Kevin Durant, Nets reflective of hellish experiences in 2022; ‘looking for bigger and better things’ in 2023

After a turbulent 2022, the Brooklyn Nets can only do nothing but make needed reflections.

Looking back, Kevin Durant sees their struggle as relevant moments for his Nets team to regroup and be collective in a resilient fashion.

“It was one of those years you reflect on and you see the turning points in the organization,” Durant said, via ESPN’s Nick Friedell. “We’ve seen different moments that brought us together as a group. You see, at this point now towards the end of the year, you start to see us come together and perform what we’ve been looking to do these last couple of years, which was a solid team that plays hard every night. So we went through a lot in this calendar year, but we’re looking for bigger and better things in 2023.”

Brooklyn had a roller coaster ride in 2022 and became the controversial centerpiece of conversations all year long. From last season, their hopes of a title slowly slipped away when Kyrie Irving opted to sit out due to COVID vaccine hesitation, James Harden forced his way out and injuries ravaged their completeness and chemistry – with the Boston Celtics ultimately ousted them with a four-game sweep in their previous postseason encounter in first-round.

Offseason arrived, with trade speculations rocked the franchise, as Durant requested to be shipped away out of frustration on the team’s future. Irving, for his part, raised questions if he will still find himself wearing a Nets jersey.

As they still continued to push through on the 2022-23 season, they were sent crashing by controversies yet again. Ben Simmons found hardships in his return from back surgery, with Irving being suspended due to his controversial antisemitic stances. As such, Steve Nash calls it quits with drama being very much overwhelming to handle after a slow start.

“When we came back for this season, the start of the season, there was a lot of talk in the summertime, but for us to bring the group back together and start the year was cool,” Durant said. “And then once Jacque became the coach and we started to move forward then, obviously that was a turning point for us. Then we had some stuff that wasn’t ideal.

“Guys out the lineup, Kyrie out the lineup, James Harden demanded a trade, there was a lot of stuff that we went through. How we started from an outside perspective, the noise around our team, it’s good that we can be about ball going into this new year. We’re playing a solid brand right now, so that’s the most important thing.”

Upon Nash’s departure, Jacque Vaughn boldly took over and miraculously steered the Nets’ fortunes around. He provided the needed voice, presence and urgency with Brooklyn looking to revive their season.

As of now, under his leadership, the Nets are now boasting a remarkable turnaround after their disastrous beginnings – taking their eleventh-straight win on the New Year’s Eve against the Charlotte Hornets and now posting the second-best record in the East with a 24-12 card.

“He gives you an ease,” Irving said. “When you come into the locker room nothing’s forced, he’s not too high or too low. He’s just holding himself to a high standard, exemplifying what a leader should look like. So as our head coach, as our leader, I’ve been able to learn some things from him.

“And that’s just being able to have relationships with everybody and being able to get the best out of everybody. And that’s been a lesson for me; I felt like this year was just learning how to get the best out of everybody instead of trying to do it all yourself or trying to overthink the game. We’ve got good pieces in that locker room, a good coaching staff. The level of play should raise and it should get easier.”