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The Weirdness of Kevin Durant Wanting Out

对于凯文-杜兰特想要离开感到不可思议

On a late December evening in 2020, when the state of the world was bleak, Kevin Durant slipped on a Nets jersey and stepped into the Brooklyn spotlight for the first time. The possibilities seemed infinite. Hope sprang eternal.

2020年12月下旬的一个晚上，当时世界形势一片黯淡，凯文-杜兰特穿上了篮网的球衣，第一次走进了布鲁克林的聚光灯下。可能性似乎是无限的。希望却是永恒的。

Durant was brilliant that night—because, well, Durant is nearly always brilliant when he takes the court—but his long-awaited Nets debut was strange, strained, muted,  performed as it was in a near-empty arena, in the midst of a global pandemic.

杜兰特那晚表现得很出色—因为，杜兰特在上场时几乎总是表现的很出色—但他期待已久的篮网队首秀却很奇怪、很紧张、很无声，因为这场比赛是在全球新冠大流行的背景下，在一个几乎空无一人的场馆中进行的。

As omens go, this one was … well, rather ominous. A moment that should have ranked among the most thrilling in franchise history played out in a fan-less void, as if it were just some contrived simulation in the metaverse.

就这个征兆而言，这一次……嗯，相当不吉利。杜兰特复出之战本应是篮网队历史上最激动人心的时刻，但却在一个没有球迷的球馆中上演，仿佛这场比赛只是元宇宙世界中被人为模拟的一样。

As it happens, the Nets’ superteam vision—built around Durant and Kyrie Irving (and briefly James Harden)—was always more virtual than reality. Durant wants out. Irving wants out. Harden departed months ago.

碰巧的是，篮网对围绕杜兰特和欧文(以及詹姆斯-哈登)建立的超级球队愿景总是虚拟多于现实。杜兰特想要离开。欧文也想要离开。哈登已经在几个月前就离开了。

If only the Nets could take off the headset and just hit the reset button.

如果篮网只能摘下耳机，那就按下重启键就好了。

If you’re asking, in a slight daze, “What the heck happened?” you have plenty of company across the NBA, including in the Nets’ front office. If you’re trying to make sense of it all, good luck.

如果你迷迷糊糊地问:“到底发生了什么?”“在整个NBA联盟中，包括篮网管理层，有很多想要搞明白到底发生了的人。如果你想弄明白这一切，祝你好运。

“Please let me know if you figure it out,” said a person with close ties to the situation, a sentiment shared by many others in and around the league. (We haven’t, but we’ll give it our best shot here, anyway.)

“如果你想明白了，请让我知道，”一位与此事关系密切的人士说，联盟内外的许多人都有同感。(我们没有弄明白这件事，但无论如何，我们会尽最大努力去搞清楚。)

This much is clear: Durant is fed up, as underscored by the trade demand he issued on Thursday. From there, it all gets much more confusing.

有一点很清楚:杜兰特已经厌倦了，从他周四发出的交易申请要求就可以看出这一点。从那以后，一切事情就变得更加混乱。

Those who know Durant cite two primary factors: a rocky Nets season that ended in a first-round playoff sweep; and the franchise’s soured relationship with Irving, his close friend.

了解杜兰特的人提到了两个主要因素:篮网本赛季表现不佳，季后赛首轮被横扫;以及球队与欧文的关系恶化，欧文是他的密友。

Durant doesn’t see much hope for a revival under the circumstances, those sources say. And he’s unhappy that his friend is unhappy.

这些消息人士说，在这种情况下，杜兰特没有看到太多复兴的希望。他的朋友不开心，他也不开心。

This is where any rational observer must note: The Nets’ implosion was primarily triggered by Irving—specifically, his refusal to take the COVID vaccine, which made him ineligible for home games. It strained team chemistry, strained their rotation and irritated Harden, who forced a trade to Philadelphia in February.

任何理性的评论者普遍都必须注意到的一点:篮网的内爆主要是由欧文引发的，特别是他拒绝接种新冠疫苗，这使他没有资格参加主场比赛。这让球队的化学反应和轮换变得紧张，并激怒了哈登，迫使哈登要求自己在2月份交易到了费城。

All of which led the Nets to take a hard line with Irving in contract negotiations, and a refusal to offer him a maximum extension. As general manager Sean Marks said pointedly back in May, “We’re looking for guys that want to come in here, be part of something bigger than themselves, play selfless, play team basketball, and be available.”

所有这些因素都导致篮网在合同谈判中对欧文采取强硬态度，并拒绝为他提供最长期限的续约。就像总经理肖恩-马克斯在5月份说的那样，“我们正在寻找那些愿意来这里的人，他们愿意成为比他们自己更伟大的一部分，无私地打球，打团队篮球，并且愿意与人合作。”

So back to Durant, and his purported reasons for wanting out. On the one hand, he is said to be disillusioned by the Nets’ disastrous season. On the other hand, he is said to be upset with the team’s stance toward Irving … who was the primary cause of the Nets’ disastrous season.

所以说回杜兰特，以及他想退出的理由。一方面，据说他对篮网糟糕的赛季感到失望。另一方面，据说他对球队对欧文的态度很不满。然而欧文是篮网这个赛季惨败的主要原因。

In trying to hold Irving accountable, in trying to protect themselves against his flightiness and unpredictability, indeed in trying to avoid a repeat of this past season—in essence, to ensure a more stable environment for Durant—the Nets instead alienated their franchise star.

