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In a coup with few historic precedents, the Brooklyn Nets will sign Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan in the next few weeks becoming the big winners of free agency 2019. (The NBA free agency moratorium extends to July 6 after which players can sign their new deals and trades become official.)
Marc Stein of the New York Times was the first to report Brooklyn’s “confidence” in landing KD...
An undeniable vibe of confidence is emanating from Brooklyn as we speak: The Nets sure seem to believe they are getting Kevin Durant's commitment tonight to go with Kyrie Irving"s ... with DeAndre Jordan, Durant's close friend, to follow
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 30, 2019
NetsDaily confirmed it...
Several Nets sources are growing “confident” that Kevin Durant will indeed join Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn when he makes his announcement later today.
— Anthony Puccio (@APOOCH) June 30, 2019
The belief is that they may have other players on their radar, such as DeAndre Jordan, who’s very close with KD.
Then, came the Woj bomb, leading off the ESPN Free Agency Special...
Here’s @wojespn breaking the KD news on #TheJump at the top of our Free Agency show. We’re still on the air for more than two hours...and Stephen A is coming on next to react to the Knicks not offering KD a full max pic.twitter.com/euwPNtswVg
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 30, 2019
According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Nets will sign Irving to a four-year, $141 million deal and Durant will sign a four-year, $164 million deal...
Brooklyn is making a clean sweep tonight: Brooklyn will sign Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2019
Sources: Durant will sign a 4-year, $164M deal with the Nets; Irving will sign 4-years, $141M.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2019
Shortly after 6 p.m., Durant officially announced that he was joining the Nets.
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The 10-time All-Star ruptured his achilles tendon in Game 5 of the NBA Finals and might miss all of next season.
The Nets are expected to finalize Irving’s deal later Sunday.
The signing of Jordan is a bit more complicated. According to one Nets insider, Durant and Irving have agreed to take less money to accommodate Jordan. Woj confirmed the arrangement and added that Jordan will earn $40 million over four years.
Free agents Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are taking less than the max to allow DeAndre Jordan to get the $10M annual salary with Brooklyn, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2019
Albert Nahmad, the Miami-based capologist explained how it could work.
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving could structure their contracts as full maxes ($38.2M and $32.7M, respectively), but with $5.0M and $4.3M, respectively, as unlikely bonuses. That could save Nets $9.3M of cap room. A DeAndre Jordan 4-year, $40M contract could start as low as $9.3M.
— Albert Nahmad (@AlbertNahmad) July 1, 2019
In addition, Marc J. Spears and Woj report that the Clippers’ Garrett Temple has agreed to a two-year, $10 million deal with Brooklyn, reportedly the Room Exception which has a starting salary of $4.8 million.
Free agent guard Garrett Temple is expected to sign a two-year, $10 million deal with the Brooklyn Nets, a source told ESPN's The Undefeated. Team option second year.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpearsESPN) June 30, 2019
Garrett Temple has agreed to a two-year, $10M deal with Brooklyn, agent Mark Bartelstein tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2019
Temple, a 6’6” swingman, will back up the 2 and 3 and provide veteran presence. He’s 33. Last season, he averaged 7.8 points and 2.9 rebounds, shooting 34.1 percent from three.
The Nets haul is reminiscent of what the Heat did in 2010, signing LeBron James and Chris Bosh to play with Dywane Wade. That team won two NBA championships. The effort to sign all three was based in part on personal relationships. Spencer Dinwiddie played a big role in recruiting Irving who in turn is close to Durant. Jordan in turn is close to KD.
But the big draw for the Nets was the success of their rebuild under Sean Marks and Kenny Atkinson. In the three years since the two took over as GM and head coach, the Nets have gone from 20 wins —the league worst, then 28 and this year, 42 wins and a six seed.
Marks traded solid players like Brook Lopez, Thaddeus Young and Bojan Bogdanovic for young players and draft picks; took on deals other teams wanted to dump for more picks and then with a first-rate scouting staff, made value picks like Caris LeVert, Jarrett Allen and Rodions Kurucs. At the same time, they developed Spencer Dinwiddie and Joe Harris, G League players who multiple teams had passed on. Finally, they took damaged goods, D’Angelo Russell, and made him an All-Star.
