Harden clearly did not like the situation and asked for a trade after he could not bear it. The Nets had no choice but to send Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers before the trade deadline, and in return the Nets got Ben Simmons, Andre Drummond and Seth Curry. Despite Ben Simmons' talent, he hasn't played yet, and while some have questioned Simmons' desire to play, he insists he's still dealing with back injuries and some psychological issues.
What kind of future will this bring to the Nets? Durant will turn 34 before the start of next season, and in fact there is already a hint of signs this season, and players in this age group usually start missing some games due to injuries. Durant averaged more than 37 minutes per game, which placed a great burden on his body, and in those games, Durant was both a father and a mother, responsible for both the possession organization and often playing the number four position, which is a burden for a young player, not to mention that Durant is a veteran who has been seriously injured and is almost 34 years old. If Durant is asked to continue playing in the game for so long, it will be difficult for him to continue to maintain his form.
Next is Kyrie Irving, who will make big decisions against him this summer, and the final year of his contract is a player option worth more than $36 million, and once he refuses to execute and become a free agent, he is eligible to get a five-year super-salary contract worth nearly $250 million, all for a talented player who has only played 103 games in the past three years.
The Nets seem to be in trouble, and they have absolutely little interest in Irving, as some bad signs of his career have led to his friendly relationship with the team no longer existing, and he is widely believed to be a capricious and elusive man. He immediately resigned to joining the Brooklyn Nets after saying he would renew his contract with the Boston Celtics, and had also applied for a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers when he had just finished winning the championship and was still in his contract period.
But Durant and Irving are good friends, Durant clearly wants him to stay, and his position and voice in the team will complicate things. And in a press conference after the Nets were swept in the first round, Irving had hinted that he wanted to be part of the management team, something that had to be feared from the mouth of a talented player who never played seriously.
If the Nets offer him a five-year top salary contract worth $250 million, it would be crazy, and it would be difficult to sign first and change later, because not many teams will be interested in him, and it seems that the only way out is to give him a short-term contract for one or two years, but will Irving be willing to accept it?
The next problem is Ben Simmons, who carries a top salary contract, and this one is even more exaggerated than Irving, who plays hungry without eating and plays a game or two when he thinks about playing, and Simmons is a person who doesn't want to play at all. Simmons is a gifted defensive and organizational player, but his free throw and shooting ability is among the worst in the league, and if Simmons can't regain the defensive and organizational skills of his 76ers, the Nets are doomed to failure. At the same time, like Irving, Simmons' market is also weak, so trading him may still be a big problem.
Meanwhile, the Nets' total guaranteed contract salary next season has already exceeded the luxury tax trigger line, and any signing will result in them paying a high luxury tax. Of course, if their team can perform well in the playoffs and have a chance to win the championship, then the team owner usually doesn't mind spending money, but durant and Irving's age makes things more complicated, and in a league where young players such as Morant and Doncic are rapidly rising, the two veterans over 30 years old are really a bit on the old side.
The Nets seem to have two options, one is to pay Irving and then pray that he can play, and they also need to count on Simmons to overcome his psychological and back injury problems, and they also need to flesh out their bench lineup, because next year only Curry Jr., Joe Harris, Cam Thomas, Dane Ron Sharp, Durant and Simmons have contracts and there is almost no salary space. Another option is to bravely admit the failure of their way of building the team, keep Durant, and build a lineup around him, while using Irving and Simmons to try to get back some assets, if the Nets choose this way, they need Irving and Simmons to return to the court as soon as possible this season, and play a good performance to improve the market value.