Most organizations cannot handle even one man who is capable of destabilizing everything going on around them, but in Kevin Durant, Ben Simmons, Kyrie Irving, and potentially Ime Udoka as well, the Nets could have four. Read more »

It is immensely sad and angering when rich and famous people poison the cultural water supply because they are bored, or unwell, or the morphine drip of public attention has slowed, and they are itching for engagement. Read more »

Kevin Durant is fickle and shortsighted and a little bit tragic, the second-best player of his generation searching in vain for a single achievement that will certify him, in some cosmic sense. Maybe fleeing to Boston is the least imperfect solution. Read more »

The issue of whether the Nets made a mistake in giving too much control to Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving would almost certainly be a non-issue had they simply won more games. Read more »

Kevin Durant's narrative is messy because he is so aware of the tales and incentives around him, often uncanny in calling them out, but at the same time clearly stressed by the prospect of not telling the same quality of story that his peers have told. Read more »

Be careful of easy diagnoses, especially applied to teams that nobody likes, but: the Nets seem as if they were swept due to a bone-deep or perhaps cosmic apathy. Read more »

The Suns jumped from 30th in the NBA in Net Rating in 17-18 to 29th to 18th in 19-20 to third last season and first in 21-22. Read more »

Winning big on the heels of such a sloppy season would, in some ways, be the ultimate validation of Kevin Durant's unusual sensibility, and the very public struggle he has had with his fame and with the paradox of choice granted to him by how coveted his talents are. Read more »

Any way you look at it, this possible swap of James Harden and Ben Simmons involves an unusual mix of both potential and risk. It could undo either franchise, but also lead either to a championship. Read more »

There was supposed to be freedom in Kevin Durant's exit from the Warriors to Brooklyn, but instead he has found himself besieged by bad luck that has him trapped in a new way. Read more »

The selfish stance of Kyrie Irving and Andrew Wiggins on the vaccine issue speaks to one of the biggest problems of our age: that we are far too deep in our own stuff, wholly unable to help each other. Read more »

As the Nets enter the 21-22 season as overwhelming title favorites, my question is simple: has a team ever been this good and this weird at the same time? Read more »

As the NBA transitions to a new era, a Lakers-Nets Finals could function as the capstone to a certain era of stars; one last hurrah for everyone old enough to remember when David Stern was still their commissioner. This would be a Super Bowl of sorts- a collision of legacies too rich to miss, too hyped-up to possibly escape. Read more »

DeAndre Jordan may wish he could create a better set of options, be 27 again. Or maybe this is a fine time to get out. Read more »

The ultimate messy series at the end of a chaotic, pandemic-wrecked season of basketball, Brooklyn vs. Milwaukee is a gnarly feast of weirdnesses difficult to digest, and even harder to explain. Read more »

Brooklyn has found a new way to solve basketball's fundamental problem -- not by coming up with an inventive new strategy, but by reducing the game to its bare essentials. Read more »

The Jazz jumped from ninth in Net Rating last season to first in 20-21. Read more »