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Earlier today we learned that Kevin Durant was going to a form a new super team when decided to join Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan in Brooklyn to play for the Nets.
Sources: Durant will sign a 4-year, $164M deal with the Nets; Irving will sign 4-years, $141M.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2019
Brooklyn is making a clean sweep tonight: Brooklyn will sign Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2019
— Boardroom (@boardroom) June 30, 2019
It was later revealed that the Knicks and owner James Dolan weren’t willing to offer Durant a max contract.
The Knicks and owner Jim Dolan were not prepared to offer Kevin Durant a full max contract due to concerns over his recovery from the Achilles injury, league sources tell me and @wojespn. Knicks officials are in Los Angeles tonight, meeting with free agents such as Julius Randle.
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) June 30, 2019
As for the Knicks, they’re in Los Angeles tonight for free agent meetings tonight. If they talked to KD tonight, it was only going to be via conference call. They’ve pivoted to focusing on depth and younger players
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) June 30, 2019
After news of Kevin Durant’s signing made the rounds, ESPN host and Knicks super fan, Stephen A. Smith posted a video on Twitter captioned “I just finished crying”. In the video, Smith went off on the Knicks for allowing the Nets to accomplish something that New York hasn’t been able to do in 20 years.
“In three years, the Brooklyn Nets have accomplished what we’ve been waiting for the New York Knicks to pull off for a half century.”
STEPHEN A IS FED UP! 😭😭😭 (via @stephenasmith) pic.twitter.com/ut5gSLdFqX
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) June 30, 2019
Smith would later make an appearance on ESPN’s The Jump where he refused to talk about the Knicks.
"I'm done with them right now!"@stephenasmith is NOT happy with the Knicks' free agency decisions. pic.twitter.com/n530DuOf6w
— ESPN (@espn) July 1, 2019