How Kevin Durant, Nets turned their seasons around

Things can change quickly in the NBA. 

The Nets saw their star player demand out less the franchise fire its general manager and head coach, his co-star earn an early-season suspension after missing most of last year, a head coaching change and 1-5 start to the season. Yet weeks later they’re a strong four seed in the Eastern Conference.

This turnaround is now one of the NBA’s major storylines, with Brooklyn creeping closer to their potential, which looked sky-high on paper for over two years. They’ve won eight of their last nine games after seemingly hitting rock bottom, but it wasn’t an easy transition.

Throughout training camp, the Nets said this season would be a process of building something from the ground up. Their 2021-22 was in constant chaos, and even with some talent heading into the playoffs, that lack of chemistry became clear when they were swept in the first round.

Brooklyn looked lost out of the gates this season, but after firing Steve Nash in favor of Jacque Vaughn, they began forming something. Vaughn's veteran defensive mind paid early dividends after the Nets held teams below 100 points for five straight games. Brooklyn won four of them and created a blueprint for their success. That blueprint began with Kevin Durant. 

For all the hubbub caused by his trade demand, Durant committed to the Nets fully after the slow start, and is now playing at an MVP level.

On the season, he’s averaging 30 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists on 62.9 percent shooting on twos and 34.6 percent on threes. But his defense deserves a lot of the shine, as he’s been a huge disruptor, blocking 1.7 shots a night, near-career high levels.

His last nine games have been not human. He’s scoring 32.4 points per game, grabbing 7.1 boards and dishing 5.9 assists on 60.5 percent shooting from the field, 36.5 percent from three and 93.5 percent from the free-throw line. His efficiency everywhere, but in the mid-range especially, is unmatched, notching 840 points on 540 field goal attempts on the season.

Durant’s star power helped the Nets navigate missing their other big pieces: Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons. Others stepped up and found their roles.

Joe Harris shook off the rust after returning from injury and is hitting 37.3 percent of his threes. Royce O’Neal is a tremendous fit as a Bruce Brown-type swiss army knife.

Brooklyn uncovered something real in Yuta Watanabe, who’s hitting over half his threes on top of everything else he does on the court. And Seth Curry is knocking down 40 percent of his threes.

As all these guys became comfortable on the court, the Nets continued to play solid ball, earning a respectable, but nonthreatening, record. Then, as Irving and Simmons got back into form, and T.J. Warren entered the picture, Brooklyn went supernova.

Irving isn’t having his best statistical season, but he’s fully bought into the Nets' system and is choosing his spots well, en route to 25.3 points per game. It took some time for Simmons to regain his confidence, but he had a couple 20-point nights and an 82 percent shooting stretch over six games before he got hurt. If he can stay on the court, he looks like the guy Brooklyn traded James Harden for.

Warren was the pickup of the summer for the Nets. He’s still getting up to speed, but already looks like the dynamic big wing he was before injury.

The 29-year-old is putting up eight points a night on 52 percent shooting from the field. He's also dished out three assists in each of his last two games, and is making an impact defensively. The Nets are outscoring teams by 12.4 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor.

Brooklyn hasn’t beaten any heavyweights yet, but the way they’re playing now, they could be a real problem in the playoffs. We also haven’t seen them fully decommit from the Simmons-Nic Claxton lineups when they’re dominant on their own.

There are still some real flaws holding them back from the Boston Celtics-Milwaukee Bucks tier. They desperately need one more center, and their wings can play a little small although Warren could be the solution to the second issue.

Still, getting this far after seemingly being toast is an inspiring 180 from Brooklyn. They wanted to build a contender back up from scratch and appear to be well on their way.