Kevin Durant knows why his Nets experiment failed as Brooklyn picks up the pieces

It was Kevin Durant’s trade request that officially ended the Nets’ most recent window of contention.

Now that they’ve finally started a rebuild two years later, Durant has watched from afar and said he can see it heading in the right direction. 

Durant brought his Suns to Barclays Center on Wednesday, where he’d combined with Kyrie Irving and James Harden to form one of the most potent Big 3’s in NBA history.

But they spectacularly flamed out, winning just a single playoff series in the parts of four seasons Durant and Irving were together. 

“You see so many fans who still remember those times and appreciate it — even though we went through a lot of dysfunction, I guess you could call it, for lack of a better term. But regardless of that, a lot of people still supported and still came out, cheered loud as hell for the game of basketball and for the Nets,” Durant said. “It was here in this borough of Brooklyn, the little brother. It was always fun being a little brother and representing the little brother in the city.” 

Durant famously spurned the big brother, rejected the Knicks to come to Brooklyn as a package deal with Irving in 2019.