为了让欧文负起责任，为了保护自己不受他的浮躁和不可预测的影响，为了避免重蹈上赛季的覆辙——本质上，为了确保杜兰特有一个更稳定的环境——篮网反而疏远了他们的球星。

As one insider sympathetic to Durant noted, “Kyrie sabotaged everything,” but Durant is reacting more to the effects than the cause, and he now views the Nets as unsalvageable. “There’s no use in (him) taking sides when it’s all too far gone,” the person said. In essence, the Nets were right in principle, but wrong in practical terms, failing to understand that making Irving upset “was going to drive Kevin away.” It’s instructive to note that for all the chaos, all the havoc and all the stress, Durant still wants to play with Irving, according to league insiders.

正如一位同情杜兰特的内部人士指出的那样，“欧文破坏了一切”，但杜兰特更多的是对欧文续约结果的反应，而不是原因，他现在认为篮网是不可挽回的。该人士表示:“当一切都已经过去的时候，(他)站队是没有用的。”从本质上说，篮网在原则上是对的，但在实际操作上是错的，他们没有理解让欧文心烦意乱“会使凯文离开”。根据联盟内部人士的说法，值得注意的是，尽管本赛季有这么多的混乱、破坏和压力，杜兰特仍然想和欧文一起打球。

The irony of it all is that as the Nets canvass the league for trade offers, they will almost certainly send Irving and Durant to different teams anyway, ending a partnership that spanned just 44 games over three seasons. Salary-cap rules make it extremely difficult to acquire both players; and, other than the Lakers, few teams are eager to acquire Irving, period.

具有讽刺意味的是，当篮网向联盟征求交易报价时，他们几乎肯定会把欧文和杜兰特送到不同的球队，结束他们在三个赛季中只打了44场比赛的合作。工资帽的规定使得两名球员都很难得到;而且，除了湖人，很少有球队渴望得到欧文。

A charitable observer might argue that the Nets were simply the victims of bad luck—of untimely injuries to Durant, Irving and Harden in 2021; of a once-in-a-century pandemic that warped two seasons; of a vaccine mandate, unique to New York, that created the strains of last season—that this superteam was derailed by forces beyond their control.

一个相对有善意的评论员可能会说篮网只是运气不好的受害者——杜兰特、欧文和哈登在2021年过早的经历伤病;百年一遇的大流行破坏了两个赛季的节奏;纽约特有的疫苗规定，造成了上一赛季的混乱局面——这支超级团队被他们无法控制的力量破坏了。

There’s some truth to all of that. But the reality is the Nets long ago surrendered any control: signing DeAndre Jordan to a massive contract, at the insistence of Durant and Irving; pressuring coach Kenny Atkinson to play Jordan ahead of the promising Jarrett Allen; firing Atkinson when he chose Allen, and thus lost the support of his two stars; hiring a rookie coach in Steve Nash, in part because of his ties to Durant; trading all of their depth and draft picks for Harden, yet another enigmatic and unpredictable star; and bowing to Harden’s trade demand last winter.

这些都有一定的道理。但现实是，篮网很久以前就放弃了球队任何控制权:在杜兰特和欧文的坚持下，以一份大合同签下了德安德鲁-乔丹;向教练肯尼-阿特金森施压，让小乔丹取代前途无量的贾勒特-阿伦成为球队首发;在阿特金森选择了阿伦首发后，球队解雇了他，因为阿特金森而失去了他的两位明星的支持;聘请新秀教练纳什，部分原因是他与杜兰特的关系;用他们所有的及战力球员和未来的选秀权换来了哈登，他另一位神秘莫测的球星;并在去年冬天向哈登的交易要求低头。

By the time the Nets decided to wrest control back, by the time they took their hardline stance with Irving, it was too late. They’d already sacrificed their convictions and (as Marks himself conceded in May) their culture.

当篮网决定夺回球队控制权时，当他们对欧文采取强硬立场时，已经太晚了。他们已经牺牲了自己的信念和文化(正如马克斯本人在5月份承认的那样)。

Three years ago this month, the Nets landed Durant and Irving in tandem, in one of the greatest free-agent coups in NBA history. Now they’re scrambling to salvage their franchise in the wake of what the fan blog NetsDaily is calling, “the single greatest failure by ownership and management in NBA history.”

三年前的这个月，篮网一下引进了杜兰特和欧文，这是NBA历史上最伟大的自由球员政变之一。现在，在球迷博客NetsDaily称之为“NBA历史上球队所有权和管理层最大的一次失败”之后，他们正在努力挽救他们的球队。

The Nets will surely get a generous haul of talent and draft picks for Durant, and perhaps something of value when they offload Irving. They could retool quickly around Ben Simmons—albeit another enigmatic talent—and conceivably be back in playoff contention next spring. But it will be a long time before they recover from this debacle. And maybe longer still before anyone fully understands what the hell just happened.

篮网肯定会为杜兰特获得大量的天才球员和丰厚的选秀权，当他们卖掉欧文时，也许会得到一些有价值的东西。他们可以围绕着本-西蒙斯(尽管是另一个谜一般的天才)迅速重组，并有可能在明年春天重回季后赛的争夺中。但要从这场灾难中恢复还需要很长一段时间。也许还需要更长的时间才能让大家完全明白刚才到底发生了什么。