Kevin Durant expounded on his trade request from the Brooklyn Nets and his ultimate decision to remain with the franchise.

"I was upset and as a family, they understood that I was upset," said Durant via Brian Lewis of the New York Post. "And some of the stuff they agree with. And so we talked about and it was over a couple of months, couple of weeks…we worked it out from there, and I’m here now."

As much as Durant wanted out, he saw the Nets as continuing to be a good option.

"I felt like we had a good team," said Durant via Nick Friedell of ESPN. "I felt like this is the place I said I wanted to be. We started to set something up in the future to be a solid team. So to be honest I thought this was still a great option, too."

In Durant's comments to the media, he also alluded to how there were a lot of inaccuracies with the reporting.

The Brooklyn Nets have signed Kaiser Gates to a training camp deal. Brooklyn's roster is back to the offseason maximum of 20 players.

Gates spent the first three seasons of his professional career in the G League. He played for the Windy City Bulls, Maine Celtics and Long Island Nets. In 98 career G League games, Gates has averaged 12.1 points and 6.6 rebounds.

Gates is likely to play for Long Island this season, as an Affiliate Player.

Last season, Gates played in Israel for Hapoel Jerusalem. In 22 games, the 6-foot-7 forward averaged 4.5 points and 4.1 rebounds.

The Brooklyn Nets have waived Marcus Zegarowski.

Zegarowski appeared in three Summer League games with the Nets after appearing in eight G League games with the Long Island Nets last season.

Zegarowski was a second round pick in 2021 out of Creighton.

Steve Nash praised Ben Simmons' versatility on Wednesday, adding that Simmons can still be an effective player without ever "shooting a jump shot for the Brooklyn Nets."

"Very unique. That's what makes Ben great. That's why I don't care if he ever shoots a jump shot for the Brooklyn Nets. He's welcome to, but that is not what makes him special and not what we need.

"He's a great complement to our team, and he's an incredible basketball player because of his versatility," said Nash.

Nash would go on to describe Simmons as "our playmaker and point guard."

Nash then expressed his excitement for Simmons' fit alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

"I think they'll have a certain element of cohesion out of the gates. Because they're all really good basketball players, but hopefully it's something that evolves. And they can continue to find ways to make each other better," said Nash.

Simmons added that he's currently learning how to play alongside his two superstar teammates.

"For me, it's just playing alongside them, figuring out where they want their shots, how they move, different spots on the floor where I need to be. It's just timing," said Simmons.

Steve Nash said that the Brooklyn Nets will reassess T.J. Warren's status in November.

“T.J. we’re going to assess again in November. He’s doing great, he’s building up. We knew this going in.

"We also don’t want to take big risks with T.J. He’s been out for two years, so it’s a process that we want to be very confident in and make a firm decision as an organization not to rush him," said Nash on Wednesday.

Warren, who missed all of last season due to stress fractures in his foot, signed a minimum deal with the Nets this offseason. 

At one point during the offseason, Kevin Durant followed up his trade request from the Brooklyn Nets with a request that the franchise part ways with Steve Nash and Sean Marks.

Nash and Durant appear to be moving on in a positive direction.

"Knowing Kevin as long as I have, it didn't really bother me the way maybe everyone would think," Nash said. "That's a part of being competitors. I wasn't overly surprised and I wasn't even overly concerned. It was something that I thought we would address in time, and we did. And here we are and we're looking forward. It's something else that we can grow from as well."

Nash also didn't take Durant completely at face value.

"I never thought that was 100 percent. It's not black and white like that. There's a lot of factors, a lot of things behind the scenes." He did not specifically dispute any reporting about Durant, but said that "a lot of things that are reported are not 100 percent accurate, so you get fragmented bits of truth, you get things that are flat-out not true."

Nash and Durant previously worked together with the Golden State Warriors.

"Ever since we talked, it's been like nothing's changed," Nash said. "I have a long history with Kevin. Love the guy. Families have issues. We had a moment and it's behind us. That's what happens. It's a common situation in the league." 

The Los Angeles Lakers have two attractive trade assets available to them in their first round picks in 2027 and 2029, which they have yet to use to upgrade their roster.

"I've been told that, listen, had the Lakers been able to acquire Kyrie Irving," said Dave McMenamin on Brian Windhorst's podcast. "Or the Lakers been able to acquire Donovan Mitchell, both those players, the Lakers were willing to able to move both those picks to acquire.