Moreover, the Nets have developed an infrastructure that includes one of the best if not the best performance and medical staffs, one of the best if not the best training facilities. Not to mention one of the NBA’s newest arenas in the biggest market in the league.
Brooklyn did lose two key players from their playoff run. DeMarre Carroll accepted a two-year, $12 million offer from the Spurs and Ed Davis accepted a two year, $10 million deal from the Jazz.
As of 2:30 a.m. Monday ... here’s the Nets roster status report:
Arriving...
—Kevin Durant, 6’11” PF (Golden State)
—Kyrie Irving, 6’3” PG (Boston)
—DeAndre Jordan, 7’1” C (New York)
—Garrett Temple, 6’6” SG (Clippers)
—Taurean Prince, 6’8” SF (Hawks)
—Nicolas Claxton, 7’0” PF (NBA Draft)
—Jaylen Hands, 6’3” PG (NBA Draft)
—First round draft pick (Golden State)
Departing...
—D’Angelo Russell, 6’5” PG (Golden State)
—Shabazz Napier, 6’1” PG (Golden State)
—Treveon Graham, 6’5” SF (Golden State)
—Allen Crabbe, 6’6” SG (Atlanta)
—Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, 6’7” PF (Free Agent)
—DeMarre Carroll, 6’8” SF (San Antonio)
—Ed Davis, 6’10” C (Utah)
The Nets also extended a qualifying offer to restricted free agent Theo Pinson, indicating a desire to keep him.
- Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Brooklyn’s rise from the ashes - Zach Lowe - ESPN
- Kyrie Irving Commits to Brooklyn, Cementing Nets as Kings of New York - Scott Cacciola & Marc Stein - New York Times
- Kevin Durant to Join Nets in N.B.A. Free Agency - Scott Cacciola & Marc Stein - New York Times
- Nets teach Knicks tough lesson on way to ruling the city - Mike Vaccaro - New York Post
- Nets blow up the NBA with Durant, Irving heist: ‘Paradigm shift’ - Brian Lewis - New York Post
- Nets pulled off salary-cap miracle to put talent around Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving - Brian Lewis - New York Post
- Knicks being scorched after Kevin Durant chooses Nets - New York Post
- Kevin Durant confirms he’s off to the Nets - New York Post
- ‘Upbeat’ Knicks address very angry fans - Mark Fischer - New York Post
- James Dolan’s Knicks free-agent tease looks really bad now - Mark Fischer - New York Post
- Stunner: Kevin Durant is signing with the Nets - Stefan Bondy - New York Daily News
- The Nets got Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Now they have to win something - Kyle Wagner - New York Daily News
- Spencer Dinwiddie wrecks Knicks fans and Nets haters with two quick tweets - Adrian Covert - New York Daily News
- Nets are now the top ticket in town - Barbara Barker - Newsday
- Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving plan to join Nets - Greg Logan - Newsday
- The worst case scenario for the Knicks is now the Nets’ dream - Frank Isola - The Athletic NBA
- Just a day into free agency, the Nets are set up to dominate basketball in New York - Michael Scotto - The Athletic New York
- Instant Reaction: Kevin Durant chooses the Brooklyn Nets as his next stop - Zach Harper - The Athletic NBA
- Kevin Durant’s choice showed what he values — something Stephen Curry and the Warriors couldn’t quite give him - Marcus Thompson II - The Athletic NBA
- The Nets may have won free agency with KD and Kyrie, but did they sell their soul? - Seerat Sohi - Yahoo! Sports
- Inside the Explosion of Deals That Tipped Off NBA Free Agency - Chris Mannix - Sports Illustrated
- Culture Over Tanking: Why Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving Chose the Nets - Chris Mannix - Sports Illustrated
- Inside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving’s Plot to Team Up in Brooklyn - Howard Beck - Bleacher Report
- AP source: Irving joining Durant with the Nets - AP
- Durant joins Nets, ending three seasons with Warriors - Reuters
- Ex-teammate Kendrick Perkins: Kevin Durant ‘finally got his own team’ as face of the Nets - Scott Gleeson - USA Today