After Durant ultimatum, NBA Nets owner backs Nash, Marks

(FILES) In this file photo taken on April 25, 2022, Kevin Durant, #7 of the Brooklyn Nets, reacts during Game Four of the Eastern Conference First Round Playoffs against the Boston Celtics at Barclays Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. – Durant has told Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai that he must choose between keeping Durant or head coach Steve Nash and general manager Sean Marks, The Athletic reported on August 8, 2022. (Photo by ELSA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai backed head coach Steve Nash and general manager, Sean Marks, on Monday after reports of a them-or-me ultimatum from NBA superstar Kevin Durant.

After a report from The Athletic detailed Durant meeting Tsai in London and saying he won’t stay with the team as long as Nash and Marks remain in their jobs, Tsai made his position clear in a Twitter posting.

“Our front office and coaching staff have my support,” Tsai tweeted. “We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.”

The decision likely burns the last bridge between the Nets and their top scorer, who asked for a trade-in June.

Durant indicated that he lacks faith in the team’s direction after the Nets were swept out of the playoffs by Boston in the first round last season.

The 33-year-old forward, a two-time NBA champion and 2014 NBA Most Valuable Player, is entering the first season of a four-year contract extension worth $198 million that he signed a year ago with the Nets.

Durant’s ultimatum came after the Nets struggled to a 44-38 record last season, when they traded James Harden to Philadelphia and watched Kyrie Irving miss most of the season with Covid-19 vaccination issues.

Nash, a 48-year-old Canadian and two-time NBA MVP as a guard, got his