The Brooklyn Nets ended their experiment with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving over the course of a number of days, formally closing the e book on a tumultuous chapter within the franchise’s historical past that yielded little playoff success.
The Nets traded Durant to the Phoenix Suns Thursday morning and Irving to the Dallas Mavericks Sunday. Brooklyn obtained a number of younger gamers and draft picks to domesticate younger expertise for the longer term, however their newest try at constructing a celebrity roster failed in dramatic style.
Shannon Sharpe, a Pro Football Hall of Famer turned FOX Sports character, defined to Fox News Digital he didn’t suppose issues between the Nets and Durant obtained higher after the celebrity had requested a commerce within the offseason.
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Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets in opposition to the Los Angeles Lakers at Barclays Center Jan. 30, 2023, in New York City. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
“I didn’t think anything had gotten better between Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets, and now that Kyrie Irving was gone — one of the guys he wanted to join in going to Brooklyn – I thought there was like a 90-plus percent chance that this season he was going to request a trade and be moved,” Sharpe stated in a latest interview. “But I didn’t think he’d be moved by the trade deadline. And it gives them an opportunity to go somewhere.
“For no matter purpose, give it some thought. James Harden wished out. Kyrie Irving wished out. Kevin Durant wished out. Something is occurring behind the scenes in Brooklyn that the informal basic fan doesn’t find out about. Those are the three superstars that you simply traded for, that you simply thought you had been gonna have for an extended time period, and inside 13 months, all of them are gone.”
Sharpe added that it didn’t make sense to him why the superstar combinations didn’t work. He mentioned the Nets previously going after Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Once that failed, the team broke up a young core behind D’Angelo Russell to go after Durant and Irving.
Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets reacts against the New Orleans Pelicans during a game at the Smoothie King Center Jan. 6, 2023, in New Orleans. (Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
“But you possibly can’t blame them,” Sharpe told Fox News Digital. “You’re speaking about two elite-level gamers. Kevin Durant is a transcendent historic participant. Kyrie Irving, we all know he’s a strolling bucket, one of the crucial expert offensive gamers we’ve ever had within the sport. So, I don’t fault them for transferring off a few of these gamers to get these two guys again and suppose you possibly can have a championship crew. And you then transfer different items to get James Harden. … But for no matter purpose, it didn’t work.”
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Sharpe spoke to Fox News Digital on behalf of the Talk That Talk campaign, which he launched with Janssen Oncology in September. Sharpe is encouraging men to get screened for prostate cancer. He came out last year about his battle with prostate cancer.
Sharpe recalled that when he got tests to check to make sure everything was OK, he received a call about his results from a different doctor than the one who did the initial procedure. He said he could tell something was up when she was talking very deliberately about his results.
Former NFL player Shannon Sharpe speaks onstage with SiriusXM at Super Bowl LIV Jan. 29, 2020, in Miami, Fla. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
“I’m pondering in my thoughts one thing shouldn’t be proper right here,” he explained. “So when she informed me, she did say we caught this very early and there’s an opportunity you’re going to be nice. But, you realize what, what was I speculated to suppose? They’re at all times going to place a constructive spin on it. So, I began studying up on it and came upon if you happen to had been screened earlier and had been recognized earlier, there’s a larger probability of survival.
“So, it did put my mind at ease. But still, I heard the C word. Yeah, no one wants to hear cancer,” Sharpe stated, including he solely informed the folks closest to him that he knew had been going to have the ability to deal with the information.
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Sharpe stated he’s been most cancers free occurring six years and is now advocating males of their late 30s to begin getting screenings.