Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets was fined $25,000 for forcefully throwing the ball into the stands on Friday. With 4:40 remaining in the third quarter of the Nets victory over the Indiana Pacers, Durant was seen throwing the ball in the stands.

Following the game, crew chief Sean Wright said that Durant should have been ejected for the action. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle complained at the time of the incident for an ejection. Wright said the officials didn't realize what Durant had done until they saw a replay after the game.

Near the end of the Brooklyn Nets victory over the Indiana Pacers on Friday, Kevin Durant threw the ball into the stands. Per NBA rules, any player who intentionally throws or kicks the ball in the stands with force should be ejected from the game. Durant was not ejected, and was allowed to finish the Nets victory.

Following the game, crew chief Sean Wright said that during live action, the officials did not think Durant threw the ball in the stands with force. After later seeing a replay, Wright said Durant did throw the ball into the crowd with force and should have been ejected.

Rick Carlisle let the officials know during the game that he believed Durant should have been tossed. Wright was asked about Carlisle's complaint that Durant was not ejected and said, "He made mention of it."

Julius Randle of the New York Knicks was recently fined $15,000 for intentionally throwing the ball in the stands, following a Knicks victory.

James Harden's frustration with his current level of play is evident. And it's something Harden owns. Following the Brooklyn Nets loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday, Harden said, As much as I want to get back to just, you know, 30's and 40 points, I can't do that. As much as I want to, obviously I would love to."

Harden expressed his frustration in how long it has taken him to find his usual form. Harden spent the offseason recovering from a last season's hamstring injuries. The Nets star guard said, "I had no opportunities to play pickup or nothing this summer. Everything was rehab for three months, from a Grade 2 injury that happened three times in one season. So this is my fifth game of trying to just play with competition against somebody else. And as much as I want to rush the process and be back to hooping and killing, [have to] take your time."

Through five games, Harden is averaging his lowest stats since early in his career, when he was coming off the bench for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Harden also seems to be slowly adapting to the NBA's new points of emphasis on offensive players flopping for fouls. To this point, Harden has averaged just 3.0 free throw attempts per game. That is the lowest free throw rate of his career, and well below his recent rate.

The Brooklyn Nets fell to 1-2 with a 111-95 loss at home against the Charlotte Hornets.

Kevin Durant was asked twice if he thinks the Nets have enough to win without Kyrie Irving.

"While we are playing in a game, I am not going to sit there and say ... when we get down or it is a tight game, like 'Damn, we don't have enough,'" Durant said. "We are not going to be thinking about [that] during the game. We definitely want Kyrie Irving out here on the floor. And he is a huge part of what we do. But it is not happening right now. So we got to figure it out.

"But no one is going to lose confidence while we playing and hope Kyrie comes to save us during the game. No, we got to play. Everybody here is confident in what they do. We just got to play."

Brooklyn was outscored 32-17 in the fourth quarter.

"Yeah," Durant repeatedly answered when asked if the Nets have enough to win. "I am not about to say there's not going to [be] enough out here. I am not going to say that. I feel like we had a nice control of the game in the first half. They played a better second half.

"It's three games in. Of course we have enough."

The Brooklyn Nets "have taken incoming calls" from rival teams with trade interest on Kyrie Irving, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Wojnarowski's report surfaces in relation to the Philadelphia 76ers' standoff with a trade of Ben Simmons.

"Daryl Morey has called all over the league, talked to teams about star players everywhere to try to find a deal for Ben Simmons," said Wojnarowski. "One team he has not called, I'm told, is the Brooklyn Nets. He has not lobbed a call to Sean Marks about Kyrie Irving.

"Brooklyn, I'm told, has taken incoming calls from teams on Kyrie Irving. They have not themselves made any calls on Kyrie Irving."

James Harden elected not to sign an extension with the Brooklyn Nets before the start of the 21-22 season as he can sign a four-year, $227 million deal during the 2022 offseason.

“The contract, the money, it’s going to be there," said Harden. "I don’t plan on leaving this organization and the situation that we have.”

The Nets traded for Harden in January of this year.

“I love it here," added Harden. "I feel at home. It’s nothing to worry about…For me individually, I just want to focus on this year.”

During his press conference to open the 21-22 NBA regular season, Adam Silver was asked whether he's disappointed that the league was unable to mandate vaccines with the NBPA. The NBA's vaccine rate is currently at approximately 96 percent

Kyrie Irving, due to an ordinance in New York City, is the only player ineligible to play in select games.

"Well, at the time we were discussing it with the Players Association, the percentage I believe of players vaccinated was in the low 80s," said Silver. "I’m not sure they could have predicted at that point precisely how many players would choose not to get vaccinated.

"I won’t try to speak for them, other than the view that some players had, I think including maybe some players who are vaccinated, that it should be individual choice among the players.

"I would have preferred that ultimately that the Players Association agreed to mandatory vaccinations. The officials union agreed to mandatory vaccinations despite oppositions from some of their members.

"But ultimately I think we could have avoided a lot of the adversarial nature of these issues for our players. It’s not so much with the league; I think that gets confused in some cases. This is between Kyrie and New York City right now. This is not a league issue. As you’ve pointed out, it’s not mandatory in the league.

"But I think it would have been best for everyone if every player were vaccinated."

On the latest Woj Pod, Adrian Wojnarowski spoke with Malika Andrews and added some new details on the Brooklyn Nets and Kyrie Irving. Wojnarowski said that Brooklyn saw acquiring James Harden last season as a "necessity" and that he thought that the Nets already saw that "they couldn't count on Irving".

It was added that Brooklyn and the Philadelphia 76ers have had no discussions on a Irving for Ben Simmons swap. It was also speculated that trade idea isn't something the Sixers would even entertain.

Lastly, the Nets are preparing as if they won't have Irving all season. “The bottom line is, Kyrie Irving is not vaccinated,” said Woj. “At this point he doesn’t sound as though he is about to get vaccinated to be able to return and play for this Nets team."

The Brooklyn Nets have requested waivers on forward Devontae Cacok.

Cacok signed with the Nets on Sept. 20, appearing in two preseason games and recording averages of 7.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 10.1 minutes per contest. He spent the last two seasons on a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. In 21 games (one start), he recorded averages of 2.1 points on 57.1 percent shooting from the field and 1.8 rebounds in 5.1 minutes per contest.

The Brooklyn Nets have exercised the Two-Way player conversion option on guard David Duke Jr.

Duke originally signed with Brooklyn on Aug. 8 after playing for the Nets during NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. Duke appeared in three preseason games for Brooklyn, registering averages of 4.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 steals in 16.6 minutes per contest.

Duke went undrafted in the 2021 NBA Draft after a three-year collegiate career (2018-21) at Providence College. Starting all 91 career games, the 22-year-old averaged 11.5 points on 39.4 percent shooting from the field and 37.7 percent shooting from distance, 4.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 30.8 minutes per game.