Subscribe
Follow Us
Newly acquired Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant opened up about his time with the Brooklyn Nets and former head coach Steve Nash, calling the chaotic circumstances surrounding their tenure “bulls**t” during a recent episode of the Mind the Game podcast with Nash and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.
Durant, who played under Nash from 2020 to 2022, reflected on a moment they shared in Portland and the instability that plagued the Nets during their high-profile run.
“We had this conversation in Portland, I think, right before a game and I’m like, ‘Who am I spending my next five years with?’” Durant said. “I had just signed that deal. You (Steve Nash) had just signed a deal. But I feel like we were secure, but everything else around us was going to sh*t. Not in a bad way. We got GMs going to other teams. We got coaches going to other teams. We got players forcing trades. We got bring in Ben Simmons. He’s back. Like, it was just so much stuff going on. A lot of bulls**t around us.”
Kevin Durant says distractions kept Nets from reaching full potential under Steve Nash
Durant added that while both he and Nash were aligned on their goals, the surrounding dysfunction made it difficult to succeed.
“I feel like we were locked in on the same page and understand like well we trying to do something special here,” Durant said. “But I felt like your hands were tied a lot because you had to — as a coach you got to deal with so much.”
Nash acknowledged the challenges of the job, saying, “I didn’t get to coach as much as I wanted to.”
“I think we didn't get the full Steve Nash like I wanted.”@KDTrey5 explains why Brooklyn didn’t workout the way it should’ve and more on Part 2 of a new episode. Watch on our YouTube, @PrimeVideo or listen wherever you get your podcasts https://t.co/n2swVHpna1 pic.twitter.com/Xl5Ne4MsAt
— Mind the Game (@mindthegamepod) July 8, 2025
Durant responded, “That’s what it was. I think we didn’t get the full Steve Nash like I wanted… like you probably wanted. I just felt like it was just too many distractions in the way and you know, you can’t win that way.”
Despite the setbacks, Durant spoke positively about the early days of the Nets’ tenure.
“That first year, man, the most fun ball I had. Some of the most fun ball I had playing my whole life,” he said. “I enjoyed it, I enjoyed Brooklyn a lot. I loved playing for Brooklyn, but it’s just so much around the guys committed to the situation and felt like we were committed, but everybody else wasn’t. It just was weird.”
Durant joins Rockets as Nets rebuild through 2025 NBA Draft
Durant joined the Nets in 2019 after leaving the Golden State Warriors but missed the 2019–20 season while recovering from a torn Achilles. He played 129 games in Brooklyn across three seasons, averaging 29 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 53.5% from the field, 40% from three, and 91% from the line. Brooklyn’s Big 3 of Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden played only 16 games together, and the team never reached the Finals, falling short in the 2021 second round to the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks.
Nash was hired as head coach in September 2020 and compiled a 94–67 regular-season record before being fired early in the 2022–23 campaign. Durant was traded to the Phoenix Suns at the 2023 deadline and joined the Rockets last month.
Houston finished 52–30 this past season, earning the No. 2 seed in the West before losing to Golden State in the first round. Meanwhile, the Nets, now in full rebuild mode, went 26–56 and finished 12th in the Eastern Conference. In a historic move, Brooklyn used all five of its first-round picks in the 2025 NBA Draft, selecting Egor Demin (No. 8), Nolan Traorè (No. 19), Drake Powell (No. 22), Ben Saraf (No. 26), and Danny Wolf (No. 27).
