Entire world took notice when Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant joined forces in Brooklyn. Soon, James Harden followed suit, forming arguably the most lethal offensive Big Three in history. But what looked unbeatable on paper never translated to the hardwood. “I just felt like it was too many distractions in a way, and you know you can’t win that way.” Durant recently confessed on LeBron James’ podcast. One of the ‘distractions’ was Ime Udoka abruptly skipping town to join the Celtics.
During the 2020-21 season, Udoka worked as an assistant coach for the Nets. However, when Celtics offered him a head coaching role, he wasted no time in taking that next step. After just one year, Udoka was out of Brooklyn and the Nets stars were clearly not pleased about it. While reacting to Durant’s criticism on Mind The Game pod, Kyrie shared a similar sentiment on his live stream.
“Yup. He’s talking about coaches going to other teams. Ime Udoka literally went to the Boston Celtics after coaching with us. That was crazy bro.” Irving remarked. Sure, the former champ did not blame Udoka as it was his opportunity to elevate his career and he took it. It eventually led him to landing his current role as the Rockets head coach. But Kyrie did admit that Ime joining a rival team in the same division hurt the Nets, “Can you imagine going against a coach that literally saw all of our strengths and weaknesses and now we’re playing against him? You know what I’m saying?”
Kyrie Irving talks about how Ime Udoka snaked Him, KD and Brooklyn for Boston and how he knew everything they were doing pic.twitter.com/GXeqLw8q8D
— 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘢☆ (@Stunna999_) July 23, 2025
Yes, Udoka knew every trick in the Nets’ playbook, which eventually helped the Celtics sweep them in the 2022 playoffs. “Boston was ready for us. Ime had them ready. When we played them in the 2022 playoffs, s— got wild… We had a lot going on. KD is right.” Kyrie remarked. Within the next few months, both Kyrie and Durant went their separate ways, putting their disappointing Nets era to an end. Even though things did no work out the way they expected, KD surprisingly enjoyed his time in Brooklyn.
Kevin Durant makes shocking Nets confession as he accuses critics of not understanding the context
While both Ky and KD highlighted Udoka’s departure as one of the many factors that led to Nets’ failure, The Slim Reaper looks back on his Brooklyn stint fondly. “I enjoyed Brooklyn a lot, but it was just so much around the guys that were committed to the situation. We balled out every game we played together.” Although it was not a big sample size, whenever the Big Three played together, they looked unstoppable.
Unfortunately, Durant believes that did not last long, mainly due to health concerns, “More than anything, I think it’s injuries, ’cause I feel like we had a good chance of winning it the first year when I stepped on the line. So, s— happens that way, man, but I don’t think that should be an indictment on anybody.” He then accused the people of not understanding the complete context of the situation and pointing fingers if they don’t see the desired results. Things do not work that way.
Regardless of who gets blamed for the Nets’ epic crash out, the Kyrie, Irving, Harden Big Three will go down as one of the biggest what ifs in history. Do you agree?
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