"The deals available to them, they didn't feel like they could get back a player that is such a difference maker like either of those two."

The Lakers have also been linked with trade scenarios involving Buddy Hield and Myles Turner of the Indiana Pacers. 

The Brooklyn Nets decided not to trade Irving, while the Utah Jazz received far more draft capital for Mitchell from the Cleveland Cavaliers than the Lakers could trade.

Kevin Durant spoke publicly for the first time since his trade request from the Brooklyn Nets that was later rescinded after they essentially refused to accommodate him.

"There was a lot of uncertainty around our team last year," Durant said. "I committed to this organization for four years last summer with the idea we were gonna play with that group that we kind of went on that little run to the second round [in the 2020 playoffs]. I felt like another year of that, us being healthy -- we were building something towards the future.

"Then as the season went on, you seen what happened with our season, guys in and out of the lineup, injuries, just a lot of uncertainty, which built some doubt in my mind about the next four years in my career. I mean, I'm getting older and I want to be in a place that's stable and trying to build a championship culture. So I had some doubts about that. I voiced them to [owner] Joe [Tsai], and we moved forward from there."

Durant said he wasn't "disappointed" or surprised that he was still in Brooklyn.

"No," Durant said. "I know I'm that good that you're just not going to give me away. So that's one thing I did appreciate about Sean and Joe [they said]. 'You're too great for us to give you away.' Just that easy, that simple. So, I get that. I know who I am."

Durant said the Nets could have fought harder through adversity down the stretch of last season when he was out with an injury, noting that that's what championship-caliber teams do.

"When I went out with the injury, we lost [11] in a row," he said. "And I'm like we shouldn't be losing some of these games that we lost, regardless of who's on the floor. So I was more so worried about how we're approaching every day as a basketball team. And I felt like we could have fought through a lot of stuff that I felt held us back. Championship teams do that. You've seen Steph Curry and the Warriors, he was injured going into the playoffs. Their team still fought and won games. Luka [Doncic], he was hurt and their team still fought and won games.

"I felt like we had enough talent to do that. And that's what was the most about in my mind is that when adversity hit can we keep pushing through it? I've been on championship teams, I've been on teams that have been right at the brink of winning a championship, and they did those things. So I wanted to be a part of a group that did that.

"Winning and losing, I could take all that. I've been in the league for a long time. So it's not more so about just a result. It's how we get to that point. And I wasn't feeling how we were getting to that point. I didn't want it to affect the game so I waited to the offseason to tell people how I felt."

Kyrie Irving believes his decision not to get vaccinated cost him a four-year, $187 million contract extension offer by the Brooklyn Nets prior to the 21-22 season.

Irving and the Nets were unable to agree to terms on a new contract this offseason, leading him to exercise his $36.5 million player option for 22-23.

"I gave up four years, 100-and-something million deciding to be unvaccinated and that was the decision," Irving said during Nets media day on Monday. "[Get this] contract, get vaccinated or be unvaccinated and there's a level of uncertainty of your future, whether you're going to be in this league, whether you're going to be on this team, so I had to deal with that real-life circumstance of losing my job for this decision."

Irving said he felt the decision whether to get vaccinated was like "an ultimatum" from the organization, in regard to his contract.

Marks acknowledged that it was ultimately New York City's vaccination mandate, coupled with Irving's anti-vaccination decision, that stalled conversations about the future.

"So two summers ago, that was pre-citywide, statewide mandates that went in," Marks said. "So once the vaccine mandates came in, and we knew how that would affect [Irving] playing home games and so forth, that's when contract talks stalled. So it didn't get to [a point], 'Here's the deal, now take it back.' That never happened."

Marks talked optimistically about Irving's future with the Nets.

"At the end of the day, we're happy that Kyrie is back here," Marks said. "I'm listening to the press conference he had this morning and my takeaway from that is that he's committed. He understands that in order for him to be a free agent and get what he rightfully wants, he's going to have to show commitment out there. We're happy to support him in any possible way throughout the season to make sure that he's healthy and ready to go."

The Brooklyn Nets have signed forward RaiQuan Gray to a training camp contract. Gray's deal is expected to be fully non-guaranteed.

Gray was originally drafted by Brooklyn in the second round of the 2021 NBA Draft. Last week, the 6-foot-8 forward signed his required tender, but was immediately waived by the Nets.

Brooklyn will now hope to get Gray to the Long Island Nets of the G League after training camp. Last season for Long Island, Gray averaged 6.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.