Kevin Durant tells Nets’ owner Joe Tsai: Trade me or fire Sean Marks and Steve Nash

Kevin Durant has given Nets owner Joe Tsai an ultimatum: Either trade me or fire general manager Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash.

That is what came out of a meeting this week between the Nets’ superstar and team owner, according to a report from The Athletic.

“Durant has decided he will stay in Brooklyn only if the coach and GM are removed,” one Western Conference executive said. “He is blaming them for this mess.”

The executive added: “I think the league is tired of the drama. At this point who cares? Owners love players, but we will now see how much power KD has.”

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Asked if he’d ever seen anything similar, the executive recounted when Magic Johnson asked then-Lakers owner Jerry Buss to fire coach Paul Westhead before demanding a trade. Westhead was moving away from the “Showtime Lakers” style of offense that Johnson preferred.

“I can’t play here anymore,” Johnson said. “I want to leave. I want to be traded. I can’t deal with it no more. I’ve got to go and ask [Buss] to trade me.”

“Are you serious?” [LA Herald-Examiner’s Rich] Levin asked.

“Definitely,” said Johnson. “I haven’t been happy all season. I’ve got to go.”

Buss did fire Westhead and replaced him with Pat Riley, who then led the Lakers to seven more NBA Finals appearances between 1982-89. The Lakers won five titles during that era.

At this point, the dysfunctional Nets can only dream of such an ending.

Still, Tsai appears to have some difficult decisions to make. Marks has been the Nets GM since 2016 while Nash has coached the team for two seasons during which the Durant and Kyrie Irving-led team has won a total of one playoff series. They were swept out of the first round this year by the Celtics.

Durant requested a trade June 30 despite signing a four-year extension last year, but after an initial period where it seemed he might be dealt to Phoenix or Miami, trade talks have ground to a halt. SNY reported that the Nets were “pessimistic” about getting a Durant deal done.

The latest Durant news comes as the Nets and Kyrie Irving appear to be enjoying a rapprochement following his reported desire to leave for the Lakers after Marks and the franchise did not grant him a contract extension.

In late June, Irving decided to opt in to his $36.9 million player option and said he would “fulfill his four-year commitment to the Nets and Kevin Durant.”

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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.

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