Kevin Durant’s unwavering goal has always been to secure championships, and the apparent chaos within the Nets was deemed incompatible with that aspiration. As he leads the high-performing Suns back to New York, set to face the Knicks on Sunday, Durant addressed inquiries from The Post regarding his time across the East River in Brooklyn and shed light on why he initiated a move during last season’s trade deadline. Ultimately, the decision was driven by the Nets’ frustrating lack of consistency.

What did Durant learn from it, from a frustrating 3 ¹/₂ seasons? 

“Just how to work with people,” Durant said. “Just how to play in New York City, how to deal with injuries and lineup changes and coaching changes and all that stuff. You’ve got to keep playing, keep leading. 

“It was a class on a lot of different things, these last few years. If you didn’t take anything away from it, that’s just shame on you because it was so many deep lessons in this time here.” 

“In Brooklyn? Yeah, it just wasn’t no consistency, no continuity on who we were as a team,” Durant said. “And when you want to win a championship, you’ve got to build an identity from Day 1, and it was just a lot of circumstances that were out of the players’ control that got in the way of us building our continuity. 

“That’s just the business of basketball. That’s just the NBA in general. But we all got better as individual players, and we learned a lot from that experience — everybody from executives to players — and we can go about our NBA experience with more knowledge now.”

The learning experiences were challenging. Durant became a part of the Nets in 2019, dedicating the initial season to recovering from a ruptured Achilles. The subsequent 2 ½ seasons unfolded as a constant shuffle of players and coaches, transitioning from Kenny Atkinson to Steve Nash (whom Durant reportedly sought to have fired) to Jacque Vaughn.

“My goal was to try to bring some normalcy on a daily basis. There was a lot going on at that time,” Vaughn told The Post. “We had a heck of a stretch together, though. We won 18 out of 20 games with him playing at an extremely high level. And I knew the expectations he had, and that’s great for coach is that he’s in this thing to win a title.” 

From the moment Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving joined forces, the expectation was clear: championship or nothing. The bar was raised when James Harden joined the following season.

However, the much-anticipated Big 3 only managed to play 16 games together due to a variety of reasons, including injuries and Kyrie Irving’s absences due to suspensions, leaves of absence, and vaccine refusals. Even when Ben Simmons replaced Harden, the new trio had limited court time, logging just 441 minutes in 24 games. This instability starkly contrasts with the Suns’ seven lineups so far, portraying a model of consistency.

“This guy knows what we went through the last few years in Brooklyn,” Durant said, nodding toward The Post reporter. “It’s always about next-man-up mentality in this league. Guys get hurt, guys not in the lineup. You get paid to be a pro for a reason. Guys have got to step up and just play the games. … You see the character of a team when you’re mixing lineups and got to fight through adversity like that.” 

Durant acknowledged the challenges during his time with the Nets, emphasizing the importance of a “next-man-up” mentality in the face of injuries and lineup changes. Despite the adversity, Durant recognized the character of a team.

His experiences with the Nets led Durant to request a trade to the Suns in the summer of 2022. Although Phoenix initially refused to include Mikal Bridges, the deal eventually went through in February after Nets GM Sean Marks and owner Joe Tsai secured Bridges. With the Suns now on a six-game winning streak, Durant is witnessing his vision come to fruition.

“I did try [to move earlier], they just refused to get rid of me,” Durant said. “I tried, but time ran out. I wasn’t going to miss no games because of this whole thing. So once the season rolled around, I was just like, whatever happens, it happens, and I just get ready for the season. So it worked out perfect timing, the way it’s supposed to.”