Nets, Durant to move forward together with 'partnership'

It appears the Brooklyn Nets and Kevin Durant are going to try to make it work. 

Nets general manager Sean Marks released a statement on Tuesday, saying that the two sides met recently and decided to move forward with their "partnership."

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"Steve Nash and I, together with Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai, met with Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman in Los Angeles yesterday," Marks said in a statement. "We have agreed to move forward with our partnership. We are focusing on basketball, with one collective goal in mind: build a lasting franchise to bring a championship to Brooklyn."

The 33-year-old superstar rocked the basketball world in late June when he reportedly asked for a trade out of Brooklyn. Many teams showed interested in the 12-time All-Star, including the Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat, but the Nets never received an offer that they felt was adequate for someone of Durant's talents. 

Durant, a two-time NBA champion, averaged 29.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists over 55 regular-season games with the underperforming Nets in 2021-22. The Nets were swept in the opening round of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics.

After winning two league titles, including a pair of NBA Finals MVP awards, with the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018, Durant was moved to the Nets in a sign-and-trade following the Warriors’ loss to the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 Finals.

The Texas product missed the entire 2019-20 campaign due to an Achilles injury suffered against the Raptors.

Playing alongside stars Kyrie Irving and eventually James Harden, the Nets were dubbed a super team with the potential to win multiple titles but have come up short during Durant’s three years in Brooklyn,