Kevin Durant will stay with the Brooklyn Nets after the franchise and the 12-time NBA All-Star “agreed to move forward with our partnership.”
Durant’s future has been thrown into doubt after the 33-year-old superstar called for a trade in late June.
Nets general manager Sean Marks issued a statement Tuesday making it clear that Durant won’t be going anywhere after a meeting in which team owners Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai were present, and head coach Steve Kerr.
“Steve Nash and I, along with Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai, met with Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman in Los Angeles yesterday,” the statement read.
“We have agreed to move forward with our partnership. We are focused on basketball, with one collective goal in mind: to build a lasting franchise to bring a championship to Brooklyn.”
It was reported this month that Durant had given the Nets an ultimatum regarding his future, stating that he would only stay if Marks and Nash were fired.
Tsai threw her support behind Marks and Nash, tweeting, “Our front office and coaching staff have my support. We make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.”
Forward Durant is about to enter the first year of his four-year, $198 million contract extension with the Nets.
The two-time NBA champion joined Brooklyn in a sign-and-trade deal in 2019 and signed a contract extension with the Nets 12 months ago.
Former Golden State Warrior Durant averaged 29.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists in 55 games last season for a Nets team that was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Boston Celtics.
