James Harden was left speechless after Kevin Durant demanded answers
The Brooklyn Nets they are currently preparing to enter a full rebuild year in 2025-26, with one of the youngest rosters in the entire NBA. The The Nets spent five picks in the first round of the draft this year, and also traded Cam Johnson to the Denver Nuggets, bringing back the wing shooter Michael Porter Jr. in turn.
It’s been a steady decline for the Nets since the day Kevin Durant, James Hardenand Kyrie Irving during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. Harden eventually requested a trade, which was granted when he was sent to the Philadelphia 76ers in 2022. Harden and Durant are both members of the Netflix special “Starting Five,” and in the program, Durant discussed Harden’s departure from the team.
“Ask him about that s***, why he left Brooklyn like that,” Durant told the NBA Subreddit. “Hopefully, since it’s in a Netflix special, it’ll be a little more real than it would have been if he’d held a press conference about it.”
Harden could be seen watching Durant say those words during the documentary.
“It was COVID. I was never completely healthy in Brooklyn, so I wasn’t myself,” Harden said. “It was a lot.”
What could have been for the Nets
Brooklyn Nets fans are probably still wondering what would have happened if Kyrie Irving hadn’t gone down in their second-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021. Brooklyn took a 2-0 lead in that series, but ended up losing after Irving went down and Harden was seriously hurt. The Bucks won the NBA championship that year.
The following season, the Nets traded Harden to the 76ers, then fell apart in the first round, swept by the Boston Celtics, with Durant and Irving turning in some of the worst playoff performances of their careers.
Both stars were then traded during the 2022-23 season, and the Nets have been in tank mode ever since, which is expected to be the case for at least the next few seasons.
The Nets will begin the 2025-26 season on October 22 against the Charlotte Hornets on the road.
2025-10-16 19:54:00
