is one of the NBA’s loudest voices and when he speaks, people tend to listen, especially his peers. The two-time NBA champion joined the Brooklyn Nets during the summer and he was joined by none other than Kyrie Irving. This season, Durant has been sitting out due to a lingering ruptured Achilles injury. Despite this absence from the court, Durant has been keeping his influence on the team at a maximum. 

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Durant and Irving recently led the charge in getting head coach Kenny Atkinson fired by the team. It was believed that Durant and Kyrie didn’t see Atkinson as a championship-caliber head coach and recently called him out in a meeting. During an appearance on the Glue Guys podcast, Charania expounded on what Durant’s role was in all of this.

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”When he chimed in and pointed out that ‘Listen we have to improve our habits, this is not how you build a culture of championship contention.’ When speaks, everyone listens and I think that was definitely a major critical moment in this thing as well,” Charania said. 

The Brooklyn Nets have struggled at times this season and boast a record of 29-34 which is good enough for seventh in the Eastern Conference. Some of the head coaches being suggested for next year are Ty Lue, Mark Jackson, and even Tom Thibodeau.