Nets’ Kevin Durant on James Harden’s Departure: ‘You Look at it From His Perspective’

“You try and look at it from his perspective, look up, and Kai’s [Kyrie Irving] not playing, and then I’m injured. He hasn’t won a championship before … he’s 32 years old. Looking at himself, wanted to make a decision to get on a team that can kind of get him to that … one of the last teams standing.

“You look at it from his perspective and just say ‘it is what it is.’ You can’t really control how somebody feels when they’re thinking like that.

“Hopefully he stay healthy, and their team stay healthy, and we stay healthy, and we have a great year, they have a great year, and we can just move from this, you know?”

The Nets engineered a blockbuster trade with the Houston Rockets for Harden in Jan. 2021. He, Durant and Kyrie Irving were supposed to form a dominant big three in Brooklyn, but for various reasons, it did not work out.

Brooklyn ultimately traded Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers right before the Feb. 10 trade deadline this season.

The 76ers were already enjoying a good season without Harden, but they’ve gone 5-0 when he has played.

Meanwhile, the Nets have gone 10-24 in their last 34 games to fall to 33-33. Durant missed much of that stretch with a sprained MCL, and Irving has been limited to road games due to New York City’s COVID-19 vaccination requirements.