On January 14, 2021, Harden was traded to the Nets, and the Brooklyn Big Three were officially formed.
On February 9, 2023, Durant was traded to the Suns, and all three of Brooklyn left the team.
Two years ago, when Samsung got together, the talk of an "early season finale" was boiling over, and now, it's just a void.
The regret of a life and death battle
On January 26, 2019, the Warriors came to Boston to face the Celtics, and the night before the game, Irving invited Durant to his home, Durant tasted a vegetarian burger for the first time, and they played NBA 2K together. It was at that gathering that Irving suggested to Durant to join the Nets together.
Irving went to the Nets process is relatively simple, as a free agent directly signed, but Durant is in a lot of trouble, he is in the summer of 2019 after a serious Achilles tendon injury recovery period, the next season will definitely not play, Nets general manager Sean Marks convened the team's medical team to study Durant's injury report, please everyone on whether to give KD a maximum salary to vote on whether to raise their hands, everyone present raised their hands.
Harden's arrival was unplanned, and coach Nash originally asked Dinwiddie to share the pressure of Durant and Irving possession, but Dinwiddie injured his knee after playing 3 games after the start of the 2020-21 season, at this time Harden was breaking with the Rockets, and after communicating with Durant, Harden named the Nets for his trade destination.
After Harden joined, Irving approached him and came up with an idea.
"You play playmaker, I play shooting guard, okay?"
That's what Harden is ticking for, as he's tired of the heavy singles pattern and prefers to do the job of distributing the ball. As a result, the Brooklyn Big Three offensive network was officially formed, Harden was responsible for the organization, and Durant and Irving were responsible for tackling tough problems.
As for the head coach, it's dispensable. A scout counted on the scene that Irving had not carried out Nash's tactics ten times in a game, and the concept of stars deciding the game was deeply rooted in the Nets.
This style of play is simple, but it can also be rough and crushing. In the first round of the 2021 playoffs against the Celtics, Durant and Irving averaged 57 points per game, Harden averaged 10.6 assists per game, and the Nets won by 11 points per game to defeat the Green Army.
Playing the Bucks in the second round, the Nets started with two consecutive shots, winning the second game by 39 points. Then, the Nets' highway to the championship, suddenly turned a corner, Harden's old hamstring injury recurred into "blood", Irving was injured by the alphabet brother with a small step forward, Durant single-handedly fought to grab seven, the jump shot in the last second of the fourth quarter of the life and death battle, if not stepped on the line, the Bucks were sent home.
However, Durant stepped on that line, the tie became a tie, the Nets lost overtime, and the Bucks sang all the way to the championship that season. That tie-break became a crossroads, with the Bucks leading to success and the Nets heading for failure.
The first dominoes that fall
During the 2021 preseason, the Nets hosted a training camp in San Diego, and when the players reported for duty, Durant realized that he was in big trouble. Harden had a big belly and a visibly out of shape, he didn't train much in the summer, and Irving wrote "none" when filling in the new crown vaccination status.
The Nets got the news long before the New York City announced the vaccine order, sent a notice in the team, and when the whole team assembled, only Irving was not vaccinated, and still refused to be vaccinated after persuading management.
A series of negative chain reactions began, Irving was suspended by the Nets, Durant suffered a knee injury, three cores became single-core, and Harden's physical condition was difficult to support him to lead the team single-handedly like he did during the Rockets era. Teammates, including Durant, are dissatisfied with Harden's professionalism, especially his night singing during his trip to the West, making himself sometimes languished in the game, Harden is quite unhappy with these complaints, thinking that Durant's teammates are equal to him and Irving.
Harden, who was eager to win the championship and did not want to be delayed by Irving's off-court problems, began to look for a way out, on the one hand, he told the Nets that he would not leave, on the other hand, he contacted industry insiders to consult how to change teams without affecting his public image, when the Nets learned the news, Harden had a direct showdown, and he wanted to go to the 76ers.
On February 3, 2022, Harden scored only 4 points in the Nets' loss to the Kings, which was known as the "trade me" declaration, and Harden left the team after playing this game and returned to Houston to await the trade result.
The Nets sent Harden to the 76ers, and the first domino fell.
The Big Three negative teaching materials
On November 16, 2022, the Nets were bloodied by the Kings for 32 points, and Durant said after the game: "You look at our starting lineup, Sumner, Royce O'Neal, Joe Harris, Claxton and me, it's not disrespectful to my teammates, but what else can you expect from our lineup?" ”
There was no Irving in the starting five, who was banned by the Nets for anti-Semitic incidents. In the summer of 2022, Irving failed to negotiate a contract extension with the Nets and was put on the shelf by the team, and Durant also submitted a trade application at this time, and the Nets tried to appease KD, and he was "moved" and put forward a condition to the owner.
"Either Sean Marks and Nash go or I go."
As a result, Nash is gone.
It can be said that Nash's tactics are thin, the on-the-field response is also stiff, and the replaced Vaughn is a better head coach, but Vaughn can't stop Irving from breaking into trouble on social media, can't change Simmons' rejection of shooting and lack of physical durability, and also can't avoid Durant from being injured again.
When Vaughn maintained his top-four ranking in the Eastern Conference with the Nets, besieged by various adverse conditions, Irving suddenly pressed the "destroy" button and asked for a trade on the grounds that he failed to gain the respect of management.
Irving used the term "work ethic" in the interview, and he believes his work ethic is good, but the Nets always direct their focus to his off-court words and actions, which he can't bear.
Endure is also the Nets' attitude towards Irving, who completed the trade almost at their limit and then sent Durant away with the same efficiency.
KD is certainly different from Irving, he plays hard, but the Nets understand that it is difficult for Durant to lead the current roster further in the playoffs, and KD will lose some value every year older, Durant wants to go to the Suns, the Nets adult beauty, with the ceiling has been very limited now, to exchange future hope (draft picks), push down again, everything to zero.
During the Nets' Big Three years, the three stars played a total of 16 games together and won a playoff series. This trio left the basketball world with a sample of the defeat of the giants, playing with instinctive talent rather than building a winning team culture, without sacrifice that lowers self-awareness or perseverance in times of trouble.
Success in the top league cannot be a simple addition of talents, and when impetuosity and self-inflation are not controlled, the sum of talents can be reduced to negative numbers, leaving behind an unbearable negative teaching material for the Big Three.