NBA star Kevin Durant has opened up about the details behind his trade request from the Brooklyn Nets.
The 34-year-old requested his trade from the Brooklyn side in the offseason during a tumultuous time for the NBA team.
The forward has been on a tear this season averaging 30.3 points per game, 6.5 rebounds, and 5.3 assists.
However, between the departure of coach Steve Nash, Ben Simmons’ poor form, and Kyrie Irving’s indefinite suspension, things sure are looking rocky at Brooklyn.
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Durant has now revealed that his request to move away from the Nets came as a result of feeling like he wasn’t playing in a healthy work environment.
He told Bleacher Report: “It wasn’t difficult at all to request a trade because it was about ball.
"I went to them and was like, ‘Yo, I don't like how we are preparing. I don't like shootarounds. I like practices. I need more. I want to work on more s**t. Hold me accountable. Get on my a** in film if that's going to help you get on everybody else’s head. I want to do more closeouts. I want to work on more shell drills at practice.’
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"This was the type of s**t I was coming at them with. It wasn't like, ‘Yo, y'all need to make sure everybody around me can make my life easier.’ Hell nah, I want to make everybody else’s life easier.
“Ask Steve Nash, you can go call him right now. I would say, ‘Yo, I need more closeout drills. We need to practice more.’ That's what I was on.
He added: “I don’t want players to look at us and say, ‘Oh man, these [expletive] are full of s*t. That’s not the type of team I want to be on.’ So when we’re all playing like s**t, you know the one person they’re going to look at.
“That’s why I requested a trade."
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Steve Nash’s firing and Jacque Vaughn replacing him has lit a fire under the Nets, according to Durant.
He says the players are training well, learning their roles and adapting, despite a poor start to the season that sees them with six wins and nine losses.
The NBA star also touched on Kyrie Irving’s off-court controversies and how they have impacted him as a player and a team.
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He told Bleacher Report: “A lot of people say I’m not a leader because I didn’t tell Kyrie to get vaccinated. Come on. Or I didn’t condemn Kyrie for leaving the team, going out and living his life.
“I’m not about to tell a grown-ass man what he can and can't do with his own life and dissect his views or how he thinks about s**t.
"We can have a conversation and exchange perspectives on how I feel about the topic and you feel about the topic, but everybody else don't need to know or hear about our conversations because we’re grown-ass men. I don't operate like that.”
The publication reported that multiple NBA executives were still monitoring Durant’s situation should the Nets’ misfortunes continue.
Jayden Collins