5. KD and Kyrie begin a new era in Brooklyn
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were two of the most sought after free agents of the 2019 class. All season long, it was as if the media was pushing the close friends to Madison Square Garden, where joining the New York Knicks seemed inevitable long before June 30.
When their contracts were up, it didn’t take long for either to make a decision, but it wasn’t the one that had been presumed from the beginning.
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Despite the ineptitude of the Knicks, the Brooklyn Nets had still always been considered a second-class basketball organization in the New York region.
They had spent a trio of sub-30 win seasons building their image from the ground up that was put on full display with a surprising playoff appearance last year, but few still took them as free-agent threats given the allure of the Knicks brand so close by.
When Durant and Irving chose Brooklyn, the Nets weren’t just instantly vaulted to contender status — upon the return of KD. They changed the long-held narrative of their organization and sent the Knicks spiraling deeper into theirs.
A championship might follow. Durant’s injury may prove too much to overcome.
No matter what this chapter of the Nets franchise holds, the objective they’ve spent years trying to accomplish has been completed, and basketball in New York might never be the same.