In retrospect, the writing was on the wall long before the doors of free agency opened yesterday. Kevin Durant wasn’t going to return to the Warriors, not after his much-publicized flare-up with teammate Draymond Green early in the 2018-19 season fed into the narrative that his joining them in 2016 was for his benefit and not theirs. For all his talents and evident status as their best player over the last three years, he could not quite shake off the reasonable contention that they were already formed and formidable to begin with. So in line with his objective to cement his legacy as an all-time great, he simply had to start anew elsewhere.
The question, therefore, wasn’t if Durant was leaving the Warriors, but where he wanted to go. And, for a while, even as officials of the two-time defending champions were slowly prepping for his departure, speculation had him bound for Gotham. It made sense, and the Knicks, given their location in the media capital of the world, seemed primed to provide him with the spotlight he requires to carve his path to greatness. And they themselves believed it, too, dealing erstwhile cornerstone Kristaps Porzingis in order to free up two maximum-salary slots, one for him and another for his good friend Kyrie Irving.
Unfortunately for the Knicks, nothing in the National Basketball Association is etched in stone. They may have received the kind of verbal commitments that emboldened owner James Dolan to publicly declare their 2019 offseason a success even though it was still months away, but they should have known enough not to count chickens before making sure there were eggs to hatch. Pro hoops annals are replete with stories of spurned suitors burned by players who changed minds at the last instant. And, if their early confidence had any legs to stand on, Durant and Irving somehow changed minds somewhere along the way.
Perhaps the two All-Stars weren’t going to the Knicks in the first place. And in support of this line of thinking, pundits can point to Irving’s change of representation to Roc Nation midway through the season. The agency cum entertainment company is owned by Jay-Z (once minority stakeholder of the Nets) and which just so happens to have as its president Michael Yormark (brother of Brett Yormark, chief executive officer of the Brooklyn franchise). Even Durant telegraphed his transfer, tapping Nets physician Martin O’Malley of the Hospital for Special Surgery to operate on his torn Achilles tendon.
In any case, the designs became clear to the Knicks, who didn’t bother to present Durant with a maximum offer in New York. Instead, franchise officials trekked to Los Angeles, where they closed deals with Julius Randle and Taj Gibson as soon as allowable yesterday. The result is a humongous win for the Nets, who, as late as three years ago, looked to continue languishing under the weight of poor decisions by previous dispensations, but who now face an extremely bright future headlined by marquee names in for the long haul.
True, the Nets won’t be championship caliber though the 2019-20 season. With Durant needing the whole year and parts of the next campaign to recover from his injury, they will lack the competitiveness to challenge for the hardware. That said, Irving and DeAndre Jordan are superb consolation prizes that should get them a meaningful playoff stint. Meanwhile, the neighboring Knicks are left to wonder what the heck happened. Once again, disappointment was snatched from the throes of triumph. And, once again, developments underscore the capacity of decision makers to continually attract bad luck. The Garden deserves stars. Maybe one day, stars will believe they deserve the Garden as well.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing the Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
